thy came to get me(eng) - prisli so pome(slo)

1

Boris Čerin Levy

P R I š L IS O

P O M E

Spori in bitke med

Čutini in Osrini

Boris Cherin Levy

T H E Y C A M E

T O G E T M E

Battles and Conflicts between

Sensis and Acutins

Eng

lish

editi

on

Slo

vens

ka iz

daja

2

Boris Cherin Levy

THEY CAME

TO GET ME

Translated by Hugh Brown

First published 2004Copyright © Boris Čerin

CIP - Kataložni zapis o publikaciji Narodna in univerzitetna knjižnica,

Ljubljana

821.163.6-312.9(0.034.2)

ČERIN, Boris They came to get me / Boris

Cherin Levy [Elektronski vir] ; [translated by Hugh Brown]. - El. knjiga. - Ljubljana : Quark, 2014

Prevod dela: Prišli so pome

ISBN 978-961-91100-2-7 (pdf)

ISBN 978-961-91100-3-4 (ePub)

273600768--------------------------------------------

Published byQUARK d.o.o.

Lizike Jančarjeve 141000 Ljubljana

e-mail: [email protected]

Boris Čerin Levy

PRIŠLI SO POME

Udeležil sem se spopada Čutinov z

Ostrini

Lektor Ivo Antič

Prva izdajaLjubljana, 2004

Copyright © Boris Čerin

CIP - Kataložni zapis o publikaciji Narodna in univerzitetna knjižnica,

Ljubljana

821.163.6-312.9(0.034.2)

ČERIN, Boris Prišli so pome [Elektronski vir] : udeležil sem se spopada Čutinov z Ostrini / Boris Čerin Levy. - El. knjiga. - Ljubljana : Quark, 2014

ISBN 978-961-91100-6-5 (pdf)

ISBN 978-961-91100-7-2 (ePub)

273915392--------------------------------------------

Izdajatelj in založnik

QUARK d.o.o.Lizike Jančarjeve 14

1000 Ljubljanae-mail: [email protected]

3

Chapter I

I stretched out on the grass of the alpine meadow and breathed deeply. Peace, silence and the pure moun-tain air filled me with a comfortable feeling of lazy contentment, a dro-wsiness in which images of the nearby mountain peaks drifted into the foreground and then disa-ppeared again. I think I even dozed off, and then half woke up again. I was just sinking back into a deeper doze when a slight shudder shook my body. I opened my eyes but the heat of the sun soon pushed me back into my sleepy torpor. “Probably just a muscle relaxing or something,” I said to myself before yielding to drowsiness. But even as my breathing slowed and I slid back into a doze, I felt another shudder. A sense

I. poglavje

Zleknil sem se na travo

visokogorske planjave.

Mir, tišina in globoko vdi-

havanje gorskega zraka so

me navdali z ugodjem in

lenobnim zadovoljstvom,

vse do dremavega polsna,

v katerem so mi prihajali

v ospredje in spet izginjali

slikovni prikazi bližnjih

gorskih vrhov. Celo zadre-

mal sem, najbrž, se na pol

zbudil ter se ponovno

pogreznil nazaj v vse glo-

blji dremež, ko mi je rahel

drget stresel telo. Odprl

sem oči, a me je sonce s

svojo pripeko znova poti-

snilo v zaspano lenobnost.

Sprostitev mišice ali nekaj

takega je moralo biti, mi

je še preletelo zavest pred

ponovnim prepuščanjem

dremajočemu ugodju,

toda še preden se mi je

dihanje znova umirilo v

polsnu, že je spet prešel

4

of movement, of some vivid event, intruded so rapidly into my slow-mo-ving thoughts, forcing its way into the foreground of my consciousness, that I lifted myself up on my elbow and looked around. Everything seemed normal. My friends were still stretched out lazily on the grass. All except Rick and Jane, a couple of school-leavers with their final exams coming up, who were chatting quietly. It was pleasant lying here in this grassy meadow, and none of us had felt like continuing to the little mountain lodge slightly higher up, although the trail was far from arduous. The scorching heat and the fresh air made it even more inviting.I stretched out again on the grass. That strange sensation had come and gone in a flash. I grinned to myself and shook my head: it had been a hard week. I lay back. My bre-

skozme drget. Med počasi

premikajoče se misli se

mi je vrinilo tako hitro

gibanje nekega živega

dogajanja, ki mi je prav

nenavadno močno priha-

jalo v ospredje, da sem se

privzdignil na komolec in

pogledal naokrog, toda

nič posebnega ni bilo

videti. Prijatelji ob meni so

se še naprej lenobno pre-

tegovali na travi. Le Rok

in Janja, srednješolca pred

maturo, sta se pomenko-

vala. Poležavanje na travi

se nam je prileglo, pa

čeprav pot do majhnega

planinskega gostišča, pod

katerim smo si našli ta svoj

prostor, ni bila pretirano

naporna. Še posebej se je

prileglo zaradi pripeke in

svežega zraka.

Zleknil sem se nazaj na

travo. Kar preletelo je

skozme, sem ugotavljal

med nejevernim nasmi-

hanjem in odkimavanjem,

naporen teden je bil za

mano, sem pomislil. Nato

5

athing slowed and once again I slipped into a doze. Suddenly, and with incre-asing insistence, flashing outlines started appearing before my eyes. Shapes, now dark, now light, dar-ting from one side to the other. I held my breath and waited. It wasn’t anything I could put a name to, and it surely couldn’t have been anything important. I shook my head to get rid of the uneasiness I was beginning to feel. Yes: a feeling of anxiety was creeping over me. “It’s coming towards me,” I thought. It was all coming towards me. What was? There was nothing there. Nothing that could come towards me through my thoughts alone. Then the flashing outlines became a more vivid image, sped up, darted to the left, crystallised once again, traced a zigzag course and disappeared.“What on earth?” It was all much too vivid for a

sem se spet spustil na hrbet

ter med upočasnjenim

dihanjem znova prehajal

v dremež. Toda pred očmi

so se mi vse bolj vztrajno

vrivali migetajoči obrisi,

neke zdaj temne, zdaj spet

svetle oblike, premikajoče

se na eno in drugo stran.

Zadržal sem dih in malo

počakal. Nič kaj določlji-

vega ni bilo pa tudi nič kaj

pomembnega ni moglo

biti. Z odkimavanjem

sem se otresal tesnobnih

občutkov. Da, presneto,

neki občutek tesnobe se je

prikradel vame. »Približuje

se mi.« Vse skupaj se mi je

približevalo. Toda kaj se je

približevalo? Saj ničesar

ni, ničesar takega, kar bi

se mi lahko približevalo le

skozi misli. Tedaj so se mi

migetajoči obrisi sprožili

v še bolj živem prikazu, se

pospešili, zavili v levo, se

ponovno prikazali, začrtali

vijugasto pot in zginili.

»Hudir!« Vse skupaj je bilo

preveč živo za dremež.

6

dream. I propped myself up on my elbows, still unsure whether I had simply been dreaming, and scanned the peaks of the surroun-ding mountains.“Whaa…!” I gasped. The scene from my dream, or whatever it was, appea-red before me. The glea-ming surface of a disc-like object with delta wings at its sides flashed past and disappeared. Then it appeared again and turned suddenly in our direction. Judging from its speed, it would be over us in a matter of seconds. That’s all I had time to think, before something else fla-shed into view behind the craft. A triangular object. A moment later, the two objects shot off, one behind the other, jockeying for position in what appeared to be a kind of dogfight. The whole thing barely lasted a few seconds. Then the second craft was alon-gside the first, as though it had caught it. There

Naslonil sem se na

komolce, zaklel še vedno

v dvomu, ali nisem zgolj

zaspal in sanjal, ter se ozrl

naokrog po vrhovih sose-

dnjih gora.

»Uaaa!« se mu je iztrgalo iz

grla. Kazal se mi je prizor iz

sna ali dremeža ali kar koli

že je bilo. Lesketajoča se

površina diskastega pred-

meta z delta krili ob straneh

se je svetlikala in spet izgu-

bljala barvo do nevidnosti,

nato pa se nenadoma obr-

nila proti nam in bi glede

na hitrost morala biti že v

nekaj naslednjih trenutkih

nad nami. Vsaj za trenutek

sem tako pomislil, ko se je

nenadoma zabliskalo še v

ozadju tega plovila. Nekak

trikoten predmet je bil.

In hip za tem sta se oba

predmeta poganjala drug

za drugim in drug mimo

drugega v nekakšnem, po

mojem občutku, sovra-

žnem preletavanju. Toda

vse skupaj je trajalo komaj

kaj dlje kot nekaj bežnih

trenutkov. Tedaj se je

7

were some more flashes, the two craft glowed red-hot, collided and bounced back. The second explo-ded and the first, evidently damaged, spiralled down-wards, appeared to rally, lost height again, rallied once more and flew to the forest, where it landed noi-sily among the trees on the other side of the clearing. Silence fell. Everyone was staring at the place where the ship had landed. We saw a flashing light, and then all was silence.During the last few moments the noise had attracted the attention of most of the climbers scat-tered across the hillside, who were now looking in the direction of the dust cloud and wondering what had happened.“Look!” shouted a gaunt, fair-haired man a few metres away from me, pointing towards the edge of the clearing. “Is that the pilot?”

drugo plovilo znašlo ob

prvem, kot da ga je ujelo,

zleteli so bliski, zaža-

rela sta oba hkrati, trčila

skupaj, se odbila, drugo je

eksplodiralo, prvo pa se

je v krožnem letu, očitno

poškodovano, spustilo

ali, kot je bilo videti, bolj

strmoglavilo, se ponovno

ujelo, spet padalo in spet

ujelo smer, vse do gozda,

kjer je dokaj glasno, s hru-

ščem pristalo med drev-

jem na drugi strani jase.

Nastala je tišina, vsi so zrli

v kraj padca. Videti je bilo

še bliskanje neke svetlobe,

nakar je vse utihnilo.

Zadnjih nekaj trenutkov

je hrušč pritegnil poglede

večine razkropljenih pla-

nincev, da so potem pogle-

dovali v smeri prašnega

oblaka in se med seboj

spraševali, kaj se je zgo-

dilo.

»Glej!« je vzkliknil nekaj

metrov od mene slok sve-

tlolas moški koščenega

obraza z roko, iztegnjeno

proti robu jase. »Pilot ali

kaj?«

8

“Were they hit by ligh-tning?” asked John, one of the kids from our group, before shaking his head. “He looks hurt.” This triggered an avalan-che of comments, mixed with excited shouts that grew louder and louder. Suddenly everyone fell silent again. “He’s coming towards us!”It certainly looked as though the pilot was wounded. And yet he was approaching surprisingly quickly. And he seemed to be heading straight towards our group.“He’s gone past those clim-bers over there!” I said out loud.“Yes!’ confirmed my neighbour. “He’s not inte-rested in the next group either! He’s coming in this direction!”“It certainly seems to be us he’s interested in!” said the gaunt man. Eve-ryone fell silent again. The figure was coming closer

»Huh, ali jih je zadela

strela?« je začudeno ugibal

Jan, srednješolec iz naše

skupine, ter takoj zatem

že odkimal svoji razlagi.

»Videti je poškodovan.«

Nato se je sprožil cel plaz

komentarjev, pomešanih

z vse glasnejšimi vzkliki,

nakar so ponovno vsi

obmolknili.

»K nam gre!«

Vse je kazalo, da je pilot

ranjen. In vendar se je

nenavadno hitro približe-

val. Pa tudi dokaj narav-

nost proti naši skupini je

prihajal.

»Mimo planincev tam

zraven gre!« sem še jaz

glasno ugotovil.

»Hja, pa res!« mi je pritrdil

sosed. »In tudi za nasle-

dnjo skupino planincev se

ne meni! Proti nam gre!«

»Pa smo res mi zanimivi

zanj!« se je ponovno oglasil

možak koščenega obraza.

Potem so spet vsi utihnili.

Postava je prihajala bliže

9

and we could make out his unusual outfit with incre-asing clarity. It appeared to be some sort of flying suit: close-fitting and of an unusual cut, of a kind that none of us had ever seen. He seemed to be a man of about forty. Sud-denly he staggered. He had no visible wounds but he must have been injured. A few paces still separated him from the neighbou-ring group when he raised his hand in greeting and, without stopping, conti-nued past the group of tee-nagers and older climbers, and marched on with inc-reasingly frequent glances in my direction. This was becoming so evident that even the other climbers began looking at me. My only response was gro-wing astonishment and more frequent glances at the approaching figure. I shook my head in confu-sion, because the whole thing was really quite strange, and forced a

in vse razločneje je bilo

videti nenavadno oblačilo,

verjetno letalski kombine-

zon, oprijet, nenavadno

krojen, kot ga nihče še ni

videl dotlej. Možak pri šti-

ridesetih, nekaj takega je

kazal. Nenadoma se je opo-

tekel. Ran ni bilo videti,

toda moral je biti poško-

dovan. Še nekaj korakov

ga je ločilo od sosedne

skupine, ko je dvignil roko

v pozdrav in brez ustavlja-

nja nadaljeval pot mimo

fantov, deklet in starej-

ših planincev ter stopal

naprej z vse pogostejšimi

pogledi proti meni. To je

postalo tako očitno, da

so me začeli pogledovati

še planinci. Jaz pa sem se

odzival z vse večjim začu-

denjem ter vse pogostej-

šim oziranjem v prihaja-

jočega, zbegano odkima-

val z glavo, ker je bilo vse

skupaj precej nenavadno,

se prisiljeno nasmehnil in

»huuuh!« mi je ušlo iz ust,

ko sem se malo pazljiveje

zazrl v neznančev obraz in

10

smile. Then I looked more closely at the stranger’s face and into his eyes.

“Huh?” I gasped. A single moment was enough for us to exchange a series of rapid but apparently mea-ningful glances. I started in surprise. Or was it fear? The realisation that this stranger was rapidly rea-ding my thoughts made me shiver. I looked apprai-singly at the stranger once again, with a succession of rapid glances at his eyes, while at the same time trying not to meet his gaze, in an increasingly despe-rate attempt to understand the situation. The stranger was about my age and his appearance was friendly. He showed no sign of hostility as he walked up to me and said in a serious but soothing voice:“There is no time left. I know it is hard for you to trust a stranger. But you are linked to us in an important way. We

v oči. V hipu je med nama

zletelo nekaj hitrih, a zelo

zgovornih pogledov.

Narahlo sem se zdrznil.

Skoraj ustrašil. Spozna-

nje, da mi neznanec hitro

bere misli, je šlo skozme v

rahlem drgetu. Še enkrat

sem ocenjujoče premeril

tujca ter se mu nekajkrat

zapored zazrl v oči z izmi-

kanjem daljšemu srečanju

pogledov in hkrati v vse

močnejšem naprezanju

po hitrejšem dojetju polo-

žaja. Tujec je bil mojih let,

prijateljskega videza. Nič

sovražnega ni kazal, ko je

po pristopu k meni spre-

govoril v resnem, vendar

pomirjujočem tonu.

»Nič časa ni ostalo. Vem,

da vam je težko zaupati

neznancu. Toda z nami

ste v pomembni navezi.

Mi potrebujemo vas, vi pa

11

need you, and without our help you will not survive. Cooperation is our only choice. Besides, we are not so alien as one might too hastily assume. Your senses are already telling you that.”Something in the stranger’s voice inspired trust, but the circumstances were just too difficult for me to understand. “We have to move back quickly,” the stranger went on. “Just to the edge of the clearing there. After that, things will be clear enough. Yes, you must act quickly!”“Act? Act how? Why?”“Quickly! Because of the link between us.” His voice was determined, even commanding. “You know that you can trust me. You already know that. You can feel it clearly.”I looked at him doubt-fully. It was true: I did feel something like trust. I stood up slowly, still not really believing what was

brez naše pomoči ne boste

preživeli. Le sodelovanje

nam ostaja. Poleg tega

si nismo tako tuji, kot bi

lahko kdo prehitro sodil.

Iz čutnih vtisov to že lahko

razbereš.«

Prizvok v tujčevem glasu

je vzbujal zaupanje, toda

okoliščine so bile le malo

pretežke, da bi jih bilo

mogoče razumeti.

»Hitro se morate uma-

kniti,« je nadaljeval tujec.

»Le tja do roba jase. Potem

bo potek dogajanja sam po

sebi dovolj zgovoren. Da,

hitro morate ukrepati!«

»Ukrepati? Kako ukrepati?

Zakaj?«

»Hitro! Zaradi naše

naveze.«

Glas je bil odločen, celo

ukazujoč. »Veš, da mi lahko

zaupaš. Zdaj to že veš. Jasno

lahko čutiš.«

V dvomu sem ga pogle-

dal. Res sem občutil nekaj

podobnega.

Počasi sem vstal, še vedno

v nejevernem premišlja-

12

happening, but the pained, impatient expression on the stranger’s face was eloquent enough. “Right! To the edge of the clearing, then.” I raised my hand in salu-tation – or farewell – to my thoroughly surprised companions, and with a smile that was more of a grimace I set off down the hill, walking faster and faster until I was practi-cally running.The forest was only a few dozen metres away. Ten, twenty seconds at a run. Yes, just a short run. As my body started moving faster I felt the strange pressure of an instinctive impulse or a vague feeling of compulsion: a feeling that I had to do this even though I had consciou-sly made my own deci-sion that it was the right thing to do, despite all my doubts about whether it was sensible. This was what the rational part of my mind told me, but the

nju, vendar je bil boleč,

nestrpen izraz na obrazu

tujca zame že dovolj zgo-

voren. »Prav! Do roba jase

torej.«

Privzdignil sem roko v

pozdrav oziroma v slovo

svojim dodobra preseneče-

nim prijateljem in se z bolj

nakremženim nasmehom

spustil po hribu, stopajoč

z vse bolj hitrimi, potem

pa že kar bežečimi koraki.

Še nekaj deset metrov me

je ločilo od gozda, le deset,

dvajset sekund, če bi stekel.

Da, le kratek tek, v katerega

se je moje telo spustilo

ob nenadnem pritisku

nekega nagonskega vzgiba

ali nejasnega občutka pri-

sile, da moram to nujno

narediti, pa čeprav sem

zavestno sprejemal svoje

odločitve le kot nekaj, kar

je bolje, da naredim kljub

vsem dvomom o smiselno-

sti svojega početja. Razum-

sko seveda, kajti notranji

vzgib v meni je rasel z vso

odločnostjo, dokler me

13

internal impulse conti-nued to grow in force until the first pine branches bru-shed my face and two figu-res dressed like the other stranger were standing in front of me and gesturing at me to hurry up. I looked round. The wounded pilot was following me at a run. Actually he probably wasn’t a pilot at all. I half stopped, but two pairs of hands dragged me violently under the trees and pushed me forward. I thought of resisting but the two strangers weren’t even looking at me. They were staring past me. What at? I turned and looked back too. I couldn’t see anything. Or? There was a flash, and for a brief moment I caught a glimpse of a craft of some kind flying past. I looked questioningly at the two strangers. Their gestures, their expressions and a brief, urgent appeal all said the same thing: we had to get away from here, and quickly. They were

niso prve smrekove veje

ošvrknile po obrazu in sta

pred mano vstali postavi,

oblečeni podobno prej-

šnjemu neznancu, ter mi

kazali, naj pohitim. Ozrl

sem se. Tudi ranjeni pilot

je tekel za mano. Pa najbrž

sploh ni bil pilot.

Zastal sem sredi koraka, ko

sta me dva para rok silovito

povlekla pod smreke in

me potisnila naprej. Skoraj

sem se uprl, toda tujca me

sploh nista gledala. Zrla sta

prek mene. V kaj neki? Še

sam sem pogledal nazaj.

Toda videl nisem ničesar.

Ali pa? Neko bleščanje se

je kazalo in za bežen hip

sem ujel prelet nekega

plovila. Vprašujoče sem

se ozrl v neznanca. Stran,

čimprej stran so govorile

njune kretnje, njun obraz

in kratek nestrpen poziv.

Tudi onadva sta se bala.

To me je prepričalo. Stekli

smo skozi gozd, se spustili

14

afraid too. That was what convinced me. We ran through the forest, down a short slope and behind a rock in which there was a barely visible fissure. The stranger ahead of me ran towards the fissure and disappeared inside. I was just in time to catch a glimpse of his vanishing silhouette.“There, there!” The other stranger pointed towards the crack in the rock. I ste-pped into it and crawled past a rounded wall and on into a damp cave. We rea-ched a kind of open door-way and quickly stepped in. I found myself in a slightly larger cavity with coloured hieroglyphics on the walls.There were five more strangers here, and an atmosphere that was hard to define. A beautiful woman in the corner star-ted crying. She was really beautiful. Incredibly beau-tiful. I caught her glance: it was gentle, with pain

po kratki strmini in že

smo bili za skalo s komaj

opazno režo, v katero se

je usmeril neznanec pred

mano in vanjo izginil tako

hitro, da sem komaj še ujel

s pogledom njegov izginja-

joči obris.

»Tja, tja!« mi je tujec za njim

kazal z roko proti razpoki

v skali.

Stopil sem vanjo ter se

ob zaokroženi steni spla-

zil naprej skozi vlažno

jamo. Obstali smo pred

odprtimi vrati, bolje pred

nekakim vhodom, potem

pa hitro vstopili in obstali

sredi malo večje votline

z nekakšnimi barvnimi

hieroglifi na stenah.

V prostoru je bilo še pet

neznancev v nekam nena-

vadnem razpoloženju. Lepi

ženski v kotu je šlo na jok.

Res je bila lepa. Presneto

lepa. Ujel sem njen pogled,

blag, z bolečino v sebi, pa

15

tudi vprašujoč je bil. Je

kaj iskala v meni? Prijazno

sem se ji nasmehnil, ker

česa več nisem vedel nare-

diti. Sicer seveda bi kaj

storil, to je lahko razbrala z

mojega obraza. Neznanka

pa je pristopila k meni, se

oprijela moje roke in jo

narahlo stisnila, potem pa

stopila proti izhodu.

»Morda bi se morala še kaj

pogovoriti?« sem navrgel

z nakazanim nerazumeva-

njem položaja.

Prijazno, z občuteno priza-

detostjo, se mi je še enkrat

nasmehnila. »Seveda. Moje

ime je Honaja. Mi smo

Čutini iz civilizacije Čuti-

nov. Smo sicer na nekoliko

višji tehnološki ravni od

vas, vendar naj vas to nič

ne moti. Smo sosedje. Pri-

jateljski sosedje.«

Zasledil sem celo odtenek

veselja ob ponovnem sre-

čanju najinih pogledov,

nakar mi je dejala: »Prav

in it, but it was also que-stioning. What could she want from me? I gave her a friendly smile, because I didn’t know what else to do. I would have done something of course: she could read that in my face. The woman came over to me, took my hand and gave it a slight squeeze, and then walked towards the exit. “Perhaps we should talk a little?” I suggested. I wanted to try and under-stand the situation. She smiled at me again. She was friendly but clearly upset. “Of course. My name is Honaja. We are Sensins, of the civilisation of the Sensins. It is true that our level of technology is sli-ghtly higher than yours, but do not let that worry you. We are neighbours. Friendly neighbours.”I thought I caught a hint of happiness when our eyes met again. “We certainly owe you an

16

explanation,” she went on. “We realise this, and we also want to avoid misun-derstandings and unneces-sary disagreements. We have to help each other. You saw how the Acutins pursued our ship. With such persistence that we had to shoot them down. They do not know about you, but sooner or later they will find out that you are the one who is impor-tant to us at this moment. If they were to find out why, they would kill you immediately. Or rather: they already know why one particular Earthman is so important to us, at least approximately, but they cannot guess who that Earthman is, altho-ugh they will have spot-ted you escaping with us. Naturally we have made it harder for them to track us down by coming down to Earth more frequently and by constantly transporting individual Earthmen to our space station and back.

gotovo vam dolgujemo

pojasnilo. Tega se zave-

damo in tudi nesporazu-

mov z nepotrebnimi razha-

janji si ne želimo. Pomagati

si moramo. Saj ste videli,

kako so Ostrini zasledovali

naše letalo. S tako vztraj-

nostjo, da smo ga morali

sestreliti. Sicer ne vedo

za vas, toda prej ali slej bi

ugotovili, da ste vi tisti, ki

je v tem trenutku pomem-

ben za nas. Ko bi ugotovili

še razlog, bi vas takoj ubili.

Oziroma, bolje rečeno,

razlog posebne pomemb-

nosti nekega Zemljana so

že ugotovili, vsaj pribli-

žno, za katerega Zemljana

gre, pa ne morejo uganiti,

čeprav so že zaznali vaš

beg z nami. Seveda smo

jim otežili zasledovanje z

bolj pogostim spuščanjem

med Zemljane in s stalnim

prevažanjem posameznih

Zemljanov na vesoljsko

postajo ter potem nazaj, kar

opravimo dovolj obzirno,

tako da Zemljan vso vožnjo

prespi ne glede, ali je pot

17

opravljena ponoči ali čez

dan. Toda splet okoliščin

je vaš pomen še povečal.

Prav lahko bi Ostrini ubi-

jali zgolj na podlagi suma.«

Druga za drugo so mi

zastajale besede na jeziku.

Toliko pomembnih infor-

macij s težko sprejemljivo

vsebino sem dobil v tako

kratkem času, in kar je

bilo še huje, z nič kaj zane-

marljivo grožnjo. Vprašu-

joče sem se zazrl v lepo

neznanko.

»Pomen naj bi se mi še

povečal, pravite?

V kakšnem smislu? Prav-

zaprav še vedno ne razu-

mem, za kaj gre.«

Lepa neznanka se mi

je še bolj prijateljsko

nasmehnila: Dolgujemo

vam pojasnila, kot sem

dejala, seveda. Vse vam

We can do this in such a way that the Earthman sleeps the whole journey regardless of whether it is day or night. But a com-bination of circumstances have further increased your importance. And a mere suspicion could be enough to make the Acu-tins kill you.”I tried to speak but no words would come out. I had received so much important information in such a short time, all of it difficult to digest. What was worse, there also seemed to be a far from insignificant threat. I looked questioningly at the beautiful stranger. “My importance has inc-reased, you say? In what sense? Actually, I still don’t understand what this is all about.”Her smile grew even fri-endlier: “As I said, we owe you an explanation, naturally. We will explain everything to you. But since we cannot afford

18

misunderstandings, we are compelled to establish trust on the basis of reci-procal knowledge. That should not be too difficult. My feelings tell me that it will not be hard for you to accustom yourself to our environment. But now is not the time for a long discussion. We have to set off for Station ZEN1736 as soon as possible.”’ “Yes, the transport is ready,” said a stranger next to her, pointing towards the corridor. “This will be a pleasant and safe flight. At our level of technology, seri-ous technical failures no longer exist. You will simply have a little rest, a little sleep, and we will be there.”

bomo pojasnili. Toda

ker si nesporazumov ne

moremo privoščiti, smo

prisiljeni vzpostaviti zau-

panje na osnovi medseboj-

nega poznavanja. Pa to ne

bo tako velika ovira. Vsaj

po občutku sodeč, se vam

ne bo težko vživeti v naše

okolje. Toda zdaj ni časa

za daljši pogovor. Čim prej

moramo na našo postajo

ZEN1736.«

»Da, vozilo je že pripra-

vljeno,« je z roko, izte-

gnjeno v smeri hodnika,

dejal neznanec tik ob njej.

»To bo prijeten in tudi

varen let, saj na naši tehno-

loški ravni ni več usodnih

tehničnih okvar. Le malo

se boste spočili, malo

zadremali, pa bomo tam.«

19

Chapter II

The journey to the space station was over very quic-kly. In fact I had hardly settled into my reclining seat when I was woken by a light touch on my shoul-der. “Oh, was I asleep?” I asked in surprise. “We all slept for most of the flight,” came the reas-suring answer.I looked at the seats around me. The other Sensins were waking up or were already on their feet. So they really had slept thro-ughout the journey. “Yes, we slept too!”“And how long did we sleep?” I asked with an inc-redulous smile. I seemed to be having difficulty grasping even apparently simple facts. “You certa-inly have all this organised in a very practical way.”“Our transports are com-

II. poglavje

Potovanje na vesoljsko

ladjo mi je izjemno hitro

minilo. Pravzaprav sem

se komaj dobro namestil

v ležalni sedež, ko me je

predramil rahel dotik na

rami.

»Huh, kaj sem zaspal?« sem

vprašal začudeno ter takoj

dobil pomirjujoč odgovor.

»Vsi smo prespali večino

leta.«

Ozrl sem se naokrog po

sosednjih ležalnikih, v

katerih so se Čutini prebu-

jali ali pa so že vstajali. Vsaj

videti je bilo tako. Torej so

res prespali vso pot. »Da,

prespali!«

»In kako dolgo smo spali?«

sem vprašal med nejever-

nim nasmihanjem ozi-

roma bolj v smislu naka-

zanega težjega dojemanja

sicer preprostih dejstev.

»Vsekakor imate to zelo

praktično urejeno.«

20

fortable, aren’t they?” another Sensin replied. “At our level of techno-logy, transport is a remar-kably efficient operation. We also know how to take care of our passen-gers’ comfort, wouldn’t you agree? The asteroid station we are heading for isn’t actually very far away. We use it as a base during our trips to Earth. For your friends the time now is 16 minutes past 11 in the morning.” I thought about this for a moment and nodded non-committally. “Intere-sting.”“This will only be a transit station for you, since as far as I know you will soon be continuing your journey. At least according to my information. The crew for your flight is already assembled at the farewell briefing. Shall we join them? They are probably waiting for us.”

»Udobna plovila imamo,

kajne?« je na moj odziv

odvrnil neznanec. »Promet

je na naši stopnji kar dobro

urejen in tudi za dobro

počutje potnikov znamo

poskrbeti, kajne? Sicer pa

ta postajni asteroid, na

katerega smo namenjeni,

niti ni daleč, saj je name-

njen našim postankom

med poleti na Zemljo. Za

vaše prijatelje je sedaj ura

11 in 16 minut.«

Po kratkem premisleku

sem prikimal z nič kaj

določenim zaključkom.

»Zanimivo.«

»Sicer pa bo tudi za vas to

le prehodna postaja, ker

kolikor vem, boste kmalu

nadaljevali naprej. Vsaj po

meni znanih informaci-

jah. Tudi posadka za vaš

let je že zbrana na poslovil-

nem srečanju. Najbolje, da

gremo kar tja, saj nas verje-

tno že pričakujejo.«

21

* * *

The large high-ceilinged hall reminded me more than anything else of a tastefully decorated café. That was the impression I got as I walked in. So this is where we were suppo-sed to be “already assem-bled” or something like that. The relaxed atmo-sphere offered no hint of any impending risky mis-sion. It looked as though the official part of the bri-efing – speeches and that sort of thing – was already over. “Welcome!” said a female Sensin dressed in figu-re-hugging overalls with accessories of the kind usually found on women’s clothes. I couldn’t decide whether this was a desi-gner outfit based on uni-form overalls or a pair of

* * *

Velika dvorana z visokim

stropom je še najbolj spo-

minjala na lepo urejeno

kavarno. Vsaj tak vtis sem

dobil ob vstopu vanjo. Tu

naj bi torej bili »že zbrani«

ali nekaj takega. Spro-

ščeno vzdušje pa ni kazalo

na kakšno bolj tvegano

odpravo. Tudi uradni del

srečanja z nagovori je bil

verjetno že mimo.

»Dobrodošli!« me je poz-

dravila Čutina, oblečena

v oprijet kombinezon z

nekaterimi dodatki, zna-

čilnimi za ženska oblačila.

Bolj težko mi je bilo opre-

deliti, ali je ta obleka izde-

lana na podlagi uniformi-

ranega kombinezona ali

22

overalls with some of the characteristics of a desi-gner outfit. It certainly suited her. I looked around at the other Sensins. Most of them were dressed in similar fashion. This was probably their uniform. “The crew of your expedi-tion are all present and cor-rect. Let’s go over to them: I’m sure you’re anxious to meet them.”“Of course,” I replied, as though this were obvious, and then stopped, sligh-tly surprised at the spon-taneity of my response. Hmm, was it because of the friendly reception or – my doubt made me smile – could it be a sense of belonging? When we rea-ched the group this feeling grew even stronger. They all greeted me in a very friendly manner. They were pleased to see me. Some of them even called out to try and attract my attention, and I returned their greetings with a

pa je to kombinezon z

ohranjenimi značilnostmi

obleke. Zelo lepo ji je pri-

stajal. Ozrl sem se še po

okoliških Čutinih. Večina

v dvorani je bila oblečena

podobno. Verjetno je bila

to njihova uniforma.

»Posadka vaše odprave je

že v celoti zbrana. Lahko

stopiva do njih, saj jih ver-

jetno želite spoznati.«

»Seveda,« sem odvrnil

z nakazano samoumev-

nostjo te moje želje ter

potem zastal v rahlem

presenečenju nad svojim

spontanim odzivanjem.

Hja, verjetno zaradi prija-

teljskega sprejema ali pa

morda . . . nasmehniti sem

se moral v dvomu. . . pa

menda ne zaradi občutka

pripadnosti?! Po prihodu

v skupino pa se mi je ta

občutek še vse bolj krepil.

Prav prijateljsko so me vsi

pozdravljali. Razveselili so

se me. Nekateri so me celo

s polglasnimi vzkliki opo-

zorili nase, tako da sem

23

smile. One of them tapped me on the shoulder: “Now we’re all here, right?” I nodded and laughed, more out of politeness, since any other reply would have been out of place at that moment, and anyway, what else was I supposed to do? I looked around again. Most of them were already engros-sed in their own conversa-tions. My arrival had only been a temporary inter-ruption. The Sensin next to me went on:“We came for you just in time, didn’t we?”“Why?” “If we hadn’t pulled out in time it would have been all over for you.”“Why?” “Ha. Why!” The Sensin frowned, as though con-sidering what words to choose, and then stared at me: “We’ve got quite a lot in common, haven’t we?” And then, with a new gleam in his eyes, he

jim tudi sam odzdravljal

z nasmehom. Eden me je

potrepljal po rami: »Zdaj

smo kompletni, kajne?«

V smehu sem mu prikimal,

sicer bolj iz vljudnosti,

ker bi bil vsak drugačen

odgovor v tistem trenutku

nasproten pričakovanju,

pa tudi - kaj drugega naj

bi sicer naredil? Ponovno

sem se ozrl naokrog, a je

bila večina že povsem v

svojih pogovorih, ki jih je

moj prihod očitno le malo

zmotil. Čutin ob meni pa

je nadaljeval.

»Še pravi čas smo prišli po

vas, kajne?«

»Zakaj?«

»Če se ne bi pravočasno

umaknili bi bilo po vas.«

»Zakaj?«

»Hja. Zakaj!« Čutin je nagr-

bančil čelo v premišljanju,

katere besedo naj izbere,

ter se zazrl vame. »Precej

skupnega imamo, kajne?«

Nato pa je še s poživljenim

leskom v očeh dodal: »Saj

24

added: “We don’t seem particularly alien to you, do we?” “No, no,” I replied hurrie-dly. “No, not at all, altho-ugh…”“Well, yes, of course, the different level of tech-nology is something that separates us, but don’t worry: it won’t be difficult for you to adapt.”“Ah yes, the different level of technology. I’d already noticed that. And what level are our opponents at?”“Actually we’re at a simi-lar level. We probably have a slight advantage. More important than that is the current state of our mutual relations. That is a slightly more difficult situation.”I nodded slightly. “What I saw certainly looked like a more difficult situation. At least as far as I could tell. And where do I come in?”The Sensin looked at me keenly. There was some-thing else he wanted to tell me, but he couldn’t

vam ne delujemo preti-

rano tuje, mar ne?«

»Ne, ne,« sem odvrnil v

opravičujoči se naglici.

»Ne, nikakor ne, čeprav. . .«

»No, ja, seveda, različna

tehnološka raven nas

ločuje, toda nič ne skrbite,

ne bo se vam težko prila-

goditi.«

»Hja, različna tehnološka

raven, ja. To sem že opazil.

Na kakšni tehnološki ravni

pa je nasprotna stran?«

»Pravzaprav smo na pri-

merljivi ravni, verjetno

smo mi celo v prednosti.

Bolj pomembno je trenu-

tno stanje naših medse-

bojnih odnosov. Tu so pa

sedaj prisotni malo bolj

trdi pogovori.«

Narahlo sem prikimal.

»Tisto, kar sem videl, je že

bil res bolj trd pogovor. Če

sem prav razumel, seveda.

In kaj lahko pri tem storim

jaz?«

Čutin me je motril s pre-

dirnim pogledom, hotel je

sicer še nekaj povedati, pa

25

find the words. At least that was my impression. I got the feeling that he wanted to explain some-thing else to me. But what could it be, to make an individual from such a highly developed civili-sation hesitate like this? “Yes, a highly developed civilisation,” I muttered to myself. These words and their meaning conjured up a rapid succession of images as I thought about all I had seen and experi-enced since the arrival of that stranger. I still didn’t know anything about them. They were certainly a superior civilisation, with an extremely highly deve-loped intelligence. I could sense that. And yet their behaviour towards me… I tried to marshal my tho-ughts. Then it struck me: they showed me the same respect that they would show to an equal. I sensed an atmosphere of common purpose, of being toge-ther in the formation of a

so mu besede zastale. Vsaj

tako je bilo videti. Obču-

tek sem pač dobil, da mi

je želel še nekaj razložiti.

Toda kaj bi lahko bilo to,

kar spravlja posameznika

iz tako visoko razvite civi-

lizacije v obotavljanje?

»Hja, ‘visoko razvite’ civi-

lizacije,« mi je v mrmranju

prišlo iz grla. Besede z nji-

hovim pomenom so se mi

pojavile v bežnih slikah

vsega, kar sem srečeval in

doživel po tistem nenava-

dnem prihodu tujca. Prav-

zaprav še nič nisem vedel

o njih. Vsekakor so superi-

orna civilizacija, z izjemno

razumsko razvitostjo, ki

sem jo lahko občutil. Pa

vendar so se obnašali do

mene - zastal sem v preletu

misli - spoštljivo kot do

sebi enakega.

Čutil sem vzdušje skupne

pripadnosti, povezanosti

ob nastajanju skupnega

naklepa. Premišljevanje

26

common plan. I paused. That thought. Where had it come from? Why? What had prompted it? It had appeared spontaneously, as if from nowhere. Or… Were my senses playing tricks on me? All the gestures of these stran-gers, comments, hints, the way they addressed me, the way they behaved towards me. They acted in a friendly way, as though I belonged to them, as though I was theirs.No, I told myself. I couldn’t trust my power of perception to that extent. I knew too little about them to think any more clearly, or to arrive at any sort of conclusion. “I hope you are not uncom-fortable among us,” said the Sensin in a polite and reserved voice.“No, absolutely not,” I replied, with a grateful expression. They had received me in a friendly manner, that was true. And the hospitality these

mi je ob tem zastalo. Ta

misel. Od kod se mi je

rodila? Zakaj? Na osnovi

česa se je pojavila? Spon-

tano, sama od sebe, utrgala

se mi je v trenutku kot od

nikoder. Ali pa..? Razen če

me občutki niso varali? Vsi

gibi teh tujcev, pripombe,

namigi med njimi, kako so

me nagovarjali, se obna-

šali do mene. Delovali so

prijateljsko, kot da jim pri-

padam, da sem njihov.

Ne, sem si dejal. Svojemu

čutnemu zaznavanju že

nisem mogel zaupati do te

mere. Premalo sem vedel o

njih za bolj določno razmi-

šljanje ali celo sklepanje.

»Upam, da vam med nami

ni neugodno,« je z uglajeno

zadržanostjo spregovoril

tujec.

»Ne, nikakor ne,« sem odvr-

nil z izrazom hvaležnosti.

Lepo so me sprejeli, to je

bilo res, in gostoljubnost

neznancev mi je bila pri-

jetna, pa še pomembna je

bila.

27

strangers showed me was pleasant. And that was important.The Sensin smiled. “Good. I am pleased that you are settling in well.”I returned his smile. “I don’t know much about you,” I said, unable to con-ceal my curiosity, as my brain made an effort to penetrate this unknown world, with all my conjec-tures and questions. “Naturally it will take you a little time to get accusto-med to us. Even on Earth you have problems when you move to a new town, or to another country.”I nodded. That was true, of course. But in any case I had to make a start, and my curiosity was already beginning to get the better of me. What I didn’t know, though, was where to start, although perhaps that wasn’t the most important thing. The Sensin conti-nued to gaze in front of him for a few moments, in a sort of meditative

Čutin se je nasmehnil.

»Lepo. To mi je v zadovolj-

stvo. Prav vesel sem vašega

dobrega vživljanja v našo

družbo.«

Vrnil sem mu nasmeh.

»Bolj malo vem o vas,« sem

odvrnil z nakazano rado-

vednostjo in se z mislimi

poskušal pomakniti v

meni neznan svet, skupaj

z vsemi svojimi ugibanji in

vprašanji.

»Nekaj časa je seveda

potrebno, preden se posa-

meznik vživi. Še na Zemlji

imate težave ob selitvi v

malo bolj oddaljen kraj ali

državo.«

Prikimal sem. To je bilo

seveda res. Začeti pa je

bilo vseeno treba in tudi

radovednost me je že pre-

vzemala do vznemirjenja.

Nisem pa vedel, kje naj

začnem, čeprav to morda

niti ni bilo najpomemb-

neje, najbrž. Čutin je še

nekaj trenutkov zrl predse

z neko zamišljeno odso-

28

absence, and then turned back to me.“The problem is the lack of time. We have to act immediately. We have no other choice.”I nodded intelligently. Of course. From what I had seen it wasn’t dif-ficult to understand the need for rapid action. But I was unable to arrive at any more tangible con-clusion from all of this. I still hadn’t been offered an explanation – even an approximate one – of this whole business, and I was struggling to form even a basic picture of their civi-lisation.“Actually, we are on the brink of war!” the Sensin continued. I nodded. It had to be something like that. “To put it another way,” he went on, “hostilities have commenced, and skirmis-hes, and everything except a full-scale engagement. But the marshalling of forces in order to secure an advantage has already

tnostjo, potem pa se je le

spet obrnil k meni.

»Problem je v pomanj-

kanju časa. Ukrepati pa

moramo takoj. Druge

izbire nimamo.«

Razumevajoče sem priki-

mal. Seveda, iz tega, kar

sem videl, ni bilo težko

sklepati o nujnosti hitrega

ukrepanja. Toda iz vsega

skupaj nisem mogel nare-

diti nobenega bolj oprije-

mljivega zaključka. Nisem

imel ne približne razlage

o vsem tem dogajanju ne

osnovne predstave o nji-

hovi civilizaciji.

»Pravzaprav smo na pragu

vojne!« je nadaljeval Čutin.

Prikimal sem. Nekaj

takega se je res moralo

dogajati. »Oziroma, bolje

rečeno, začele so se sovra-

žnosti, tudi spopadi, prav-

zaprav vse, le spopad z

vsemi silami je še pred

vrati. Toda razvrščanje

sil z namenom zagotoviti

29

begun.” The Sensin gave me a penetrating look. “We had the advantage. A considerable advantage. But the death of our friend means that we have almost lost it. I say ‘almost’ beca-use we can still get it back. There is only one detail left to resolve.”I suddenly realised that this problem of theirs probably contained the reason why they had come looking for me. But what could I do that they were unable to do themselves?“We are going to need your cooperation,” said the Sensin calmly after a slight pause, and smiled respectfully. “Ah,” I said, with a slight nod, “of course.” Then, after a brief reflection, I added: “It is probably also in my interest to join you, isn’t it?Something in the stranger’s voice had awa-kened doubts in me. Indi-stinct doubts and vague notions. I sensed a kind of

prednosti se je že začelo.«

Čutin se je prenikavo zazrl

vame. »Mi smo že imeli

prednost, in to znatno. S

smrtjo našega prijatelja pa

smo jo že skoraj izgubili.

Skoraj, pravim zato, ker si

jo še zmeraj lahko povr-

nemo. Le en podrobnost

nam ostaja odprta.

Utrnil se mi je preblisk,

da bo v tem njihovem pro-

blemu najbrž tisto, zaradi

česar so me poiskali. Toda

kaj bi lahko naredil jaz,

česar ne morejo sami?

»Vaše sodelovanje bomo

potrebovali,« je po krat-

kem premoru dejal tujec z

mirnim glasom in se spo-

štljivo nasmehnil.

»Aja,« sem dejal z rahlim

namigom glave, »seveda«.

Nato pa po kratkem pre-

misleku dodal: »Najbrž je

tudi zame smiselno, da se

vam pridružim?«

Nekaj v tujčevem glasu

mi je vzbujalo rahle pomi-

sleke. Nedoločene, z neja-

snimi predstavami. Obču-

til sem neko nasprotje in

30

conflict and incongruity in the vague contours of my perception. But nothing more definite, not yet.The stranger was still loo-king at me expectantly. He was probably waiting for an answer. For me to agree to cooperate. And yet it was obvious that I would cooperate. Why wouldn’t I? There was no reason not to. I thought about it. Nothing pointed to any other course of action. “I don’t know what I can do. If I can help, I will do everything in my power,” I said with a smile. “But I can’t imagine what I could possibly do better than you can do yoursel-ves.” The idea that I could do anything important for them was more than I could understand. “Naturally. I understand your doubts,” continued the Sensin calmly. “But it is not important. You will receive explanations in your group.”“All right,” I agreed. “So

neujemanje v nejasnih

obrisih zaznavanja. Toda

nič kaj bolj določenega mi

ni prišlo na misel.

Neznanec me je še vedno

motril v pričakovanju.

Najbrž odgovora. Moje

privolitve na sodelovanje.

Pa saj je vendar jasno, da

bom sodeloval. Zakaj ne

bi? Nobenega razloga ni za

to. Zamislil sem se. Nič ni

kazalo na kaj drugega.

»Ne vem, kaj lahko storim.

Če lahko pomagam,

bom že naredil po svojih

močeh. Niti približno pa

si ne predstavljam kaj bi

lahko naredil bolje od vas.«

Nejeverno sem se nasmeh-

nil. Da bi lahko jaz naredil

kaj pomembnega zanje,

je pa že presegalo moje

umske zmogljivosti.

»Seveda. Vaš dvom mi

je razumljiv. Toda to ni

pomembno. V vaši skupini

boste sproti dobivali poja-

snila,« je mirno nadaljeval

Čutin

»Lepo,« sem se strinjal,

31

this expedition will pro-bably be a war, is that cor-rect?”“Well, you could say so. Perhaps you are familiar with the concept of spe-cial forces? It is not quite the same. It involves wea-pons that are very diffe-rent from yours on Earth. The purpose is of course the same, and the indivi-duals are also trained in this sense. They are spe-cialists, yes.” For the first time the Sensin smiled with something like ani-mation. “You too will be a specialist. One of the more important ones. Do not be afraid. Everything has been carefully planned for this mission. You will not fail.”These last words were pro-nounced with something like enthusiasm. And yet his comment about a care-fully planned action by special forces nevertheless contained some uncerta-inty. I couldn’t help thin-king about the possible

»torej bo to ekspedicija,

verjetno vojna, kajne?«

»No, lahko bi tako rekli.

Vam so bolj znane enote

specialcev. Ni povsem isto.

Gre za orožja, precej dru-

gačna od vaših na Zemlji.

Namen je seveda isti in

tudi posamezniki so uspo-

sobljeni v tem smislu. So

specialisti, da.« Tujec se je

prvič malo bolj živahno

nasmehnil. »Tudi vi boste

specialist. Eden pomemb-

nejših. Naj vas ne bo strah.

Vse je dovolj dobro premi-

šljeno za ta podvig. Ne bo

se vam ponesrečil.«

Slednje je bilo že izrečeno

z nekaj navdušenja. Pri-

pomba glede dobro pre-

mišljene akcije specialcev

pa je vseeno nosila v sebi

nekaj negotovosti. Vsaj

meni so misli zastale v pre-

mišljanju o možnih tvega-

32

risks, because of course I still knew far too little about the whole business. Too little to arrive at any more definite conclusions.“According to our estima-tes the risk is quite accep-table. But it does depend on us arriving in time. Any delay, and it could become dangerous. Too dangerous, in fact. But in view of the circumstances, this risk is nevertheless vital. The unit must get under way at once. During the journey we will tell you everything about our civilisation, or at least as much as you wish to know.”“Okay,” I agreed. Eviden-tly there was no time to spare. I was eager to hear more about this civilisation of theirs, but in view of the situation, if matters stood as they said they did, we would need to hurry. Our enemies would not be idle either. That was the way of these things, I told myself. Enemies, yes, enemies…

njih, saj sem premalo vedel

o vsem skupaj. Premalo za

bolj določene sklepe.

»Tveganje je po naših

ocenah dokaj spreje-

mljivo. Pogojeno pa je s

pravočasnim prihodom.

Zato ne smemo izgubljati

časa, sicer lahko postane

nevarno. Pravzaprav pre-

nevarno. Glede na oko-

liščine pa je to tveganje

vseeno nujno. Enota mora

takoj na pot. Med potjo pa

vas bomo seznanili z našo

civilizacijo v celoti ozi-

roma kolikor vas bo zani-

malo.«

»Prav,« sem se strinjal.

Očitno se je res mudilo.

Nekaj več informacij o

tej civilizaciji bi že rad še

slišal. Glede na položaj, če

je zadeva taka, kot pravijo,

bo pač treba pohiteti. Tudi

nasprotniki ne mirujejo.

Hja, tako je vedno. Naspro-

tniki, da, nasprotniki...

33

But who were these ene-mies?The Sensin shook my hand in a friendly manner and bade me farewell.

Toda kdo hudiča so ti nji-

hovi nasprotniki?

Tujec mi je prijateljsko sti-

snil roko in se poslovil.

34

Chapter III

The pain in my chest and shoulders was accom-panied by a tremendous downwards pressure. And then an upwards pressure. Waking up suddenly, at first I couldn’t under-stand this buffeting. I gri-pped the armrests tightly and noticed with confu-sion how the straps were digging into my body. The next moment I realised that without these straps I would have been thrown out of my seat. Memories of recent events flashed through my mind, and with them a dawning com-prehension of the position. From these fragmented thoughts, I slowly formed a clearer picture of the current situation.There was a Sensin next to me. In the next seat. Bene-sens – that was his name –

III. poglavje

Bolečino na oprsju in

ramenih je spremljal

strahovit potisk navzdol,

potem navzgor, pa še pre-

metavanje, ki mu ob nena-

dnem prebujenju nisem

našel razlage, le s prsti sem

se krčevito oprijel naslo-

njala za roke in z zbeganim

pogledom zaznal, kako se

mi jermen zajeda v telo, pa

me je že v naslednjem tre-

nutku prešinilo, da bi me

brez teh jermenov odneslo

s sedeža. Skozi zavest mi

je hitro prešlo nekaj spo-

minskih vtisov iz zadnjih

dogodkov, skupaj z doje-

manjem danega položaja,

in iz razpršenih misli so

mi prišle v ospredje vse

bolj jasne in razumljive

podrobnosti trenutnih

okoliščin.

Čutin ob meni. Na sose-

dnjem sedežu. Dobročut,

tako se mi je predstavil,

35

se je oziral k meni. Na nji-

hovi ladji sem bil, v naši

misiji, z vsemi specialci.

Tako miren let je bil sprva,

potem pa nenadoma silo-

vito obračanje med pole-

tom.

»Ne sodite po tem, kar

se nam trenutno dogaja,«

mi je ohrabrujoče navr-

gel moj sosed. »To ni tako

pomembno, kot je morda

videti. Ni nevarnosti.«

Pogled skozi prednje dvaj-

setmetrsko okno mi je otr-

pnil na bližajočih se leta-

lih, s krivuljami njihovih

letov usmerjenimi narav-

nost v nas, v veliko okno

našega poveljniškega pro-

stora. Krčevito sem je opri-

jel naslonjala, hip zatem

pa nas je strahovit sunek

navzdol in vstran pognal

v hitro spiralno obračanje.

Toda spet je šlo očitno le

za las. Letala so zletela tako

blizu nas, da bi se morala

podrgniti ob našo ladjo,

pa se očitno niso, in tedaj

je za stotinko sekunde eno

was watching me. I was on their ship, on our mission, with the members of the special forces. The flight had started off so calmly, and now all of a sudden we were gyrating wildly.“Don’t judge from what is happening to us at this moment,” said my neigh-bour encouragingly. “This is not as important as it might seem. There is no danger.”The window in front of me was twenty metres wide. I stared through it, my eyes following the curving tra-jectories of the approaching ships. They were heading straight for us: straight at the enormous window of the command bridge. I gripped my armrests even tighter. A moment later a tremendous jolt hurled us off to one side in a rapid spiralling turn. Another narrow escape, apparen-tly. The craft flew so close to us as to practically skim the surface of our ship, but evidently there was no

36

od njih prekrilo skoraj vse

okno poveljniškega pro-

stora ter izginilo.

»Kako lahko letijo tako

blizu?« sem vprašal.

»Kar zadeva tehniko, smo

precej izenačeni. To ni nič

posebnega.«

»Mar še vedno vztrajate na

domnevi o nepomembno-

sti trenutnega dogajanja?«

»No, morali bi poznati

celotno dogajanje. Lahko

rečem le, da je po vsej ver-

jetnosti nepomembno.«

Nejeverno sem ga gledal.

»Po vsej verjetnosti, pra-

vite. Torej je določen dvom

vseeno prisoten.«

»Dvom že, vendar ne o teh-

niki.«

»Kako mislite - ne o teh-

niki?«

»Tako, tehnično vzeto, je

vse dovolj dobro preraču-

nano in dognano, da do

trka ne more priti, dokler

ta ni načrtovan.«

contact. Then for a hun-dredth of a second one of them filled almost the entire window of the flight deck and disappeared.“How can they fly so close?” I asked.“As far as technology is concerned, we are fairly evenly matched. This is nothing special.”“Surely you’re not still saying that this is unim-portant?”“Well, we would need to know the whole picture. All I can say is that in all probability it is unimpor-tant.”I looked at him incredulo-usly. “In all probability you say? So there is a certain amount of doubt, then.”“Doubt, yes, but not about the technical side.”“What do you mean, not about the technical side?”“Just that. Technically speaking, everything is so accurately calculated and calibrated that a collision cannot occur unless it is planned.”

37

To je bilo lepo slišati. Še

nasmehniti sem se moral.

»Recimo, da razumem. Na

Zemlji sicer nimamo vaše

tehnologije, velja pa pra-

vilo, da na nasprotnikova

letala ne streljaš brez pove-

lja za sestrelitev ali krši-

tve veljavnih pravil. Vsaj v

času pred začetkom vojne.

Toda ali ste prepričani, da

ne kršite mirnodobnih

pravil, če še niste v vojni,

kot pravite? Saj ste rekli,

da smo na nikogaršnjem

področju.«

»Tega ne vem. Po moji

oceni je tako. Res pa so

se pravila obnašanja v

zadnjem času precej spre-

menila, in to vnaša nego-

tovost.«

Tudi o njihovih vojaških

izkušnjah nisem vedel

ničesar. »Kdaj pa ste prav-

zaprav bili zadnjikrat v

vojni?« sem vprašal.

»Mi?«

V potrdilo sem molče

gledal. Nekam veliko časa

That was good to hear. I forced a smile. “Let’s assume that I under-stand. We may not have your technology on Earth, but there is a rule that you don’t fire at the enemy’s aircraft until you are orde-red to shoot them down or unless they violate the rules of engagement. At least in the period before the start of a war. But are you sure that you are not violating peacetime rules if, as you say, you are not yet at war? You did say that we were in no-man’s-land.”“I’m not sure. According to my estimate that is the case. But it is true that the rules have changed a lot recently, and that introdu-ces uncertainty.” Their military experience was something else I knew nothing about. “When were you actually last at war?” I asked.“Us?”I nodded and watched him without saying anything.

38

This Sensin seemed to need a lot of time to answer simple questions.“The answer is not so simple. What war is, that is something we know well. The problem is that we have never related this concept to our existence.”“But then you cannot know what a war is!”“Oh yes we can.” Benesens’s eyes lit up. “There are ways to know war even if you have never fully taken part in one yourself. We know this concept a lot better than you can imagine. But all of our understanding, all of our life has proceeded in the total conviction that at our level of development war is something utterly absurd, that it is some-thing that will certainly never happen to us. Most of us are still convinced of this. On the other hand logistical analysis suggest quite the opposite. That war is in fact inevitable. Some variants point to

je potreboval ta Čutin za

odgovore na preprosta

vprašanja.

»Odgovor ni tako preprost.

Kaj je vojna, nam je dobro

znano. Problem je bolj v

tem, da tega pojma nismo

nikoli povezovali z našo

eksistenco.«

»Potem ne morete vedeti,

kaj je vojna!«

»O, ja, lahko.« V Dobroču-

tovem pogledu so zaple-

sale živahne iskrice. »So

tudi poti, da spoznaš

vojno, čeprav se je nisi

sam povsem udeležil. Ta

pojem poznamo dosti

bolje kot si vi to lahko

predstavljate. Toda vse

naše razumevanje, vse

naše življenje je potekalo

v popolnem prepričanju,

da je vojna na naši stopnji

razvoja popoln absurd, da

je to nekaj, kar se pri nas

prav gotovo ne bo nikoli

zgodilo, o tem je večina

med nami še vedno pre-

pričanja. Po drugi strani

pa nam logistične analize

kažejo prav nasprotno.

39

an explosive escalation of hostilities and immediate conflict. However, even I cannot fully accept this.”“Who actually are your enemies? Did they appear suddenly?”“No, no. We have known each other a long time. We are different, but not so different that we need to go to war over it. This escalation of tension really is introducing uncertainty to this no-man’s-land. It is already quite disagree-able, isn’t it? One is filled with uncomfortable sensa-tions.”“I see.” A thought struck me. “What in your opi-nion is more likely: that you will attack first or that they will?”“There is no sure answer to that question. They have a greater propensity for war. It is possible that it will be them, although in all probability we are still at a slightly higher level of technology.”

Da je vojna namreč neiz-

bežna. Obstajajo različice

eksplozivne razširitve

sovražnosti in takojšnjega

spopada. Vendar pa

tega tudi sam ne morem

povsem sprejeti.«

»Toda kdo so pravzaprav

vaši sovražniki? Mar so

prišli kar nenadoma?«

»Ne, ne. Že dolgo se

poznamo. Smo sicer raz-

lični, ne pa tako močno,

da bi se morali zaradi tega

vojskovati. To stopnjevanje

napetosti res vnaša nego-

tovost na tukajšnje niko-

garšnje področju. Že kar

neprijetno, kajne? Nelago-

dni občutki prevevajo člo-

veka.«

»Torej tako.« Nenadoma se

mi je prikradel pomislek.

»Kaj je po vašem mnenju

verjetneje: da boste prvi

napadli vi ali oni?«

»Ni zanesljivega odgovora.

Njim je bolj do vojne.

Možno je, da bodo oni,

čeprav smo mi po vsej ver-

jetnosti še vedno na višji

tehnološki ravni od njih.«

40

“Can you predict where they will attack?”“That is clear.” Benesens smiled at me. “In the vici-nity of the Earth.”“The Earth?” “Yes. So you see, you do have a good reason to coo-perate with us.”“What are you saying? Why should they attack in the vicinity of the Earth?”“They have a reason, yes. The destruction of the Earthmen would weaken us.”“Is that the reason? That is hard for me to understand. What advantage would that give them?”“I don’t know. But judging from how they are acting, they are convinced of it. Your problem is above all your insignificance. At least with regard to the significance they attribute to their actions.”At that moment we heard a brief message giving the all clear. Lively conversa-tions immediately started up all around us and there

»Predvidevate morda, kje

bodo napadli?«

»To je jasno.« Dobročut se

mi je nasmehnil. »V obmo-

čju Zemlje.«

»Zemlje?«

»Da. Dovolj močan razlog

torej imate za sodelovanje

z nami.«

»Huh. Od kod pa zdaj to?

Zakaj naj bi napadli v

območju Zemlje?«

»Imajo razlog, da. Uniče-

nje Zemljanov bi oslabilo

nas.«

»Zaradi tega? To mi je pa

težko razumeti. Kakšno

prednost bi s tem dose-

gli?«

»Ne vem. Toda glede na to,

kako se vedejo, so o tem

prepričani. Vaš problem

je predvsem v vaši nepo-

membnosti. Vsaj glede na

pomen, ki ga pripisujejo

svojemu početju.«

Tedaj smo zaslišali kratko

sporočilo o prekinitvi

alarma, to pa je takoj spro-

žilo živahne in bolj spro-

ščene pogovore. Še sam

41

was a palpable easing of tension. Even I reconci-led myself to the fact that there was no real danger. I soon caught the cheerful mood and began engaging my companions in conver-sation in an effort to find out something more about the situation. I was, howe-ver, only partially succes-sful. As regards the tech-nical aspects, I received a number of interesting answers and explanations, but for the moment they didn’t seem interested in talking about themselves or about their civilisation. I was unable to involve any of them in a conver-sation on this topic. They weren’t in any hurry to reveal themselves to me. Nevertheless my mind kept returning to the com-ment that the destruction of the Earthmen would weaken them too. This was really important! If that’s how things really were, of course. In order to try and learn

sem se sprijaznil z dej-

stvom, da ni nobene prave

nevarnosti, in se tudi

kmalu nalezel veselega

razpoloženja ter začenjal

pogovore, s katerimi sem

želel izvedeti še kaj več o

danem položaju. Vendar

pa sem bil pri tem le delno

uspešen. Kar zadeva teh-

niko, sem sicer dobil nekaj

zanimivih odgovorov in

pojasnil, pogovor o njih

samih, o njihovi civili-

zaciji pa jih v tistem tre-

nutku ni najbolj zanimal.

Vsaj nobenega med njimi

nisem mogel zaplesti v

pogovor na to temo. Bolj

po malem so se mi razkri-

vali, da. Tudi to je bilo res.

Pripomba, da bi uničenje

Zemljanov pomenilo osla-

bitev tudi zanje, pa se mi

je vseeno pogosteje vra-

čala v ospredje. Hudičevo

pomembna je bila! Če je

zadeva res taka, seveda!

Da bi še kaj več izvedel

42

something more about them, I began studying the faces of the Sensins around me. They were still chatting away animatedly. The group I joined was tal-king about the chances of war breaking out. Some-one was saying that they had been warned of the possibility of the first real clashes, and that we would be right in the thick of it. It was even possible that we would be the trigger for hostilities to begin. A few metres away a Sensin was talking in a loud voice about some logisti-cal analysis that suggested that the Acutins were first going to try and thwart our expedition with a series of manoeuvres, after which they would destroy us. “If they knew about the Earthman, or if they knew why we need him, they would certainly have done so already.”These words reached me over the conversations going on all around me

o njih, sem zaokrožil s

pogledom po bližnjih

obrazih. Še vedno so se

živahno pomenkovali.

Skupina, ki sem se ji pri-

družil, se je pogovarjala o

možnostih izbruha vojne.

Češ da so bili opozorjeni

na možnost prvih pravih

spopadov, pri tem pa, da

bomo prav mi v središču

dogajanja. Morda bo celo

začetek vojne potekal prav

prek nas. Po nekaterih logi-

stičnih analizah, o katerih

je par metrov stran glasno

govoril neki Čutin, bodo

Ostrini poskušali najprej

z nekaj manevrskimi pote-

zami onemogočiti našo

ekspedicijo, potem pa nas

še uničiti. »Če bi vedeli za

Zemljana oziroma če bi

vedeli, zakaj ga potrebu-

jemo, bi to že prav gotovo

storili.«

Te besede skoz vrsto živah-

nih pogovorov so vame

ponovno vnesle nemir.

43

and once again made me feel uneasy. I still couldn’t imagine why my presence should be so important. I even had the sensation that they were deliberately leaving me to wander blin-dly through a labyrinth of conjecture. I looked around me. The command bridge was big enough for the entire crew. It must have been around 40 metres long and 40 metres wide, with a window of corresponding dimensions at the front.I let my eyes wander over faces and groups, and then suddenly I saw her a few metres away. It was her. In one of the groups, in the middle of an animated discussion, although she didn’t seem to be parti-cularly interested in it. At least that was the impres-sion I got. She stood there quietly with her arms folded in front of her and her head slightly to one side. She was beautiful. Too attractive for me to

Zakaj naj bi bila moja pri-

sotnost tako pomembna,

pa še vedno nisem mogel

uganiti. Dobil sem celo

občutek, da me po nepo-

trebnem puščajo tavati

po labirintu ugibanj. Ozrl

sem s naokrog. Poveljniški

prostor je bil dovolj velik

za celotno posadko, nekaj

na 40 m je moral imeti v

dolžino in širino, s skoraj

prav tako velikim oknom

v ospredju.

S pogledom sem se pomi-

kal po obrazih in skupinah,

dokler mi ni nenadoma

obstal nekaj metrov naprej.

Bila je tam. V skupini,

sredi živahnega pogovora,

čeprav je očitno, videti je

bilo tako, ni povsem pri-

tegnil. Vsaj občutek sem

dobil tak. Stala je tiho, s

sklenjenimi rokami pred

sabo in z narahlo upognje-

nim vratom. Bila je lepa.

Preveč mikavna za nepri-

44

look casually away. My breathing slowed and I felt the beginnings of desire. She had turned away and was gazing in front of her. The melancholy, anxious look in her eyes reminded me of the expression she had worn at our first mee-ting. I ran my eyes over her long, wheat-coloured hair and imagined a cares-sing hand sinking through the curls to touch her neck. A slight movement would reveal it to the touch of my lips and a tender kiss. I looked at her face again. The mood emanating from her had changed comple-tely. A slight backwards tilt of her raised head reve-aled her neck and filled me with an urge to touch her, to slide my lips down to her full breasts and then up her slender neck to her ears and her sensual mouth. She looked at me. Although we were seven or eight metres apart, our eyes met. She gave me a slight smile. Melancholy

zadet odmik pogleda od

nje. Dih se mi je upočasnil

v porajajočem se hrepe-

nenju. Obrnjena stran, je

zrla predse, in tisti otožni,

zaskrbljeni pogled ob naji-

nem prvem srečanju mi je

ponovno živo stopil pred

oči. S pogledom sem šel po

njenih dolgih, pšenično

obarvanih kodrih, skozi

katere se božajoča roka

pogrezne vse do vratu,

ki ga le rahel gib razkrije

dotiku ustnic in božajo-

čim poljubom. Ponovno

sem se zazrl v njen obraz.

Povsem drugo razpolože-

nje je zavelo iz nje. Privzdi-

gnjeno glavo je narahlo

pomaknila nazaj, da me

je ob pogledu na njen raz-

kriti vrat prevzela želja po

dotiku, po drsečem pomi-

kanju ustnic navzdol do

njenih neder, polnih dojk,

in nazaj ob njenem vratu,

tja do ušes in njenih čutnih

ust. Ozrla se je vame.

Čeprav le dobrih sedem

ali osem metrov narazen,

sta se najina pogleda ujela.

45

at first, but then her eyes seemed to light up and her smile widened. I smiled too, although I was sligh-tly confused. Once again those looks of hers seemed to speak volumes. But that was the reason I didn’t understand anything any more. Or perhaps I understood too much and nothing. So many sensa-tions were racing through me that I was unable to concentrate my thoughts. Had she seen the desire in my eyes, was that why her body language suddenly seemed so disdainful? Surely not! She couldn’t have seen that. She looked away, squeezed her arms together so that her brea-sts rose slightly, and then moved her head back, in a kind of sensual abandon, and breathed deeply. Her bare neck was revealed, as though offering itself up to adoring kisses all the way down to her sho-ulders. This excited me.

Rahlo se mi je nasmehnila.

Sprva nekoliko otožno,

potem pa ji je zaplesal v

očeh živahen lesk, ustnice

so se ji raztegnile v samo-

zavesten smehljaj. Tudi

sam sem se ji je nasmehnil,

čeprav nekoliko zmedeno.

Spet so bili ti njeni pogledi

tako zgovorni. Toda prav

zato nisem več ničesar

razumel. Oziroma - razu-

mel sem preveč in nič.

Toliko občutkov je divjalo

skozme, da nikakor nisem

mogel prav osredotočiti

svojih misli. Mar je ujela

poželenje v mojih očeh, da

je nenadoma toliko vzvi-

šenega prihajalo iz njenih

gibov? Menda vendar ne!

Saj tega ni mogla videti!

Umaknila je pogled, sti-

snila sklenjene roke, da so

se ji rahlo privzdignile prsi,

potem pa pomaknila glavo

nazaj, v nekakšni čutni pre-

danosti, in globoko vzdih-

nila. Vrat se ji je razkril kot

ob mirnem prepuščanju

božajočim poljubom vse

do njenih ramen. To me

je vznemirilo. Je to name-

46

Was this for my benefit? A demonstration of her perception? Was it an invi-tation or was she merely teasing me? I didn’t know anything about these Sen-sins. I would have to be careful. There was some-thing somehow cunning about them. It might all be a trap. If only I had at least a rough idea of who they actually were. I looked around me. I could feel someone else wat-ching me. A woman, two or three metres away, sta-ring at me with a look of melancholy yearning. She immediately looked away, with a barely perceptible glance at Honaja. I con-tinued to stare at her as she walked past me with a sensual smile. “You have wakened memories in me”, she said quietly. “Beautiful memo-ries.” And she walked off.I stood there feeling embar-rassed. That’s all I needed! Where had she come from? How could she have stood

njeno meni? Mi daje vedeti

svoje zaznavanje? Me vabi,

morda le draži? Ničesar

nisem vedel o teh Čutinih.

Paziti bi moral. Presneto

prebrisani so videti. Vse

skupaj bi lahko bila le past.

Ko bi vsaj približno vedel,

kdo so pravzaprav. Pogle-

dal sem naokrog. Še en

pogled sem zaznal. Neka

ženska, dva, tri metre

stran, je zrla vame s hre-

penečo otožnostjo. Takoj

je umaknila pogled, pri

tem pa je komaj zaznavno

pogledala Honajo, in ko

še naprej nisem odma-

knil pogleda z nje, je sto-

pila mimo mene s čutnim

nasmehom. »Vzbudili ste

mi spomine,« je dejala tiho,

»lepe spomine.« In odšla je

mimo.

Zastal sem v prav neprije-

tni zadregi. Še ta povrhu!

Kje, hudirja, se je vzela?

Kako je lahko stala tako

47

there watching me without me seeing her? How dare she? Damn! And what a piercing, sensual look she had given me.

blizu in me gledala, ne

da bi jo bil videl? Kako si

drzne? Prekleto! Pa kako

hudičevo prediren, čuten

pogled je imela!

48

Chapter IV

The next jolt pulled the floor out from under our feet and we staggered, instinctively putting our arms out to try and keep our balance. Quite a few Sensins sprawled to the floor, but then the alarm signal sent us rushing to our seats. I jumped into my own seat, pushed the safety harness button and looked around me. The Sensins were evidently no better prepared than I was, although they should have been. I found myself won-dering just how in con-trol of the situation they really were, and thought doubtfully about what the Sensin had told me a little earlier. “Well,” I muttered to myself, “at least some of that self-assurance was probably exaggerated.” The reactions of the Sen-

IV. poglavje

Naslednji sunek nam je

spodnesel tla pod nogami,

da smo si s samodejnimi

gibi rok pomagali ohra-

niti ravnotežje, kar nekaj

Čutinov je nič kaj mehko

pristalo na tleh, in že nas

je pisk alarma pognal na

sedeže. Tudi sam sem

skočil k svojemu sedežu,

pritisnil na gumb varno-

stnega pasu in se ozrl nao-

krog. Čutini očitno niso

bili nič bolje pripravljeni

na taka presenečenja,

čeprav bi morali biti. Vsaj

meni so se prikradli pomi-

sleki o njihovem obvlado-

vanju položaja, pa tudi o

tistem, kar mi je malo prej

pravil Čutin. »No,« sem se

momljaje popravil, »vsaj

nekaj tiste samozavesti je

bilo najbrž pretirane.«

Odzivi Čutinov so mi pač

49

sins seemed to confirm my doubts. Their calm complacency had been replaced by an air of panic and they stared in con-fusion, now at the main hologram display, now at the giant window of the command bridge. How this war of theirs was supposed to begin cannot have been very clear to them. “Hmm, a superior civilisation,” I murmured, looking at Benesens, who finally turned towards me. There must be a lot going on in his head, I thought cynically as I tried to inter-pret the expression on his face. But Benesens’s seri-ous response brought me back down to earth. If, as it appeared, we were in a dangerous situation, I was in the same boat as them. At least at the moment. Even a slight deviation from his confident version of events, and we would all be in the soup together.

govorili nekaj takega, saj

je njihovo umirjeno samo-

zavest zamenjalo hitenje

in begajoče oziranje zdaj

k osrednjemu hologram-

skemu prikazovalniku,

zdaj v veliko okno holo-

gramskega prostora. Kako

naj bi se ta njihova vojna

začela, jim ne more biti

pretirano jasno. »Superi-

orna civilizacija gor ali

dol,« sem zamrmral sam

zase in po malem motril

Dobročuta, ko je končno

tudi on pogledal proti

meni. Kar nekaj živahnega

premetavanja mora biti

v njegovi glavi, sem si z

malce ciničnega humorja

razlagal izraz na njegovem

obrazu. Toda zresnjeno

odzivanje Dobročuta je

streznilo tudi mene. Če

smo se znašli v nevarnem

položaju, kot je kazalo,

sem bil na istem kot oni.

Vsaj v tistem trenutku. Le

majhen odklon od njegove

pripovedi in samozavesti,

pa bi že bili vsi skupaj v

kaši.

50

“What was that?” I asked.“They are attacking us,” Benesens replied.There was silence, but ten-sion had filled the room and gripped the whole crew.“Has the war begun, then?” “No, no.” Benesens shook his head thoughtfully. “We would have been infor-med by headquarters. The Acutins have several times called for the withdrawal of both sides from this sector, but we were here before them, this is ours, and they have no right to claim it nor to try and per-suade us to leave by pro-mising that they will then leave too. They want to remove us at any cost, and I am afraid that they have begun the local war they have been threatening, although this has not yet been confirmed. We have received no notification of this, and yet it is difficult to find any other explana-tion for what is happening now.”

»Kaj je bilo to?« sem vpra-

šal.

»Napadajo nas,« mi je odvr-

nil Dobročut.

V prostoru je bilo vse tiho,

toda napetost je zajela ves

prostor, vso posadko.

»Se je torej začela vojna?«

»Ne, ne.« Dobročut je pre-

mišljujoče odkimaval:

»Saj bi nas že obvestili iz

našega poveljstva. Ostrini

so večkrat zahtevali umik

obeh strani iz tega dela

vesolja, vendar smo bili mi

tu pred njimi, to je naše,

nobene pravice si tega

nimajo lastiti niti zahtevati

od nas odhod, s ponudbo,

da bodo potem tudi oni

odšli.

Za vsako ceno nas hočejo

spraviti stran, in bojim

se, da so začeli zagroženo

lokalno vojno, kar sicer

še ni potrjeno. Nobenega

obvestila o tem nimamo,

toda za tako dogajanje je

tu že težko najti kakšno

drugo razlago.« Dobročut

51

Benesens frowned as he considered the possibi-lities. But only for a few moments. Another jolt shook the whole ship and suddenly a tremendous acceleration forced us back in our seats.“Captain to crew,” came the calm voice of the com-manding officer. “We are entering the network of protective asteroid fields. Prepare yourselves for powerful lateral g-force as we take evasive action.” A new series of explosions shook us, and then there was an enormous crash as an enemy ship slam-med into the command bridge window and the whole front section of the ship caved in. Even the window buckled inwards as far as the front row of seats. A cry escaped from my throat. The others were shouting too. But in the very fraction of a second that the whole front section and the window should have shattered to smithe-

je nagrbančil čelo ob pre-

mišljanju o odprtih možno-

stih. Pa le za nekaj trenut-

kov. Nov sunek je stresel

celotno našo ladjo in že

nas je strahovit pospešek

prilepil na sedeže.

»Kapitan posadki,« se je

zaslišal miren glas povelju-

jočega. »Vstopamo v mrežo

zaščitnih asteroidnih polj.

Pripravite se na močne

bočne pritiske v spiralnem

letu.«

Streslo nas je novo zapo-

redje eksplozij in sledil je

še strahoten pok, ko nam

je tresk letala v našo veliko

dvajsetmetrsko šipo vbočil

ves sprednji del. Tudi okno

se je zvilo in se ugreznilo

vse do prvih sedežev. Krik

mi je ušel iz grla, tudi drugi

so zakričali. V delčku

sekunde, ko bi se moral

razleteti ves sprednji del

z oknom vred, pa je vse

52

reens, everything stopped. The walls and the window hung there, as though held by opposing forces of enormous power. Eve-rything went quiet. The crumpled walls and the distorted window seemed to waver before our eyes. Everything was twisted, and so badly deformed that I found myself sear-ching for cracks in the wall. It suddenly occur-red to me that there was a danger of a vacuum. Some of the Sensins had already reached for the emergency buttons to close the secu-rity cells on their seats: airtight transparent cylin-ders that surrounded the whole seat and its occu-pant. I took all this in with lightning swiftness. My hand was already reaching for the button, but before I could press it I noticed the walls silently moving back into their original position. The window straightened itself with a loud pop. In a matter of moments it was

zastalo v strahovitem pre-

napenjanju sil, vbočene

stene in okno.

Vse je utihnilo. Pred očmi

so se nam pomikale zmeč-

kane stene in zvito vbo-

čeno okno. Vse je bilo skri-

vljeno, tako močno zmali-

čeno, da so oči samodejno

lovile preklano steno,

razpoke. V hipu me je pre-

šinila misel o nevarnosti

brezzračnega prostora.

Nekateri so že udarili po

alarmnem gumbu za zapr-

tje varnostne sedežne

celice, prozorne valjaste

tube, ki obda ves sedež z

ovojem, neprepustnim za

zrak, vse to se mi je v bli-

skovitih prizorih zvrstilo

skozi zavest. Roka se mi

je usmerila k alarmnemu

gumbu, v smrtni tišini

pa sem že tisti hip zaznal

umikanje sten v prvotno

lego. Okno se je s pokom

zravnalo, minilo je le nekaj

trenutkov - in že je stalo

na starem mestu. Niče-

53

back in its old place. No crumples, no wrinkles and above all no visible cracks. I looked incredulously at the window and the walls, and then finally turned to my neighbour. “Wow, this ship of yours really is made of good materials!”A complacent smile spread across Benesens’s face. I looked around me. The whole room filled with life and excited chatter. I looked at the window again. “That’s not made of glass, is it?”“You can see through it, but that is all that this window has in common with your glass windows on Earth.”“I had my doubts,” I admitted with a smile. “I still don’t have a very clear idea about the solidity of your materials.”

“Don’t worry. I know what they are capable of, but I don’t know if that makes me much better off. I can’t predict the power of the

sar zmečkanega, nobenih

gub, predvsem pa nobenih

razpok ni bilo videti. Neje-

verno sem gledal predse,

v okno, stene, dokler se

končno nisem ozrl k svo-

jemu sosedu. »Huh, to vaše

plovilo je pa res narejeno

iz dobrih materialov!«

Dobročutov obraz se je

razlezel v samozavesten

nasmeh.

Ozrl sem se naokoli. Ves

prostor se je napolnil z

življenjem in vzkliki. Nato

sem spet pogledal v okno.

»To pa najbrž ni iz stekla,

kajne?«

»Vidi se skozenj, da,

ampak to je tudi vse, kar

ima to okno skupnega z

vašimi steklenimi okni na

Zemlji.«

»Res sem že podvomil,«

sem smeje se priznal,

»nimam še izoblikovane

vednosti o vzdržljivosti

vaših materialov.«

»Nič zato, jaz sicer poznam

njihovo zmogljivost, pa

ne vem, ali sem zato kaj

na boljšem. Moči eksplo-

zije ne morem predvideti,

54

explosion, can I?” Bene-sens laughed lightly at his own witticism. “Both are important, you see?” “Message from the com-mander.” The amplified voice of the main compu-ter interrupted the lively chatter. “Stand by to rece-ive instructions!”The crew waited expec-tantly. Everyone had been busy speculating about the best thing to do, although most had already admitted that the lack of data made it impossible to arrive at any firm conclusion.“The Acutin fleet is astern of us. It is their advance party that has attacked us. According to a commu-nication from their com-manders, they will not permit us to pass and they are maintaining this prohi-bition despite my drawing their attention to the rules currently in force. In short, they have refused to negotiate further with me. They are threatening to stop us in the outer belt

kajne?« Dobročut se je

sproščeno zasmejal svoji

duhovitosti. »Oboje je v

igri, veste?«

»Poveljnikova beseda,« je

skozi ozvočenje presekal

živahno pomenkovanje

glas osrednjega računal-

nika. »Sprejmite navo-

dila!«

Posadka je obstala v pri-

čakovanju. Vsi pogovori

so se že bili usmerili v

ugibanje o najboljši reši-

tvi, čeprav je večina ugo-

tavljala nemoč oziroma

premalo podatkov za

dokončno sklepanje.

»Za nami je ladjevje Ostri-

nov, katerega predhodnica

nas je napadla. Po sporo-

čilu njihovega poveljstva

nam ne dovolijo prehoda

in vztrajajo na prepovedi

kljub mojemu opozorilu na

veljavna pravila. Na kratko

so zavrnili nadaljnja poga-

janja z mano. Grozijo, da

nas bodo ustavili na zuna-

njem pasu asteroidnega

55

of the asteroid cloud. If we go beyond this belt, they are ordered to act imme-diately to destroy us. Then they broke off talks. But it will not be so simple for them to destroy us. As you have seen, they have alre-ady tried and failed. They will not be able to stop us, either. Our fleet, at least as big as theirs, in quadrant XL273, can send us the protection of its roboroc-kets. We can fall back into their protective fields at any time. I have also rece-ived additional instruc-tions from headquarters. The whole fleet and all the squadrons in our vicinity have orders to support us during our breakthrough to the energy dumps and the automated production planets. Even at the cost of their own destruction. I have given the word to begin our penetra-tion through the asteroid clouds. These asteroids are rocks several kilometres in diameter, containing

oblaka, če prekoračimo ta

pas, pa jim je ukazan takoj-

šnji ukrep - naše uničenje.

Potem so prekinili pogo-

vor. Toda to naše uničenje

ne bo tako preprosto. Kot

ste videli, so že poskušali,

pa jim je spodletelo. Niso

uspeli. Tudi ustaviti nas

ne bodo mogli. Naša flota,

najmanj enaka njihovi, v

kvadrantu XL273, nam

lahko pošlje zaščito svojih

roboraket. Kadarkoli se

lahko umaknemo v nji-

hova zaščitna polja. Dobil

sem tudi dodatna navo-

dila našega poveljstva. Vsa

flota in vse eskadre v naši

bližini nas morajo podpi-

rati med našim prebojem

do energetskih skladišč in

planetov za robotizirano

proizvodnjo, tudi za ceno

lastnega uničenja.

Dal sem pobudo za naš

preboj skozi oblake aste-

roidov. Tisoče milijard

teh več kilometrov veli-

kih vodikovih, železnih in

56

hydrogen, iron and other elements. We transpor-ted trillions of them here when the Acutins were still far away on their own planet. Then we allowed them to transport their own asteroids. Now, in their arrogance, and after a somewhat superficial analysis, they see in front of them only randomly dumped material. But we can move these apparently randomly scattered aste-roids into the navigable routes through the cloud. We have this capability. It is true that they also know something about this. But thanks to our speed, they will not be able to stop us breaking through the aste-roid cloud.“The Acutins are now dis-patching units to try and outflank us with an encir-cling manoeuvre and pre-vent our retreat or escape. But the vicinity of the aste-roid haze is to our advan-tage. We will be faster but we must be ready for

drugosnovnih skal smo mi

že pripeljali sem, ko so bili

Ostrini še daleč na svojem

planetu. Potem smo jim

sicer dopustili dovoz nji-

hovih asteroidov. Zdaj pa v

svoji nadutosti in po precej

površni analizi vidijo pred

sabo le po naključju name-

tan material.

Mi pa lahko te asteroide,

na videz naključno razme-

tane, razmaknemo v preho-

dne poti. Mi to obvladamo.

Sicer nekaj tega vedo tudi

oni. Vendar zaradi naše

hitrosti ne bodo mogli

ustaviti našega preboja

skozi asteroidni oblak.

Ostrini zdaj pošiljajo spre-

mljevalne enote, ki naj bi

nas obšle v obkolitvenem

manevru ter nam onemo-

gočile umik ali pobeg, naša

prednost pa je v ugodnejši

bližini asteroidne meglice.

Hitrejši bomo. Toda pripra-

viti se moramo na zasle-

57

a pursuit. Flying through the densely packed aste-roids is extremely diffi-cult and dangerous. Our bodies will be pushed to the limit of endurance. Prepare yourselves for rapid evasive manoeuvres. Laser cannon and rocket shield crews: be ready for immediate action. Some of their fighters will pro-bably catch us before we reach the first asteroids.”The hologram display showed a countdown: the little lights went off at intervals of one second. I relaxed in my seat, rested my head on the cushioned headrest and gripped the handles positioned either side of me.“Now!” A harsh voice gave the order, and we instan-tly accelerated with such force that our faces were twisted out of shape. A few seconds later, with the ship still in its steep turn, the main computer announced the attack of the Acutin fighters. Almost at once

dovanje. Let mimo gosto

razmeščenih asteroidov je

izredno težaven in neva-

ren. Vse bo na meji vzdržlji-

vosti naših teles. Pripravite

se na hitri zavojni umik.

Posadke laserskih topov

in zaščitnih raket, bodite

pripravljene na takojšnje

delovanje, ker nas bo nekaj

njihovih lovcev verjetno

dohitelo, preden bomo

dosegli prve asteroide.«

V hologramskem prika-

zovalniku so se zasvetile

odštevalne lučke, uga-

šajoče v razmaku ene

sekunde. Sprostil sem se

v svojem sedežu, naslo-

nil glavo na oblazinjeno

zglavje in stisnil držala ob

svojem sedežu.

»Zdaj!« je odjeknil oster

glas in v hipu je na nas

deloval tako silovit pospe-

šek, da nam je skrajnostna

sila spačila obraze, nekaj

sekund pozneje, še vedno

v krožnem obračanju, pa

je osrednji računalnik

naznanil napad ostrino-

vskih lovcev in že so nas

58

their energy bolts began striking the ship. Our laser cannon opened fire at our attackers. By the time we were halfway through the turn, all the weapons on both sides of the ship were already hammering away. Now it was a question of how long our ship’s pro-tective shields and armour could hold out. The side of the hull began to glow red-hot as energy bolts continued to strike it, but then in quick succession our cannon destroyed first one, then another, then all the remaining fighters from the first small group of attackers. The armour of the robot-controlled fighters was not enough to protect them from our powerful laser cannon. But this in itself meant nothing. These robot figh-ters, though of limited power, were dangerous above all because of their great numbers. They were more like robot-controlled guided missiles. A ship

začeli zadevati njihovi

energetski izstrelki. Tudi

naši laserski topovi so

takoj udarili po napadal-

cih, tako da so na polovici

krožnega zavoja že tolkla

vsa orožja z obeh strani.

Vprašanje je bilo le, koliko

časa lahko vzdržijo zaščitna

polja in oklepi naše ladje.

Za zdaj so nam energetski

izstrelki razžarili bok, nam

pa je kmalu uspelo uničiti

najprej enega, potem dru-

gega in zatem še vse pre-

ostale iz prve manjše sku-

pine napadalcev. Robotizi-

rani lovci niso imeli dovolj

oklopljenih plovil za zava-

rovanje pred močnejšimi

topovi z laserskimi žarki.

Toda to še ni pomenilo

ničesar. Ti robotizirani

lovci, sicer manjših zmo-

gljivosti, so bili nevarni

predvsem zaradi svojega

izjemno velikega števila.

Torej naj bi bili bolj robo-

tizirano vodeni izstrelki.

59

like the GNAT could not be destroyed by a single fighter, or even by seve-ral fighters together. But a large number of them meant a constant depletion of fuel and ammunition, an exhausting chase until our energy stocks and ammunition were com-pletely used up. We were still more than ten minu-tes away from the astero-ids: the first large chasing squadron of fighters would need the same amount of time to catch us. The holo-gram display showed their position. The fighter squa-dron would catch us, that was clear. But by then we would be right on the edge of the asteroid cloud. Then we would fire our laser canons. “The enemy forces are too strong!” The main compu-ter had completed its cal-culation. Silence fell once again.“Hold your course!” came the voice of the comman-der. “We’ve done it!”

Ladje, kot je bila KOMAR,

posamezen lovec ni mogel

uničiti, tudi več lovcev

skupaj ne. Toda večje šte-

vilo je pomenilo stalno

porabo goriva in streliva,

izčrpavajoče zasledova-

nje do končne porabe

energetskih zalog skupaj

s strelivom. Do asteroi-

dov pa je bilo še dobrih

deset minut, enako, kot

je potrebovala tudi prva

večja eskadra zasledoval-

nih lovcev. Hologramski

prikazovalnik je ponazar-

jal njihov položaj. Eskadra

lovcev nas bo dohitela, to

je bilo očitno. Toda to bo

tik ob robu meglice. Tedaj

bomo sprožili svoje laser-

ske topove.

»Nasprotne sile so pre-

močne!« je podal svoj izra-

čun osrednji računalnik.

Spet je nastala tišina.

»Drži smer!« se je spet ogla-

sil poveljujoči glas. »Uspelo

nam je!«

60

The crew exchanged asto-nished glances and looked at the commander and at the holo-display. Nothing indicated that we were in the clear. Nothing on the display appeared to point to such a conclusion. “Yes: sixteen seconds before entry they will catch up with us,” continued the commander. “But at this distance the remote-con-trolled asteroids can come to our assistance. They will start to move at any moment. We will be safe in their shelter, and in any case will we be in a good position because the figh-ters will still have to encir-cle us, and that will mean losing vital time.”Everyone looked back at the main hologram dis-play, where there was still no sign of movement from the asteroids. If they were triggered too late, that could be fatal for us. I could hear the murmuring of voices growing louder and louder. “What are they

Posadka se je med začu-

denim spogledovanjem

ozirala zdaj k poveljniku,

zdaj v holi. Nič ni kazalo

na uspeh. Iz vsega prikaza-

nega se ni dalo tako skle-

pati.

»Da, šestnajst sekund pred

vstopom nas bodo dohi-

teli,« je nadaljeval povelj-

nik, »na tej razdalji pa nam

vodeni asteroidi že lahko

priskočijo na pomoč, vsak

čas se morajo začeti pre-

mikati. V njihovem zavetju

bomo varni, in tudi sicer

bomo v dobrem položaju,

saj nas bodo morali lovci

še obkoliti, to pa bo zanje

usodna izguba časa.«

Spet so se vsi zazrli v osre-

dnji hologramski prika-

zovalnik, kjer še vedno ni

nič kazalo na premikanje

asteroidov, katerih prepo-

zna sprožitev bi bila lahko

za nas usodna. Vse več

vse bolj glasnega mrmra-

nja sem lahko zaznal. »Kaj

61

waiting for?” came a shout from the background.The countdown lights appeared on the holo-dis-play: sixteen red lights for the seconds, and ten blue ones for the minutes. The murmuring stopped. The entire scene was spread out across the holo-display. Everything motionless and everything moving. The approaching fighters and our ship’s flight towards the asteroid cloud. There was still time. Ten minu-tes’ flight to the critical point, and then sixteen seconds to reach the first asteroids. We held our breath. The minutes ticked by but those blue lights went out very slowly. The last blue light was extinguished and the red ones lit up. We felt the violent discharge of our laser cannon as they fired at the approaching figh-ters. The battle had begun. Were we going to make it, or was this merely hope-less resistance in the face

čakajo, hudiča?!« je priletel

vzklik iz ozadja.

V hologramskem prika-

zovalniku so se prižgale

odštevalne lučke, šestnajst

rdečih za sekunde in deset

modrih za minute. Mrmra-

nje je utihnilo. Vse dogaja-

nje se je razgrnilo v holo-

gramskem prikazovalniku.

Vse, kar je mirovalo, in vse,

kar se je gibalo. Približe-

vanje lovcev in let našega

plovila v asteroidni oblak.

Še je bil čas. Deset minut

leta do kritične točke in

potem še šestnajst sekund

do prvih asteroidov.

V pljučih je zastajal dih.

Tiste minute so se potem

vlekle, toda njihove modre

lučke so le počasi ugašale.

Vse do zadnje, ko so se pri-

žgale rdeče sekundne, in

že smo zaznali sunkovito

energetsko praznjenje

naših laserskih topov, ki

so udarili po bližajočih se

lovcih. Boj se je začel. Nam

bo vseeno uspelo ali je

vse skupaj zgolj nesmiseln

62

of their superior strength? Then, from somewhere inside the asteroid cloud, an object appeared, some-thing long and rope-like. It flew towards us at great speed from the heart of the asteroids, curving in our direction like a long, thin snake’s tongue. It must have built up speed inside the asteroid cloud where no-one could see it. Perhaps there is still time, said the expressions in the eyes of the crew. The noise stopped. Breathing slowed. The holo-display showed the scene cle-arly: us, the fighters and the giant tongue. The red lights began to go out… seven, six, five… Now the fighters opened fire on us, several hundred at the same time, with such ferocity that our protec-tive shields disintegrated one after the other and the armour of our GNAT grew red-hot. The intense heat was vaporising the outer layers. “The armour

spopad z njihovo premo-

čjo? Tedaj se je od nekod iz

notranjosti asteroidnega

oblaka prikazal paličast

predmet dolge vrvičaste

oblike, naravnost iz ozadja

asteroidov nam je letel

nasproti z veliko hitrostjo

in se ukrivljal proti nam

kot dolg, tanek kačji jezik.

Hitrost je moral prido-

biti znotraj asteroidnega

oblaka, kjer ga nihče ni

mogel zaznati. Še je morda

čas, so govorile oči med

spogledovanjem. Hrup je

utihnil. Dihanje se je umi-

rilo. V hologramskem pri-

kazovalniku se je nazorno

kazalo dogajanje: mi, lovci

ter orjaški dolgi jezik.

Rdeče lučke so začele uga-

šati... sedem, šest, pet…

Zdaj so vžgali po nas lovci,

več sto hkrati, s tako silo-

vitostjo, da so naša zašči-

tna polja razpadala eno

za drugim in je zažarel

oklep našega KOMARJA.

Tisoče stopinj vročine je

uplinjalo zgornje plasti.

“Oklep popušča,” je odje-

63

is giving way!” somebody shouted. Another three seconds, two, one… A giant shadow flashed past and suddenly we were caught in the silence of absolute peace. We were flying along the surface of the tongue. We were safe! Yes! We were now out of range of the figh-ters’ lasers at least until we entered the asteroid cloud. Before they could fly around the tongue, we would be safe. The chase would of course continue. But we would be on our own ground. There were thousands of fighters but we could count on a enor-mous number of robot-gu-ided missiles of our own. Yes, an enormous number. Once again everyone was looking at the hologram display. “There are so many of them,” I heard over the growing buzz of conversation.The answer came imme-diately: “There will be plenty of ours too!”

knil krik... Še tri sekunde,

dve, ena… Orjaška senca je

zletela mimo in zajela nas

je tišina popolnega miru.

Zleteli smo tik ob povr-

šini jezika. Varni! Hua! Za

laserske topove lovcev

smo bili nedosegljivi

vsaj do vstopa v asteroi-

dni oblak. Preden bodo

uspeli zleteti okrog jezika,

bomo mi že na varnem.

Lov se bo seveda še nada-

ljeval. Toda to bo na

našem območju. Lovcev

je na tisoče, pa tudi mi

smo lahko računali na

veliko število naših robot-

sko vodenih izstrelkov.

Da, na veliko število.

Pogledi so spet zrli v holo-

gramski prikazovalnik.

»Hudičevo dosti jih imajo,

ti Ostrini,« sem zaslišal

glas skozi vse močnejše

mrmranje.

Toda tedaj je že priletel

odgovor: »Tudi naših bo

dosti!«

64

“There will be plenty of us on both sides!” said a red-headed Sensin next to the holo-display in an anything but triumphant voice, immediately adding with a somewhat forced cheerfulness: “But now we have a chance. It won’t be easy. We’re probably going to make it.”Then came another few moments of reflection and doubt. The danger was still pursuing us, and there was also danger in front of us, but we were flying in the safe shelter of a long shield leading into the interior of the asteroid cloud. We flew past the first aste-roids and on, along the giant tongue to its root. And then we were flying freely, past the massive bulks of asteroids mea-suring several kilome-tres across, and mist-like clouds of tiny particles that would damage the hull of our ship if we flew too close to them. These clouds were interesting to

»Na obeh straneh nas bo

veliko!« je v nič kaj zma-

goslavnem tonu dodal

rdečelasi Čutin ob holo-

gramu in se takoj dopolnil

z nekoliko prisiljeno rado-

živostjo. »Možnosti pa zdaj

le imamo. Ne bo lahko.

Najbrž nam bo uspelo.«

Sledilo je še nekaj trenut-

kov pomišljanja in pomi-

slekov v živahnih pogovo-

rih. Nevarnost nam je še

vedno sledila, bila je tudi

pred nami, a leteli smo v

varnem zavetju dolgega

ščita, speljanega v notra-

njost asteroidnega oblaka.

Zleteli smo mimo prvih

asteroidov, nato naprej

vzdolž orjaškega jezika do

njegovega korena, in že

smo bili prepuščeni pro-

stemu letu mimo masivnih

gmot z več kilometri pre-

mera ter mimo meglic iz

drobnih delcev, nevarnih

za let v njihovi bližini, ker

bi si ob njih lahko poškoda-

vali trup ladje. Na pogled

pa so bile te meglice zani-

65

see. Very interesting. The gleam of neighbouring stars fragmented into vari-ous colours on their sur-face sso that blue, green, yellow layers blended one into the other and inter-mingled to form a surpri-singly beautiful work of art that I had to look at despite all the tension, or perhaps even because of it.“Yes, this mist is in our catalogues,” Benesens explained. “It is one of the finest works of art of the builders of this asteroid cloud. I like it too.”“Interesting.” My admira-tion turned into reflection. “Art in space.” I looked at my neighbour. So now we were safe. I looked back at the mist. “Hmm, one day you Earthmen will create something like this too.” Benesens spoke with a smile, in a slightly patro-nising tone, but then the features of his face har-dened and his eyes grew

mive. Zelo zanimive. Sij

sosednih zvezd se je na

njihovi površini lomil v

raznih barvah, da so se

modre, zelene, rumene

plasti pogrezale druga v

drugo in se prepletale v

presenetljivo lepo ume-

tnino, ki sem jo moral opa-

ziti kljub vsej napetosti ali

pa morda prav zaradi nje.

»Da, ta meglica je v naših

katalogih,« mi je v poja-

snilo odvrnil Dobročut.

»Med najboljšimi umetni-

škimi deli graditeljev tega

asteroidnega oblaka je.

Tudi meni je všeč.«

»Zanimivo.« Moje občudo-

vanje se je zlilo v premi-

šljujoče pomisleke. »Ume-

tnost v vesolju,« sem pogle-

dal soseda - zdaj smo bili

torej na varnem - in znova

meglico.

»Hm, tudi Zemljani boste

nekoč ustvarjali kaj

takega.« Dobročut je govo-

ril z nasmehom v nekoliko

pokroviteljskem tonu,

potem pa so poteze nje-

govega obraza med krajšo

zamišljenostjo dobile

66

cold. “Provided, of course, that we succeed with our breakthrough and re-esta-blish a connection with our energy production fields. Failure to do so would make it difficult to predict the course of your develo-pment or, rather, your very existence.”Once again I was filled with doubts. What actu-ally were these energy production fields? And why couldn’t we get into them? Everything seemed to suggest that they were central to what was going on. And apparently I had something to do with it too. But what was this thing in which my pre-sence was so important? Extremely important, by the look of things. And then this quarrel between these two superior civili-sations. Even about that, the answers I had received were too sketchy to allow me to formulate any clear conception. Except, of course, with regard to the

ostrejše oblike, v oči pa

se mu je naselila hladna

trdota. »Seveda, če nam bo

uspelo izpeljati ta preboj

in ponovno vzpostaviti

povezavo z našimi ener-

getsko proizvodnimi polji.

V nasprotnem primeru

je težko predvideti potek

vašega razvoja ali, bolje

rečeno, kaj bo z vašim

obstojem.«

Spet se mi je porodilo kar

nekaj pomislekov. Kaj so

pravzaprav energetsko

proizvodna polja? In zakaj

ne morejo vanje? Vse je

kazalo na njihovo pove-

zavo z osrednjim dogaja-

njem. Tudi sam naj bi sodil

zraven. Toda kaj je tisto,

pri čemer bi bil jaz lahko

pomemben? Očitno zelo

pomemben. Vse tako kaže.

Pa še ta spor med tema

dvema superiornima civi-

lizacijama. Tudi glede tega

spora sem dotlej dobil

preveč skope odgovore, da

bi si lahko izoblikoval opri-

jemljivo predstavo. Razen,

seveda, glede ogroženosti

67

threat to the Earth, which was apparently facing destruction. Or was it? This was something else I was unable to puzzle out. And what if the origin of the quarrel was something else, something deeper? If the whole thing had begun for a completely different reason? Some important reason, more important than energy produc-tion fields, about which they still hadn’t told me anything. The warning that we were about to leave the shelter of the giant tongue silen-ced the cheerful enthu-siasm at our successful escape. It was hard, very hard. It had been a close shave. No more than a fraction of a second had tipped the balance in our favour, a few decisive moments, some slight inclination of fortune aga-inst the logistical precision of the enemy’s moves. But enough for a breakthro-

Zemlje, ki naj bi bila pred

uničenjem. Ali pa tudi ne?

Še tega nisem mogel raz-

vozlati. Kaj pa, če je izvor

spora med njimi kaj dru-

gega, globljega? Če je vse

skupaj sproženo iz povsem

drugega vzroka? Nekega

pomembnega vzroka,

pomembnejšega od ener-

getsko proizvodnih polj,

o katerem pa mi še niso

ničesar povedali.

Opozorilo na ponovno

pripravljenost ob izstopu

iz varne poti v zavetju

orjaškega jezika je utišalo

radoživo navdušenje nad

uspešnim izmikom. Trdo

je bilo, trdo. Le za las je

manjkalo. Nič več kot

nekaj delčkov sekunde

se je prevesilo v našo

prid, nekaj odločilnih

trenutkov, nekaj rahlega

nagiba sreče ob logistično

natančno preračunanih

potezah nasprotnika.

Toda dovolj za preboj in

68

ugh and an outburst of happiness. And at least it would be easier from now on, since we could alre-ady count on support. The Sensins returned to their seats. We would still have to fight, very hard perhaps. But they could no longer trap us in a tight blockade. We were all convinced of this. We all concentrated on the hologram display to follow the new develo-pment. A visual represen-tation of all the available data showed our flight past the densely packed asteroids and revealed our rear. This is what attracted our attention. A second cloud was sinking into the asteroid cloud. Thou-sands upon thousands of fighters from the Acutin fleet hastening in pursuit of us, in such enormous numbers that the swarms of fighters looked like an accompanying cloud. There was no end to them. I looked questioningly at the Sensins. So many!

za izbruh veselja. Vseeno

bo odslej lažje, ker smo že

lahko računali na pomoč,

kot je bilo rečeno. Čutini

so se vračali na svoje

sedeže. Boriti pa se bomo

še morali, morda bo celo

hudo. Le v tako tesno

zaporo nas ne bodo več

ujeli. Vsi smo bili prepri-

čani o tem. S pogledi smo

v hologramskem prikazo-

valniku spremljali nov raz-

plet dogajanja. Vizualna

upodobitev vseh razpolo-

žljivih informacij nam je

nakazovala naš let mimo

gosto posejanih astero-

idov in razkrivala naše

zaledje. Tja je privlačila

našo pozornost. V oblak

asteroidov se je pogre-

zal drug oblak. Tisoče, na

tisoče lovcev iz ladjevja

Ostrinov se je v tako veli-

kem številu gnalo v zasle-

dovanje za nami, da so se

nam njihovi roji kazali

v obliki spremljajočega

oblaka. Hudirjevo dosti

jih je bilo. Vprašujoče sem

se zazrl v Čutine. Tako šte-

69

Would we really get help, reinforcements to block this incredible force?The Sensins continued to observe the disposition of our pursuers, but they were no longer shouting enthusiastically. The con-centration of power must have surprised them. That was certainly my impres-sion – an impression that was growing ever stron-ger. They looked worried at the number of fighters, which clearly exceeded their notions with regard to the enemy’s forces. “What does this tell us?” I asked Benesens in an unnaturally calm voice.“Hmm.” Benesens conti-nued to stare at the holo-gram without moving.“Do you have similar forces at your disposal?” I blurted out impatiently. “Hmm.” He seemed to be having difficulty appra-

vilo! Mar bomo res dobili

pomoč, okrepitve za blo-

kado te neverjetne sile?

Čutini so še naprej, vendar

brez živih vzklikov, opazo-

vali prostorsko ponazor-

jeno razporeditev zasledo-

valcev. Koncentracija moči

jih je morala presenečati.

In jih tudi je, vsaj vse bolj

tak občutek sem dobival.

Bili so videti zaskrbljeni

nad številom lovcev, ki je

moralo presegati njihove

predstave o nasprotnih

silah.

»Kaj je možno razbrati

iz tega?« sem s prisiljeno

mirnim glasom vprašal

Dobročuta med njegovim

zavzetim opazovanjem

holijevega prikaza.

»Hm.« Dobročut je še

naprej nepremično zrl v

hologram.

»Imate tudi vi take sile na

razpolago?« mi je kar ušlo

skozi zadrževano nestr-

pnost.

»Hm.« Očitno premišljanje

o nastalem položaju zanj

70

ising the new situation. This was considerably more than a merely local matter that we were caught up in here. Nothing that they had predicted about the presence of merely local forces in this part of space applied any more. “We knew the density, strength and distribution of their armed forces. We knew about every part of the entire galaxy. But what we can see in the hologram display simply does not agree with what I know. Such a concentration of forces. Where has it come from? Movements of such large armed forces could not have passed unobser-ved. Unless…” Benesens paused. “The Acutins were not supposed to have the capability for something like this. But perhaps…” He fell silent again. “Perhaps what?” I looked at him closely as he shook his head.

ni bilo tako preprosto.

Dosti več kot zgolj lokalno

dogajanje se je tu raz-

pletalo ali, bolje rečeno,

zapletalo. Nič od tistega,

kar so predvidevali o pri-

sotnosti zgolj lokalnih

sil v tem delu vesolja, ni

moglo držati. »Poznali

smo gostoto, moč in raz-

poreditev oboroženih sil.

Za vsak del celotne gala-

ksije smo vedeli. Prikaz v

hologramskem prikazo-

valniku pa nikakor ni v

skladu z mojim vedenjem.

Taka koncentracija sil. Od

kod se je vzela? Premiki

tako velikih oboroženih

sil niso mogli biti neopa-

ženi. Ali pa…« je v odgo-

vor razmišljal Dobročut.

»Ostrini naj ne bi imeli

sposobnosti za kaj takega.

Morda pa . . .« je spet umol-

knil.

»Kaj morda?« Pazljivo sem

zrl vanj in v njegovo odki-

mavanje.

71

“I don’t know. Perhaps headquarters is no longer giving us all the informa-tion.”“What does that mean?”“Several things.”“For instance?”“That movements and new concentrations of armed forces have already been carried out throughout the galaxy. Both ours and theirs.”“And how does that change things?”“At the galactic level?” The Sensin frowned. “I doubt that it is any more than a different arrange-ment of forces. It is pro-bably nothing important. But that only applies to the arrangement at the galac-tic level.”“Why only at the galac-tic level? I asked. “What about us?”“Hmm.” “Yes, that’s a good question. It is harder to assess. I don’t like the look of it.” Benesens looked at me. “I don’t like it at all. Especially because you are aboard our ship.”

»Ne vem. Lahko, da povelj-

stva ne dajejo več vseh

informacij.«

»Kaj to pomeni?«

»Več stvari.«

»Katere?«

»Da so že bili opravljeni

premiki in nove koncen-

tracije oboroženih sil po

vsej galaksiji. Tako naših

kot njihovih.«

»In v čem je sprememba?!«

»Na globalni ravni?«

Čutin je nagrbančil čelo:

»Dvomim, da je kaj več

kot drugačna razporedi-

tev. Najbrž nič posebnega.

Toda to velja samo za raz-

poreditev na globalni

ravni, po vsej galaksiji.«

»Zakaj samo na globalni

ravni? Kaj pa mi?« sem

vprašal.

»Hm. Hja, to je pa to. Težje

je oceniti. Vse skupaj mi ni

všeč.« Dobročut se je zazrl

vame. »Niti najmanj mi to

ni všeč. Še posebej, ker ste

vi na naši ladji.«

72

“Me?”“Yes. Clearly the Acutins have guessed. That would explain it. They know of your presence here.”“Am I really so powerful that my presence could be important in all of this?”“I don’t know. We need you. I have received clear instructions about your importance to us. What I don’t know is exactly why you are important. I am still unable to compre-hend the full dimensions of your importance. Apart from that, it is also true that your are important to us as an Earthman. All Earthmen are important to us. These events, however, indicate that you are irre-placeable. Or at least diffi-cult to replace. And this is what I don’t understand.” Benesens seemed to con-sider for a moment. He looked at me and then at the hologram, and then stared fixedly ahead of him. But his gaze kept flitting somewhat absently

»Jaz?«

»Da. Očitno so Ostrini to

uganili. Da, to bo. Vedo za

vašo prisotnost tukaj.«

»Mar sem jaz taka sila, da

bi bila lahko pri vsem tem

pomembna moja priso-

tnost?«

»Ne vem. Potrebujemo

vas. Dovolj jasno mi je bilo

povedano o vaši pomemb-

nosti za nas. Ne vem pa

točno zakaj. Tudi sam si

še ne znam predstavljati

vašega pomena v celoti.

Sicer velja, da ste kot

Zemljan za na pomembni.

Vsi Zemljani so za nas

pomembni. Toda to doga-

janje kaže na vašo nenado-

mestljivost. Ali vsaj težko

nadomestljivost. Tega pa

ne razumem.« Dobročut

je po kratkem premišlja-

nju pogledal vame ter

spet v hologram, potem

pa se je zastrmel predse.

Toda pogled mu je rahlo

odsotno uhajal prek pri-

73

over the display; I could see that he was deep in thought. He was ponde-ring something.Then he turned slowly towards me, took in the expectant expression of my face and shook his head. “I do not know. But that is of no importance. It is clear, however, that the Acutins do know. And that is important.”

* * *

Our flight through the den-sely packed masses of the asteroids was a breakneck series of zigzags, and our speed was limited by the lateral inertia in the turns. Benesens was explaining the position to me. “They will soon be up

kaza; kot sem lahko videl,

je bil v zamaknjenem

premišljevanju. Nekaj je

tuhtal.

Potem se je počasi obrnil

k meni, preletel z očmi

izraz pričakovanja na

mojem obrazu ter zmajal

z glavo »Jaz ne vem. Toda

to ni pomembno. Ostrini

pa očitno vedo. In to je

pomembno.«

* * *

Vožnja mimo gosto razpo-

rejenih gmot je pomenila

vratolomno vijuganje, med

katerim so omejitev hitro-

sti postavljali bočni vztraj-

nostni pritiski v zavojih.

Dobročut mi je pojasnje-

val nastali položaj. »Kmalu

nas bodo dohiteli,« je dejal

74

with us,” he said, before going on with a confident smile: “But they are going to have other problems. This asteroid cloud con-tains a labyrinth of traps, security barriers and guided missile stations, which in normal circum-stances would certainly be enough. The problem is this incredible concentra-tion of forces.”“So what are our chan-ces?” I asked, beginning to feel anxious again.Benesens looked me up and down with an expres-sion of calm self-posses-sion. “That is something I really cannot predict now,” he replied.Everyone fell quiet. The main hologram display showed the whole of the asteroid cloud and the cha-sing fighters. In this dis-play, which ran the entire width of the command bridge window, we could see everything as though through a giant telescope.

ter nato z dokaj samozave-

stnim nasmehom nadalje-

val: »Bodo pa imeli druge

težave. V tem asteroidnem

oblaku je labirint pasti,

varnostnih zapor in posto-

jank z vodljivimi izstrelki,

kar bi nam v normalnih

okoliščinah prav gotovo

zadostovalo. Problem je

bolj v neverjetni koncen-

traciji sil.«

»In kakšne so po novem

naše možnosti?« sem vpra-

šal s porajajočim se tesnob-

nim občutkom.

Dobročut me je z izrazom

mirne prisebnosti preme-

ril s pogledom. »Tega pa

zdaj res ne morem predvi-

deti,« je odvrnil.

Vsi so utihnili. V osrednjem


valniku se je kazal celo-

ten prostor asteroidnega

oblaka z zasledovalnimi

lovci vred. V tem prikazo-

valniku, prek celotnega

velikega okna v poveljni-

škem prostoru, smo vse

videli kakor skozi orjaški

daljnogled. Vse asteroide

75

We were able to see all the asteroids in our path before we got near them.The GNAT shudde-red. I caught the eye of a Sensin. “Fighters?”“Yes, they have caught up with us.”The energy bolts from the robo-fighters shook the ship in rapid succes-sion. Then our powerful laser cannon opened fire. Some of the leading figh-ters were instantly blasted into nothingness. But their places were immediately taken by others and the firing grew even more intense. It was no longer possible to save ammu-nition. Despite all the power of our laser cannon, the fighters were already starting to outflank us in a pincer movement, and even the simulated predic-tion on the main hologram display suggested the worse. Meanwhile a large swarm of fighters had appeared beneath us and

v smeri našega leta smo

lahko videli, še preden

smo se jim približali.

KOMAR se je stresel. Pogle-

dal sem Čutina. »Lovci?«

»Da, dohiteli so nas.«

Zadetki robolovcev so nas

stresali v kratkih presled-

kih. Potem so udarili po

njih naši laserski topovi,

in to z dovolj veliko močjo,

da nam je nekaj lovcev v

ospredju izginilo iz vida

v hipnem razblinjenju.

Vendar so jih takoj nado-

mestili drugi, v še bolj

besni strelski vnemi. Var-

čevanje s strelivom ni bilo

več možno. Kljub vsej moči

naših laserskih topov pa

so nas lovci že prehitevali

v obkolitvenem manevru

ob straneh in tudi simuli-

rana napoved v osrednjem


valniku nam je kazala

slabo. Medtem se nam je

od spodaj prikradla večja

jata lovcev in se začela dvi-

76

was climbing to cut us off. We went into a steep climb and evaded them with a rapid change of course. We were still free but a second swarm of fighters was already right up with us on our starboard side. We spiralled away from them and flashed past a giant asteroid, and then a second and a third. Despite our successful evasive manoeuvre, the central hologram display showed the circle closing around us, leaving no escape route except per-haps in the top right qua-drant where the cloud of fighters was slightly less dense. We immediately headed in that direction, but the pursuing fighters altered course as well. All our laser cannon were now pointing forwards. We held our breath. “There are even more fighters heading to cut us off on the outside!” a Sensin by the holo-display shouted in surprise. “They

gati v presek našega leta.

Obrnili smo se navzgor,

se jim s hitro spremembo

smeri izognili, še smo bili

prosti, toda tik zraven, na

naši desni, nas je dohitela

druga jata lovcev. Uma-

knili smo se v spiralnem

letu, zleteli tik ob velikem

asteroidu, potem mimo

drugega, tretjega.

V osrednjem hologramu se

nam je kljub uspešnemu

izmikanju kazala vse bolj

sklenjena obkolitev brez

praznega prostora za nada-

ljevanje leta, razen morda

zgoraj desno, kjer je bila

nekoliko manjša gostota

lovcev. Takoj smo se usme-

rili tja, toda tudi zasledo-

valni lovci so storili enako.

Vse laserske topove smo

usmerili v smer leta.

Vsem nam je zastal dih.

»Po zunanji strani se je

še več lovcev usmerilo v

zaporo našega leta,« je pre-

senečeno vzkliknil Čutin

ob hologramu. »Tudi oni

77

must have had their own routes through the asteroid cloud!” His neighbour spread his arms helplessly: “They are so far ahead of us! But – they are almost in range of our roborockets!”“Yes, the hologram dis-play confirms it. Look, you can see it already. Help is coming. Our robo-rockets!”“It’s going to be a free-for-all. Thousands of dogfi-ghts.”“We’ll all be in it together. That is clear. Our bre-akthrough is going to be a question of millimetres.”“We can’t fly through that chaos! We’ll smash into the wreckage – theirs and ours!”“Stand by to receive orders!” Captain Harstan’s voice interrupted the spe-culations about our chan-ces. “We are about to begin our breakthrough through the weakened part of the encircling forces.”The holo-display showed

morajo imeti urejene poti

skozi asteroidni oblak!«

Njegov sosed pa je dodal

z nemočno razširjenimi

rokami: »Tako daleč naprej

so! Toda - saj to je že v bli-

žini dosega naših robora-

ket!«

»Da, hologramski prikaz to

dopušča. Da, saj se že vidi.

Pomoč prihaja. Naše robo-

rakete!«

»Nastal bo metež tisočerih

dvobojev.«

»Vsi bomo na kupu. To je

očitno. Milimetrske razda-

lje bodo odločale o našem

preboju.«

»Skozi tak metež ne

moremo leteti! Zaletavali

se bomo v njihove in naše

razbitine!«

»Povelje posadki!« je glas

kapitana Harstana pre-

sekal pogovore o naših

manevrskih možnostih.

»Začenjamo preboj skozi

oslabljeni del obkolitvenih

sil.«

V holiju se nam je kazala

78

the distribution of the fighters in the area selec-ted for the breakthrough. Everything was illustra-ted very precisely, with all distances and sizes pro-perly to scale: our ship and every fighter at an exact distance from it.“Computer, highlight the selected fighters!” ordered the captain. “Each laser canon has a precise target. By blasting away the figh-ters we will cut a way through the barricade.”The laser cannons locked onto the highlighted figh-ters, tracing a cut through the blockade on the holo-display.The visual simulations generated on the basis of the computer’s predicti-ons showed a hologram image of the GNAT at the point of intersection of all the converging flight paths: those of our ship, our roborockets, the figh-ters approaching from our flank and the pursuing fighters on our tail. This

razporeditev lovcev na

območju predvidenega

preboja. Zelo natančno je

bilo vse ponazorjeno v raz-

merju razdalj in velikosti,

naša ladja in vsak lovec v

natančni oddaljenosti od

nje.

»Računalnik naj obarva

označene lovce!« je ukazal

poveljnik. »Za vsak laserski

top je cilj točno določen. Z

razstrelitvijo lovcev bomo

presekali zaporo.«

Laserski topovi so se usme-

rili v izbrane obarvane

lovce, ki so v hologramu

začrtali rez skozi našo

zaporo.

Hologramski prikaz leta

našega KOMARJA je v

simuliranih napovedih

računalniško izračuna-

nega predvidevanja obstal

na presečišču vseh smeri:

naše, naših roboraket, z

boka prihajajočih lovcev

in zasledovalnih lovcev

tik za nami.

79

is where the impact would occur: thousands and tho-usands of individual enga-gements of uncertain out-come, a blizzard of ships in single combat, a swarm of enemies joined together in a giant conflict, and our planned breakthrough. The hologram image disa-ppeared. “Impossi-ble to predict outcome,” was the curt message from the main computer. “Silence please!” said the computer, and we heard the captain’s voice again: “Put on your spacesuits. We are going to release the air from all compart-ments because of the high likelihood of penetration of our protective fields and the ship’s armour. In all probability this will not be fatal for us. The important thing is the breakthro-ugh. Even if the whole front section of the ship is destroyed, we still have a chance, because our war-ships or robot-controlled rescue rockets will pick us up on other side.”

Na presečišču bo nastal

nalet, na tisoče spopa-

dov z nejasnim izidom,

metež dvobojev, vrvež v

orjaškem spopadu ter naš

nameravani preboj. Prikaz

holograma se je razblinil.

»Napoved nadaljnjega raz-

pleta ni možna,« je kratko

zaključil osrednji računal-

nik.

»Prosim za tišino!« se je

oglasil osrednji računal-

nik, kapitan pa je nadalje-

val: »Oblecite skafandre,

ker bomo iz vseh prosto-

rov izpustili zrak zaradi

velike verjetnosti preboja

naših zaščitnih polj in

ladijskega oklepa, kar po

vsej verjetnosti še ne bo

usodno za nas. Pomemben

je preboj. Tudi ob razbitju

vsega sprednjega dela se

lahko posadka reši, ker

nas bodo na drugi strani

že ujele naše bojne ladje

oziroma reševalne robora-

kete.«

80

“Spacesuits give us mobi-lity and enable us to fall back from a danger zone. If part of the ship is destro-yed, this becomes very important,” explained Benesens.I nodded. We were going to need them, by the look of things. I walked over to the wall. In two, perhaps three seconds ten robo-tic hands had dressed me from head to foot. “Wow, that was quick!”“Fighters within laser cannon range! Fire!” The commander gave the order. The same moment we were hit by a charge of energy. We fired at one fighter, avoided another group of attackers with a rapid diving turn round an asteroid, and suddenly an incredible scene appeared before our eyes: thousands of roborockets engaging the enemy fighters. “Our roborockets!” Help had arrived. The roborockets were attac-king the Acutin fighters.

»Skafandri omogočajo

gibljivost, umik z ogrože-

nega področja, to pa je pri

uničenju posameznega

dela ladje pomembno,« je

pojasnil Dobročut.

Prikimal sem. Potrebovali

jih bomo, vse kaže. Stopil

sem k steni, tam so me v

dveh, treh sekundah oble-

kle robotske roke, deset

rok hkrati, od nog do

glave. »Huh, to je bilo pa

hitro!« sem lahko samo še

ugotavljal.

»Lovci na dosegu laser-

skih topov! Streljaj!« smo

zaslišali poveljnikov glas.

V istem hipu nas je zadel

energetski naboj. Ustrelili

smo proti lovcu, skupini

lovcev smo se izmaknili

v hitrem zavoju mimo

asteroida, in že smo lahko

gledali veličasten prizor,

spopad tisočev roboraket

z lovci.

»Naše roborakete!« Pomoč

je prišla. Roborakete so se

spopadle z lovci Ostrinov.

Na tisoče in tisoče laser-

81

Thousands of crisscrossing laser beams, striking their targets and heating the ships’ armour until they exploded. All around us the blinding light of explo-ding fighters and robo-rockets. There were ships everywhere we looked and countless explosions, and we were flying strai-ght into the middle of this chaos. We had to break through it, but we could see no way past. We would never get through without colliding. That was the only certainty. The bolts from the laser cannon of the chasing fighters had heated our hull to an incan-descent whiteness, and an even greater danger now threatened from ahead: the front section of the hull would not be able to with-stand all the collisions.“Fall back, to the escape pods! Fire control and navigation to automatic!”We all rushed back imme-diately. It was our last

skih žarkov se je križalo,

zadevalo cilje in razža-

revalo oklepe do eksplo-

zije. Vse naokrog nas je

obdajala slepeča svetloba

razstreljenih lovcev in

roboraket, kamor koli smo

pogledali, povsod je bilo

eno samo preletavanje,

množica eksplozij, mi pa

smo leteli naravnost v ta

metež. Prebiti bi se morali

skozenj, toda nič prostega

prostora za let se nam ni

kazalo. Brez trčenja se ne

bomo prebili. Edino to je

bilo jasno. Tedaj so nam

zasledovalni lovci s streli

iz svojih laserskih topov

razžarili trup do slepečega

sija, od spredaj pa nam je

pretila še večja nevarnost,

ker sprednji del trupa ne

bo vzdržal vseh trčenj.

»Umaknimo se nazaj, v

reševalne rakete! Nadzor

nad orožjem in smerjo leta

prevzema osrednji raču-

nalnik!«

Vsi smo se takoj pognali

nazaj. Bil je zadnji čas.

82

chance. The fragments of shattered fighters and roborockets ahead of us were getting denser all the time. A powerful explo-sion shook the floor bene-ath our feet, so violently that a number of Sensins fell to the floor, while others stumbled over their sprawling comrades in their rush to escape. Just as I reached the exit I tri-pped over a Sensin on the floor and as I fell I caught a fleeting glimpse of a figh-ter crashing into the front section of the ship. An explosion ripped the walls apart. I managed to pick myself up and set off after the fleeing Sensins. There was another jolt, once again the floor was jerked out from under us and once again we stumbled, fell and picked ourselves up. Clinging desperately to the walls, I crawled along and finally reached the escape pod along with a crowd of Sensins. One after the other, we jumped aboard.

Ostanki razbitin razstre-

ljenih lovcev in robora-

ket na naši poti so bili

vse gostejši. Tedaj nam je

močna eksplozija spod-

maknila tla pod nogami,

in to tako silovito, da se je

nekaj Čutinov kar zvalilo

po tleh, medtem ko so se

drugi med begom v ozadje

spotikali ob kotaleče se

tovariše. Tik pred izho-

dom sem se še sam spota-

knil ob Čutina na tleh in

med prevračanjem lahko

le bežno zaznal, da nam je

nalet lovca v sprednji del

z eksplozijo prebil stene.

Toda uspel sem se pobrati

in pognal sem se za beže-

čimi Čutini. Sledil je nov

sunek, novo spodnašanje

tal pod nogami, spet smo

se spotikali, padali in se

ponovno pobirali. Krče-

vito sem se oprijemal sten,

se plazil in v gneči skupaj

s Čutini končno dosegel

reševalno raketo, v katero

smo takoj poskakali drug

za drugim.

83

“Ready to launch!” shou-ted a visibly shaken Sensin with his finger on the tri-gger of the rocket drive, but a shout stopped him:“Wait! Not so fast! Dama-ged or not, the ship’s armo-ured hull is still protecting us from all the flying wrec-kage. We’re in the middle of a battle!”Our escape pod, one of four, remained in readi-ness as we waited for the right moment.“The laser cannon and the main drive are out of action!” This was the voice of the main computer. “We have broken through the sector where the fighting is thickest. If you choose the optimum moment to launch, the escape pods will stand a chance of getting away. Good luck! Farewell!”I gripped the armrests of my seat. The launch would be quick. Nice of the main computer to sacrifice itself for us, I thought.We felt a violent jolt. The

»Pripravljeni za izstrelitev!«

je vzkliknil vidno pretre-

sen Čutin s prstom na spro-

žilcu raketnega pogona, a

ga je zadržal vzklik:

»Čaaakaj! Ne prehitevaj!

Razbita ali ne, z okloplje-

nim trupom nam še vedno

daje zaščito ob naletu v

razbitine. V sredini spo-

pada smo!«

Naša reševalna raketa,

ena od štirih, je obstala v

pripravljenosti na ugoden

trenutek.

»Laserski topovi in pogon

so uničeni!« To je bil glas

osrednjega računalnika.

»Prebili smo se skozi naj-

gostejši bojni metež. Pri

optimalno izbranem tre-

nutku izstrelitve je beg

naših reševalnih raket

lahko uspešen. Želim vam

srečno pot! Zbogom!«

Oprijel sem se ročaja svo-

jega sedeža. Izstrelitev bo

hitra. Lepo od osrednjega

računalnika, da se žrtvuje

za nas, sem še pomislil.

Sledil je silovit sunek.

84

whole front section of the launch bay flew off, ope-ning such a large gap that we had a view of a group of asteroids in front of us. Then the powerful acce-leration pushed me back in my seat as the escape pod launched. Within moments we were flying past broken-off sections of our ship and streaking towards a dense cluster of asteroids. The right place for our little pods. Like a little sparrow darting into a thicket to escape birds of prey. Miniature holo-grams by our seats soon showed the explosions of the pursuing craft as they smashed into the astero-ids. There now came a few nerve-racking minutes of dizzying turns that sent the blood rushing to my tem-ples, then to my feet, and back to my head again, but then the motion calmed down and we flew along more easily. We were safe. The hologram no longer showed any pursuers. We

Ves sprednji del prostora

pred reševalnimi rake-

tami je odletel v tako

velikem kosu, da se nam

je odprl pogled proti

skupini asteroidov pred

nami. Tedaj me je pritisnil

ob sedež silovit pospešek

ob izstrelitvi naše reše-

valne rakete in že smo

zleteli mimo odtrganih

kosov našega plovila ter

švignili proti gosti gruči

asteroidov. Pravi kraj za

naše majhne rakete. Tu

bo pravi prostor za beg

vrabca pred ujedami

skozi grmovje. In res smo

v majhnih hologramih

ob svojih sedežih kmalu

zaznali eksplozije pri

trčenjih zasledovalnih

letal v asteroide. Potem

je sledilo še nekaj minut

negotovosti in spiralnih

poletov z udarjanjem

krvi v glavo, pa v noge ter

spet v glavo, nakar je naš

let postajal vse bolj umir-

jeno lagoden. Bili smo

varni. Tudi v hologramu

ni bilo več videti zasledo-

valcev. Otresli smo se jih.

85

had shaken them off. At last! We cheered enthu-siastically at the sight of the clear route through the remainder of the asteroid belt. This part of the aste-roid cloud must be in the domain of the Sensins, I thought. The murmuring and exclamations subsided and we held our breath expectantly until at last we entered the wide open space on the far side of the asteroid belt.“Wow!” The scene that opened up before us was magnificent and unexpec-ted. We were surprised, at any rate. Happiness and fear disappeared from our faces. Both at the same time. Our brains raced to adapt to this new situa-tion. “Well that really is some-thing!” said the Sensin who had provided the commentary by the holo-display on the ship. “So that’s how things stand now.”His neighbour nodded.

Končno! Navdušeno smo

vzkliknili ob pogledu

na odprto pot skozi pre-

ostali del asteroidnega

pasu. Vsaj ta del astero-

idnega oblaka je moral

biti v domeni Čutinov.

Mrmranje in vzkliki so se

polegli v pričakovanju in

zadržanem dihu vse do

končnega vstopa v širok

odprt prostor na drugi

strani asteroidnega pasu.

»Uaaa!« Pred nami se je

kazal prizor, veličasten

in nepričakovan. Vseeno

nas je presenetilo. Z naših

obrazov sta izginila veselje

in strah. Oboje hkrati. Le

misli so nam letele skozi

možgane s podvojeno

hitrostjo.

»Ta je pa dobra!« je spre-

govoril Čutin, ki je izrekal

pripombe ob hologramu

na ladji. »Torej je zadeva

zdaj taka.«

Njegov sosed je prikimal.

86

“Yes!” His voice soun-ded somehow absent, but suddenly he spoke with more animation. “How, actually? What does that mean?”I was struggling to find an explanation myself. The scene that spread before our eyes was the exact opposite of what had gone before and contradicted all our expectations. No-one had mentioned this possi-bility. And yet they could have imagined it. The Sen-sins, with all their intelli-gence, could surely have predicted this. Or perhaps not? Thousands and thousands of warships floated in a variety of geometric figu-res around a giant space station bathed in an iride-scent glow. It must have measured several tens of kilometres across: a veri-table city. I caught my breath and exhaled slowly. Those were Sensin and Acutin warships, in equal numbers. At least that’s

»Da!« To je izustil bolj odso-

tno, nakar je nenadoma

prišlo iz njega še nekaj več

življenja. »Kakšna pravza-

prav? Kaj to pomeni?«

Premišljal sem v iskanju

najboljše razlage. Vse, kar

se je razgrinjalo našemu

pogledu, je bilo povsem

v nasprotju s prejšnjim

dogajanjem in pričako-

vanji. Nihče ni omenil te

možnosti. Pa vendar bi

lahko pomislili nanjo. Vsaj

Čutini bi to s svojo bistro-

stjo lahko predvideli. Ali

pa tudi ne?

Tisoče in tisoče bojnih

ladij je bilo v raznih geo-

metrijskih likih razvršče-

nih okrog orjaške vesolj-

ske postaje, razsvetljene s

prelivajočim se barvnim

sijem. Več deset kilome-

trov je morala meriti v

premeru, pravo mesto.

Zajel sem sapo in puhnil v

dolgem izdihu. Bojne ladje

tako Čutinov kot Ostrinov,

v enakem razmerju, vsaj

87

what it looked like. They lay there in perfect peace. And yet they must have been watching each other. Be that as it may, both sides had their warships moored there. In peace? There must be some kind of dialogue or conference going on between them, I thought. The pod’s hologram dis-play came to life and showed a group of Sensin commanders – so I gathe-red from the comments of the Sensins around me – with a dignified looking man in the foreground, who proceeded to address us:“Welcome! You have accomplished a succes-sful breakthrough. Con-gratulations!” A bright smile flashed spontaneou-sly across his face. “A job well done!” There was something foxy about this man, it occur-red to me. Nevertheless I was happy to share the satisfaction of the Sensins in the pod.

videti je bilo tako. Zasi-

drane so bile v popolnem

miru. In vendar se morajo

medsebojno nadzorovati.

Kakor koli, obe strani sta

imeli tam zasidrane svoje

bojne ladje. In to v miru?

Nekak dialog, nekakšno

dogovarjanje je že moralo

potekati med njimi, sem

pomislil.

V raketnem hologramskem

prikazovalniku se nam je

pokazala skupina Čutinov

iz našega poveljstva, kot

sem sklepal po pripom-

bah Čutinov, z možakom

dostojanstvenega videza v

ospredju, ki nas je nagovo-

ril:

»Pozdravljeni! Izvedli ste

uspešen preboj. Česti-

tam!« Na njegovem obrazu

je zaplesal spontano živ

nasmeh. »Dobro opra-

vljeno delo!«

Nekaj lisjaškega je na tem

možaku, se mi je utrnil

pomislek. Vseeno pa sem

rade volje delil zadovolj-

stvo s Čutini v raketi.

88

“We shall hold a dinner in your honour with lots of guests!”This met with a lively and approving response. The events we had just expe-rienced, with all the risks and the emotions that went with them, were to be fol-lowed by a social gathering and a dinner. Wonderful!“Naturally we will also have to invite the Acu-tins.”The pod fell silent. The Acutins, of course. That seemed understandable. At least given the current position.“What is actually going on?” said a voice behind me.The dignified Sensin did not appear surprised at the question, and smiled with eloquent self-assurance: “As you know, we are always trying to reach agreements on coopera-tion with the Acutins. Even now. But some things, as you yourselves have seen, go their own way, no?”

»Priredili vam bomo sve-

čano večerjo z večjim šte-

vilom gostov!«

Sledil je živ in odobravajoč

odziv. Zadnjim dogodkom,

z vsemi tveganji in s spre-

minjajočimi se občutki, bo

sledilo družabno srečanje

z večerjo. Krasno!

»Seveda bomo morali pova-

biti tudi Ostrine.«

V raketi je nastala tišina.

Ostrine, da. Delovalo je

razumljivo. Vsaj glede na

trenutni položaj.

»Kaj se pravzaprav dogaja?«

je priletel klic iz ozadja.

Dostojanstveni Čutin ni

kazal presenečenja nad

zastavljenim vprašanjem,

ko se je nasmehnil z zgo-

vorno samozavestjo: »Kot

veste, smo z Ostrini vedno

v dogovorih o sodelova-

nju. Tudi zdaj. Nekatere

stvari, kot ste sami videli,

pa gredo svojo pot, kajne?«

89

The Sensin gave a slight bow. “We shall meet at dinner!” he said by way of farewell and drew back from the holo-display.“Well, you heard,” said the talkative Sensin from the back of the pod in a loud, complacent voice. “We are back from our journey.” And everything was all right.

Čutin se je narahlo pri-

klonil. »Na svidenje na

večerji!« je še dejal v slovo

ter se umaknil iz holija.

»Kot ste slišali,« je s pou-

darjeno privzdignjenim

glasom in samovšečno

zaradi lastnega nastopa

veselo povzel zgovorni

Čutin iz ozadja naše rešilne

rakete, »se mi zdaj vračamo

s svoje poti. Sicer pa je vse

v redu.

90

Chapter V

The speech by the repre-sentative of the Sensins was respectfully offi-cial, just like the Acutin’s thanks for the invitation to the dinner. Once the intro-ductory words were over, the conversation between the Acutins and Sensins moved to the tables. I watched them with inte-rest. Both groups. A cer-tain restraint was evident. There was no laughter, but nevertheless they were chatting easily. It was the same at my table, where the Acutins even made some slightly cynical com-ments about the comfort of our journey. Conversation flowed among the Sensins themselves and with the Acutins.

Once the dinner was over, my attention was attrac-ted by a group of Sensins

V. poglavje

Nagovor predstavnikov

Čutinov je bil ob uvodnih

besedah spoštljivo uraden,

enako kot Ostrinova

zahvala za povabilo na

večerjo, takoj zatem pa se

je pogovor med Ostrini in

Čutini preselil za omizja. Z

zanimanjem sem jih opa-

zoval. Tako ene kot druge.

Videti je bilo določeno

zadržanost, brez smeha,

toda pomenkovali so se

vendarle. Tudi za mojim

omizjem, kjer smo s strani

Ostrinov dobili celo nekaj

rahlo ciničnih pripomb na

račun udobnosti našega

potovanja, je potekal

pogovor tako med samimi

Čutini kot tudi z Ostrini.

Kmalu po večerji pa je

mojo pozornost pritegnila

skupina Čutinov s svojim

91

who seemed to be looking more and more frequently in my direction. The way they bent their heads toge-ther as they talked seemed to reveal some secret pur-pose. And it must have been something to do with me, or they would not have kept looking at me. I began watching them more carefully. They noti-ced this immediately, and with slight movements of their heads seemed to be trying to indicate to me that something important was about to happen. Then one of them left the group, walked to the other side of the hall and continued walking until I lost him from view. I searched the hall but it was no good. I could no longer find him. I looked back at the origi-nal group. This friendly gathering over dinner was in all likelihood at an end. At least as far as I could tell. I looked at the Acutins again. Their conversations with the Sensins were pro-

vse pogostejšim pogledo-

vanjem proti meni. Neka

prikrita namera se mi je

razkrivala v njihovem skla-

njanju glav med pomen-

kovanjem. In prav mene

je moralo to zadevati, saj

se sicer ne bi ozirali vame,

tako da sem jih še sam začel

pazljiveje opazovati, kar so

očitno takoj zaznali in mi z

rahlimi namigi glav naka-

zovali pomembnost nadalj-

njega dogajanja. Nato pa

se je eden odmaknil od

skupine, se sprehodil na

drugo stran dvorane ter še

naokrog, dokler ga nisem

izgubil iz vida. Preletel

sem s pogledom po dvo-

rani, toda zaman. Nisem ga

več mogel najti. Ponovno

sem se ozrl v prvotno sku-

pinico. To prijateljsko sre-

čanje ob večerji je bilo po

vsej verjetnosti pri koncu.

Vsaj sodeč po tem, kar sem

lahko dojel iz vsega skupaj.

Pogledal sem še k Ostri-

nom. Njihovi pogovori s

Čutini so potekali v miru,

92

ceeding peacefully and quietly. If anything they seemed even more relaxed. That was my impression. Nothing about this eve-ning event suggested that there was a serious quarrel between them. Oh yes: that old question of this quar-rel of theirs. What was it about? Whatever it was, after everything I had just experienced on my jour-ney here, this social gathe-ring could only mean a short pause before further hostilities.Once again I looked around the hall and studied the faces of the guests. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted the Sensin I had lost sight of a little earlier. He was coming towards me, although he was still looking away. I looked away too, and stared in front of me as I waited for him to approach. He stepped up to me and whispered: “We’ve done it. Everything is ready. A fast ship is already wai-

nemoteno, celo vse bolj

sproščeno, vsaj na videz.

Vtis je bil pač tak. Iz tega

večernega srečanja bi bolj

težko sklepal na hujši spor

med njimi. Hja, mi je spet

prišlo v ospredje staro

vprašanje, ta njihov spor.

V čem neki je? Kakorkoli,

po vsem, kar sem pravkar

doživel na tej poti, je to

večerno srečanje lahko

pomenilo le kratek predah

pred nadaljnjimi zaostri-

tvami.

Ponovno sem s pogledom

obšel dvorano in obraze

gostov ter s kotičkom

očesa ujel tistega Čutina,

ki sem ga malo prej izgubil

iz vida. K meni je bil name-

njen, čeprav je še zmeraj

gledal stran. Tudi sam sem

umaknil pogled od njega

in se v pričakovanju zazrl

predse, vse dokler mi ni

pristopil in šepnil: »Uspelo

nam je. Vse je pripravljeno.

Tudi dovolj hitra ladja nas

93

ting for us. Slip out unob-served and make your way towards the structure marked with a double ‘W’. One of our people will be waiting for you there.”

I nodded. It looked as though things were about to start moving again. A little too soon, perhaps, because I was keen to get into conversation with the Acutins. I needed to get to know them a little better too. The atmosphere here was just right for a spon-taneous conversation. Things were getting incre-asingly sociable, and some Acutins were already looking curiously in my direction, although their looks were slightly diffe-rent: more appraising.I stood up. I had no time left for a conversation with them, which was actually a pity. At least some of the replies of the Acutins had attracted my attention. I was already walking towards the exit when a

že čaka. Neopazno se

izmuzni skozi izhod in

naprej do zgradbe z dvoj-

nim W, kjer te bo že čakal

eden naših.«

Prikimal sem. Spet je

kazalo na hitrejši potek

dogajanja. Celo malo pre-

hiter, ker me je namreč

vleklo v pogovor z Ostrini.

Tudi nje bi moral še malo

bolje spoznati, vzdušje za

spontani pogovor je bilo

tu kar primerno, vse bolj

družabno, pa tudi nekateri

Ostrini so že prav rado-

vedno pogledovali proti

meni, čeprav je bil njihov

pogled nekoliko drugačen,

bolj ocenjujoč.

Vstal sem. Ni mi ostalo več

časa za pogovor z njimi,

kar je bilo pravzaprav

škoda. Vsaj nekateri odzivi

Ostrinov so mi vse bolj

pritegovali pozornost. Že

sem stopil k izhodu, ko se

94

smiling Acutin – about my height but of a sligh-ter build – came up to me, looked at me with curio-sity and said: “You’re not a Sensin are you?”I stopped. Outwardly the Sensins were no different from me. At least I had not noticed any notable dif-ferences. But this Acutin had guessed anyway, even though he shouldn’t have done. A remembered phrase flashed through my mind like a warning: “If the Acutins knew of your importance to us, they would have attacked us even more fiercely!”I smiled at the Acutin. “Is there something bothering you about me?”“No, no. Don’t take it the wrong way. It is merely my capacity to recognise the truth that interests me.”“And what have you lear-ned?” I asked, to avoid giving a direct answer about my connection with the Sensins.“No, no. There’s nothing

mi je približal smehljajoči

se Ostrin, približno moje

velikosti, le bolj suh, in

me med nekam zvedavim

pogledovanjem nagovoril:

»Vi niste Čutin, kajne?«

Obstal sem. Na zunaj se

Čutini niso razlikovali

od mene. Vsaj sam nisem

opazil nobene omembe

vredne drugačnosti. Ta

Ostrin pa je vseeno uganil,

čeprav ne bi bil smel. Kot

v opozorilo so mi skozi

spomin prešle besede:

»Če bi Ostrini poznali vaš

pomen za nas, bi napadli

še dosti bolj srdito!«

Nasmehnil sem se Ostrinu:

»Vas kaj moti na meni?«

»Ne, ne. Nič slabega nimam

v mislih. Zgolj moje spo-

sobnosti preverjanja me

zanimajo.«

»In kaj ste ugotovili?« sem

dejal v izogib odkritemu

odgovoru glede pripadno-

sti Čutinom.

»Ne, ne. Nič ni narobe.

95

wrong. It’s just that I know the Sensins pretty well. I have spent quite a lot of time with them, in their company. You’re an Earthman, aren’t you?”“Hmm!” I looked at him doubtfully. Was his que-stion really well intentio-ned, and was this conver-sation really so innocent?“But something must have led you to your conclu-sion,” I continued with sli-ghtly heightened curiosity, while pretending to enjoy an entertaining conversa-tion.“Of course.” The Acutin was becoming increasin-gly confident. “We Acutins respond to events more directly, more appropria-tely to the current mood.” He laughed knowingly: “Sensins are a good deal more absent in their con-versations.”“Oh yes?” “Your tradition derives from a military upbringing, but the Sen-sins are more sensuous,

Le Čutine poznam že kar

dobro. Precej časa sem

preživel z njimi, v njihovi

družbi. Vi ste Zemljan,

kajne?«

»Hm!« Pogledal sem ga z

dvomom o dobronamer-

nosti njegovega vpraša-

nja oziroma z dvomom

o nepomembnosti tega

pogovora.

»Toda nekaj vas je moralo

navesti na vašo ugotovi-

tev,« sem nadaljeval z rahlo

poudarjeno radovedno-

stjo med igranim zado-

voljstvom nad zabavnim

pogovorom.

»Seveda.« Ostrin je posta-

jal vse bolj samozavesten.

»Mi Ostrini se na dogajanja

odzivamo bolj neposredno,

bolj primerno trenutnemu

razpoloženju.« Nakar se

je zasmejal s pomenljivim

prizvokom: »Čutini so v

pogovorih dosti bolj odso-

tni.«

»Aja?« sem zategnil. »Vaša

tradicija izhaja iz vojaške

vzgoje, Čutini pa so bolj

čutni, z nekaj več umetni-

96

with something of the absentmindedness of the artist. So do I seem more combative?”“No, no, you seem perfec-tly normal.”Two Sensins standing nearby, who must have overheard our conversa-tion, moved closer. With visible briskness, or even boisterousness, one of them mentioned recent events with a hint at the “shooting match” during our encounter with their fighters, while the other chimed in cheerfully with his own acknowledgement of the Acutins’ successful introduction of martial thinking at the level of highly developed civilisa-tions. The Acutin shook his head: “With that old story about our tradition you are merely evading the issue. You can’t deceive me. There is something amiss with you, or you would not have brought this Earthman here. We

ške odsotnosti. Torej delu-

jem bolj militantno?«

»Ne, ne, delujete povsem

normalno.«

Tedaj sta se primaknila

sosednja Čutina, ki sta

morala ujeti najin pogo-

vor. Z vidno živahnostjo,

pravzaprav že kar razpo-

sajenostjo, je eden od njiju

omenil zadnje dogodke z

namigom na ‘strelsko pri-

reditev’ ob našem srečanju

z njihovimi lovci, drugi pa

se je vedro vmešal s svojim

priznanjem Ostrinom za

njihovo uspešno uvajanje

militantnega razmišljanja

na stopnji visoko razvitih

civilizacij.

Ostrin je odkimaval: »S to

vašo lajno na račun naše

tradicije se zgolj izmikate.

Ne boste me preslepili.

Nekaj vam gre narobe,

sicer ne bi pripeljali tega

Zemljana. Bomo že ugoto-

97

will find out why you need him. You have miscalcula-ted somewhere.”The Acutin moved away. In fact he had been loo-king somewhat uncomfor-table for a while, as though there was still something he wanted to say. As he looked appraisingly first at me and then at the Sensins I could clearly see that he was less and less keen to continue the conversation, before he finally took his leave.“Let’s go! They’re waiting for us,” said the Sensin next to me, looking cautiously round to see if anyone was watching, and indicating to me that we should move unobtrusively towards the exit.

vili, zakaj ga potrebujete.

Nekje ste se ušteli.«

Nato se je Ostrin uma-

knil. Sicer se je pred tem

nekam neodločno presto-

pal, kot da mu še nekaj leži

na jeziku, in pri tem oce-

njujoče pogledoval zdaj

mene, zdaj Čutina z vse

manj veselja nad nadalj-

njim pogovorom, kot sem

lahko jasno razbral, dokler

se končno ni poslovil.

»Gremo! Čakajo nas, « je

med oprezujočim ozira-

njem po morebitnih prita-

jenih pogledih dejal Čutin

ob meni ter mi z nami-

gom dal znamenje, naj se

skrivoma pomaknemo k

izhodu.

98

Chapter VI

The Sensin in front of me leaned forwards and launched himself at the hologram of the door. He flew through it in a long, easy flight, despite the gravity pulling him down. Once on the other side of the transparent barrier he stopped and floated there, making slow movements. He levelled himself sli-ghtly and then, free of gravity, descended in a circling turn towards the spiral.“This is the entrance spiral with seventy-seven doors,” explained Benesens. “All of them are opened by passwords and the solving of problems for which cer-tain skills and special kno-wledge are required.”Meanwhile the Sensin in the foreground had alre-ady come to a halt outside the first closed door and

VI. poglavje

Čutin pred mano se je

nagnil naprej in se odgnal

proti hologramu vrat, skozi

katera je zletel z dolgim,

sprva s težnostjo obreme-

njenim letom, takoj na

drugi strani hologramsko

prikazane prozorne pre-

grade pa je najprej obstal v

lebdenju z upočasnjenimi

gibi, se še nekoliko zrav-

nal ter se nato, osvobojen

težnosti, spustil v krožnem

zavoju proti spirali.

»Tu je vhodna spirala s

77 vrati,« mi je pojasnil

Dobročut. »Vsa se odpirajo

z gesli in s sprotnim reše-

vanjem zastavljenih nalog,

za katere moraš imeti tako

določene sposobnosti kot

posebna znanja.«

Medtem je Čutin v ospredju

že zastal pred prvimi zapr-

timi vrati ter nas z zama-

hom roke pozval, naj

99

was waving at us to follow him. Then, standing in a semicircle three or four paces from the door, we reported our arrival.“Welcome!” The tran-slucent hologram of a dignified-looking female Sensin greeted us. “I must draw your attention to the necessity of knowing the passwords,” she said in an official tone of voice.The Sensins nodded, and I imitated them. “Please, proceed!” The hologram doorkeeper gave a slightly condescending bow and withdrew.“Right, let’s go!” said the Sensin next to me without wasting any time, and he stepped on through the slowly opening door.I followed him, with a mixture of caution and curiosity, all the way to the next door. This had even more unusual arches of stonelike appearance, with figures carved into them, although they were of some transparent mate-

mu sledimo. Potem smo

zbrani v polkrogu, tri ali

štiri korake stran od vrat,

sporočili svoj prihod.

»Dobrodošli!« nas je poz-

dravil presojni hologram-

ski prikaz neke Čutine

dostojanstvenega videza.

»Opozoriti vas moram na

zahtevo po poznavanju

gesel,« je dejala uradno.

Čutini so prikimali in jaz

sem jih posnemal.

»Izvolite stopiti naprej!«

Nato se je ta hologramska

vratarica umaknila z rahlo

vzvišenim priklonom.

»Prav, gremo!« je brez izgu-

bljanja časa dejal Čutin ob

meni in stopil naprej skozi

počasi odpirajoča se vrata.

Sledil sem mu, oprezujoče

in zvedavo z mešanimi

občutki, vse do naslednjih

vrat s še bolj nenavadnimi

oboki, kamnitega videza, z

vklesanimi liki, čeprav so

bila iz nekega presojnega

materiala s stalno spre-

100

rial that kept changing colour. “Do these tests relate to the group as a whole or are they also individual, for each of us separately?” I asked.“Don’t worry. We have anticipated everything. Naturally the tests are quite thorough and demanding, since this is the entrance to our largest energy fields, protected by millions of colossal robot-controlled missiles, which we cannot allow the Acu-tins to reach no matter how hard they try.” The Sensin smiled slyly: “And that is of course very hard indeed.”Have they already attemp-ted it?”“Yes, of course. They don’t have an energy dump as big as this. Almost half of all our energy reserves are here. They have even got as far as the entrance. But they couldn’t get any further, because they were stopped by the secu-

minjajočimi se barvnimi

odtenki.

»Ali se to preverjanje

nanaša na vso skupino v

celoti ali tudi posamezno,

na vsakega posebej?« sem

vprašal.

»Nikar ne skrbite. Vse smo

predvideli. Seveda pa je to

preverjanje precej teme-

ljito in zahtevno, ker je

tu vhod na naša največja

energetska polja, zavaro-

vana z milijardami orja-

ških robotiziranih izstrel-

kov, do katerih Ostrinov

ne smemo pustiti, pa če si

še tako prizadevajo.« Čutin

se je prebrisano nasmeh-

nil: »To pa si seveda zelo.«

»Ali so že poskušali?«

»Hja, seveda, saj tako

velikega skladišča sploh

nimajo. Skoraj polovica

vseh naših energetskih

rezerv je tukaj. Tudi do

vhoda so se že prebili.

Naprej pa niso mogli,

ker jih je ustavil varno-

stni zaščitni sistem. Prave

101

rity system. Impassable and impenetrable shells are arranged in layers all around the energy dump. Laser cannon capable of unleashing enormous energy are positioned at various points of the shells. Anyone wanting to break through these shells would have to have at least the same energy capacities, and that is a tall order because of the colossal masses involved. Even we were restricted by them when building these energy silos. It took us a considerable time to transport all the material here.”“So how were they able to get to the entrance?” I asked.“Well, they too are at an advanced level of deve-lopment. They managed to conceal the arrival of a powerful fleet using a simple technique, one that is familiar to us, that on this occasion, as a result of a combination of circum-

neprehodne in neprebojne

lupine so v plasteh posta-

vljene okrog in okrog. Po

njih so razporejeni laser-

ski topovi silnih energij.

Kdor bi hotel prebiti te

lupine, bi moral imeti vsaj

enake energetske zmoglji-

vosti, to pa je huda zahteva

zaradi orjaških mas, ki

so tudi nas omejevale pri

izgradnji teh energetskih

silosov. Precej časa nam je

pobral tudi prevoz vsega

materiala.«

»Kako pa, da so lahko prišli

do vhoda?« sem vprašal.

»No, ja, tudi oni so na visoki

stopnji razvoja. Uspelo jim

je prikriti prihod moč-

nega ladjevja s sicer nam

znano preprosto tehniko,

ki pa se jim je zaradi spleta

102

stances, actually succee-ded. They disintegrated their ships into tiny parti-cles and, moving them in at a carefully calculated speed in order to dece-ive us, they guided them to the entrance in appa-rently random clusters. Everything was arran-ged so that they could be reintegrated at a specific moment in the vicinity of the entrance. Some par-ticles flew more slowly, others more quickly, over quite large distances. They managed to create a misle-ading exterior which con-fused our computerised analysers into seeing diffe-rent, peaceful vessels. And so their warships gathe-red outside the entrance in such great numbers that our local forces were unable to hold out against them, although they did inflict heavy losses. Then a raiding party broke thro-ugh the security system at the entrance and made their way to where we are

okoliščin celo posrečila.

Svoje ladje so, razstavljene

na izjemno majhne delce,

v zavajajočih krivuljah in

s preračunano hitrostjo

leta v navidez razpršenih

gručah usmerili pred vhod.

Vse so naravnali na sestavi-

tev v določenem trenutku

v bližini vhoda. Pri tem so

posamezni delci leteli bolj

počasi, drugi hitreje, in to

v dokaj velikih razdaljah.

Uspeli pa so predvsem z

zavajajočo zunanjostjo, ki

je naše računalniške ana-

lizatorje speljala na prikaz

drugačnih, miroljubnih

plovil. Tako so se potem

njihove bojne ladje zbrale

pred našim vhodom v

tako velikem številu, da

jih naše lokalne sile niso

mogle zadržati, čeprav so

jim vseeno nanesle krepke

izgube. Potem so z diver-

zantskim napadom vdrli

skozi varnostni sistem ob

vhodu vse do sem, kjer

103

standing now, and quite a lot further too. They got through seventy-three tests and were only four away from the control panels. We were taken by surprise. Even now we do not know how they mana-ged to get hold of all the codes and the knowledge necessary to open the doors. They almost made it.”“But surely you had secu-rity protection inside?” I asked.“We did, and that is in fact why their plan failed. They stopped outside the seven-ty-fourth door because they couldn’t get through it. There are seventy-se-ven protective doors here, but only seventy-three of them are designed to protect against a break-in from outside. The other four are to prevent abuses from our side, for a system as important as this cannot be entrusted to any one individual, no matter how distinguished and above

sedaj stojimo, in še dosti

naprej. Kar skozi 73 pre-

verjanj so se prebili in le še

štiri so jih ločila od koman-

dnih pultov. Res so nas

nekoliko presenetili, saj še

sedaj ne vemo, kako so se

dokopali do vseh teh šifer

skupaj z nujnim znanjem

za odpiranje vrat. Skoraj bi

jim uspelo.«

»Mar v notranjosti niste

imeli varnostne zaščite?«

sem vprašal.

»Smo, saj zato jim nji-

hova namera vendarle ni

uspela. Pred 74. prehodom

so obstali, ker niso prišli

skozenj. 77 zaščitnih vrat

je tukaj, toda proti zuna-

njim vdorom jih je name-

njenih samo 73. Ostala

štiri so za preprečevanje

zlorab z naše strani, ker

tako pomembnega sis-

tema ne moremo zaupati

nobenemu posamezniku,

pa naj bo še tako ugleden

104

suspicion. We also had an entire garrison stationed outside the seventy-fourth door along with their com-manders.”“And what happened to them?”“The raiding party got as far as the seventy-fourth door.”“Did they take them priso-ner? Kill them?”“Yes! They exterminated all of them.” The Sensin shook his head. It was hard for him to accept. After a brief pause for thought, I took a deep breath: “Ah. They killed them? Hmm. So then the way was open to them?”“It’s not so simple. The last four security checkpoints may have been installed to prevent possible abuse by individuals on our side, but nevertheless they were there. Anyone wanting to get through them would have to undergo authen-tication. Otherwise they would be able to get their hands on the whole com-

in neoporečen. Tudi vso

posadko z vodstvom smo

imeli nameščeno pred 74.

Vhodom.«

»In kaj je bilo z njo?«

»Diverzantski vpad je segel

vse do 74. vrat.«

»So jih zajeli? Ubili?«

»Da! Vse so pokončali.«

Nato je Čutin odkimal.

Težko sprejemljivo dejstvo

je bilo to zanj. Jaz pa sem

po kratkem premisleku

globlje zajel sapo »Hja!

Pobili? Hm. Torej so imeli

prosto pot?«

»Tako preprosto pa le ni.

Zadnji štirje varnostni

prehodi so bili sicer res

nameščeni zaradi morebi-

tne zlorabe posameznikov

z naše strani, toda kakor

koli - bili so tam. Kdor koli

bi hotel skoznje, bi moral

prestati preverjanje. V

nasprotnem primeru ima

opraviti s celotnim raču-

105

puter system controlling the energy fields and pro-duction processes that also controls the energy dumps and the production of all types of weapons and robots with powerful logi-stical capabilities for auto-nomous warfare. For mili-tary interventions these robots are on a par with us, if not even better than us. But it is only possible to take control of the whole system via the central con-trol panel. Otherwise it’s no good. The Acutins must have reconciled themsel-ves to this fact when they tried unsuccessfully to decipher the codes. Later they blamed the short amount of time available, which is only partly true. Our district units naturally responded quickly to the call for help, but neverthe-less it was quite some time before they arrived. Sub-sequent analysis revealed that before the incursion the Acutins had carried out a series of simulati-

nalniškim miselnim siste-

mom energetskih polj in

proizvodnih procesov, ki

ima nadzor tudi nad skla-

dišči in izdelavo vseh vrst

orožij ter tudi robotov z

močnimi logistično raču-

nalniškimi zmogljivostmi

za samostojno bojevanje.

Za vojaške posege so ti

roboti enakovredni nam,

če niso še boljši od nas.

Prevzem nadzorstva nad

celotnim sistemom pa je

možen le prek osrednjega

komandnega pulta. Sicer je

vse zaman. S tem so se tudi

Ostrini morali sprijazniti,

ko so se neuspešno trudili

razvozlati šifrirne kode.

Pozneje so se izgovarjali na

kratko odmerjen razpolo-

žljivi čas, kar pa je le delno

res. Naše okoliške enote

so se seveda hitro odzvale

pozivu na pomoč, vendar

je kar nekaj časa minilo do

njihovega prihoda. Kajti po

naših kasnejših analizah

so Ostrini pred vpadom

izdelali vrsto simulacij za

106

ons of their break-in to the energy fields. On the basis of these simulations they would have anticipated both the time needed for decoding and the timing of the break-in. And they actually had this time at their disposal, several times over. But they were unable to break the codes. It is impossible to know whether they would have succeeded if they had had more time, but the fact is this was a serious blow to their pride. They were convinced that they would simply waltz through our protected entrances. But it didn’t work out”.“Well they did manage to get through the first seven-ty-three doors. And from what you have said, it seems that they did so very quickly,” I said, alluding to the by no means negligible capabilities of the Acutins. But with undiminished enthusiasm at the failure of the Acutins, the Sensin continued calmly: “They miscalculated. The

vdor v energetska polja

in na njihovi osnovi pred-

videli tako čas za dešifri-

ranje kot potek vdora do

komandnih pultov. In tega

časa so pravzaprav imeli

na voljo celo kar nekajkrat

več. Dešifriranje pa jim ni

uspelo. Sicer ostaja odprto,

ali bi jim po daljšem času

to vseeno uspelo narediti

ali ne, toda dejstvo je, da

je bil to hud udarec za nji-

hovo nadutost. Neomajno

so bili prepričani o hitrem

sprehodu skozi naše varo-

vane vhode. Pa ni šlo.«

»Skozi prvih 73 vrat pa se

jim je le uspelo prebiti. In

iz tega, kar ste povedali,

sklepam, da jim je to uspelo

zelo hitro,« sem navrgel z

namigom na ne tako slabe

sposobnosti Ostrinov.

Toda Čutin je v nezmanjša-

nem navdušenju nad neu-

spehom Ostrinov mirno

nadaljeval: »Ušteli so se.

107

failure of their raid also meant the failure of their attempt to get the upper hand over us. Or to be more accurate: despite all their careful preparations, it all went wrong for them. That is the most important thing.”I looked at the Sensin with a smile. Success would have given the Acutins an enormous advantage, I concluded from the Sensin’s reply. That was the feeling I got.“Have the Acutins got pro-blems because of a lack of energy? On Earth we have seen quite significant dif-ferences over gradual or rapid transitions to war,” I said, trying to show my understanding of this quarrel between these two civilisations, about which I still didn’t know very much.The Sensin looked at me in silence and then, with a slight shake of the head, looked away: “That’s not the reason. They have a

Z neuspehom diverzant-

skega vdora jim je spodle-

tel tudi poskus prevlade

nad nami oziroma, da bom

bolj natančen, kljub vsem

skrbnim pripravam jim je

vse skupaj spodletelo. To

je tisto, kar je najpomemb-

nejše.«

Z nasmehom sem pogledal

Čutina. Hudo prednost bi

lahko tovrsten uspeh pri-

nesel Ostrinom, sem skle-

pal po Čutinovem odzivu,

tak občutek sem namreč

dobil.

»Ali imajo Ostrini težave

zaradi pomanjkanje ener-

gije? Na Zemlji smo imeli

precej občutnih razha-

janj glede postopnega ali

hitrega prehoda v vojno,«

sem dejal v smislu nakaza-

nega razumevanja spora

teh dveh civilizacij, o kate-

rem še vedno nisem vedel

prav veliko.

Čutin je umolknil, se zagle-

dal vame ter nato z rahlim

odkimavanjem umaknil

pogled: »Ni stvar v tem. Bili-

jonkratno imajo pokrite

108

billion times more than they need, almost like us. Both sides have more than enough.”“So the energy fields are not the cause of the hosti-lity between your civilisa-tions?”“The differences between us arose from the incom-prehensible desire of the Acutins for predomi-nance, despite the fact that all needs, both theirs and ours, are covered a billion times over, since here there is enough of everything. They consider themselves a superior civilisation and believe that they are enti-tled to precedence and to control us and, consequen-tly, the Earth too. Their predominance would not be very propitious for you Earthmen either, since for them you are merely beings at a lower intel-lectual level. They beli-eve that they can allow you to evolve, but you do not represent any greater value to them. They would

potrebe, skoraj tako kot

mi. Oboji je imamo več kot

dovolj.«

»Torej energetska polja

niso vzrok sovražnosti

med vašima civilizaci-

jama?«

»Razhajanja so nastala iz

že kar nerazumljive želje

Ostrinov po prevladi,

kljub bilijonkratnemu pre-

sežku vseh potreb, tako

njihovih kot naših, ker je

tu vsega dovolj. Imajo se

za večvredno civilizacijo,

ki ji po njihovem mnenju

pripada prvenstvo z nad-

zorom nad nami in posle-

dično še nad Zemljo. Tudi

za vas Zemljane ne bi bila

njihova prevlada nič kaj

ugodna, ker ste zanje le

bitja na nižji intelektualni

ravni, ki jim po svojem

prepričanju lahko dopu-

stijo evolucijski razvoj,

toda večje vrednosti zanje

ne predstavljate. Nič vas

109

not miss you if you were to disappear or be destro-yed.”“And you have a diffe-rent attitude towards us Earthmen?” I looked at the Sensin.“Fundamentally different. However things are not that simple. Without living with us, an individual would not understand us, or would very probably get the wrong impression of us. On the other hand not much time is necessary to grow a little better acqua-inted with us. Even for you a week or two should be enough. Three weeks would certainly do it. But in these circumstances, with such turbulent events occurring, any explana-tion would involve lengthy interruptions. On the other hand, you Earthmen act according to your feelings, just as we do. But for such a decision, you have been provided with a minimum amount of knowledge even now.”

ne bi pogrešali v primeru

izginotja oziroma vašega

uničenja.«

»Ali imate vi drugačen

odnos do nas Zemljanov?«

sem se zazrl v Čutina.

»Bistveno drugačen.

Vendar stvari niso tako

preproste, saj nas brez

sobivanja z nami posame-

znik ne bi razumel ozi-

roma bi nas prav verjetno

razumel napačno. Pa niti

ni potrebno tako veliko

časa za malo bolj poglo-

bljeno seznanitev z nami.

Tudi vam bi zadostoval kak

teden ali dva. Trije tedni pa

bi bili prav gotovo dovolj.

V teh okoliščinah, ob tako

burnem dogajanju, pa bi

sredi vsake razlage sledila

daljša prekinitev. Po drugi

strani se Zemljani ravnate

po občutku, tako kot mi.

Toda za tako odločanje

imate minimalno poznava-

nje zagotovljeno že sedaj.«

110

I frowned, to show that I didn’t really understand, and shook my head slowly: “I would need two to three weeks to get a basic under-standing of your civilisa-tion?” “Yes!” agreed the Sensin immediately, as he gestu-red towards the next door. “They are waiting for us.”I looked at the opening door with the three Sensins in the background. On the right stood what appeared to be a juggler, playing with balls, cubes and other objects of uncertain shape. Next to him stood a man with a top hat on his head, a long white scarf and white gloves. He looked like a circus conjurer or a magician. Over to the left, a slim girl dressed in overalls was bending for-wards like a gymnast. She clearly had a very elastic physique. With a smile, she span round on her fin-gers, bent over backwards all the way to the floor, stood on her hands and

Nagrbančil sem čelo v

znak ne najboljšega razu-

mevanja in narahlo zmajal

z glavo: »Dva do tri tedne

bi potreboval za osnovno

razumevanje vaše civiliza-

cije?«

»Da!« mi je takoj pritrdil

Čutin med pomikom roke

v smeri naslednjih vrat.

»Čakajo nas.«

Zazrl sem se v odpirajoča

se vrata s tremi Čutini v

ozadju. Na desni je bil, vsaj

videti je bilo tako, neki

žongler med poigrava-

njem s kroglami, kockami

in predmeti nedoločene

oblike. Ob njem je stal

možak s cilindrom na glavi,

z dolgim belim šalom in v

belih rokavicah, nekak cir-

kuški rokohitrc ali čarov-

nik. Povsem na levi se je

pripogibalo v kombine-

zon oblečeno dekle, vitke

postave in očitno zelo pro-

žnega telesa. Z nasmehom

se je zavrtela na prstih, se

upognila nazaj, vse do tal,

111

then dropped down into the splits.“This way please!” said the man with the top hat and white scarf. We walked on.“I’m not really cut out for acrobatics,” I said to the Sensin next to me.“It won’t be necessary. It is merely a question of verifying the coordina-tion of our movements, since the Acutins are clumsier than us in some things and have difficulty copying acrobatic dance routines. They also have problems juggling with a large number of objects, although they are capable of learning. It’s the same with conjuring tricks: they don’t come very easily to them. They are clumsier than us by nature.” “So how did they manage to get through these doors,” I asked, less than convinced by the Sensin’s self-confident smile, “all the way to the seventy-fo-urth and your garrison?”

se postavila na roke in se

spustila nazaj v raznožko.

»Izvolite za nami!« nas je

pozval možak s cilindrom

in z belim šalom.

Stopili smo naprej.

»Za cirkuške akrobacije pa

nisem najbolj primeren,«

sem dejal Čutinu tik ob

sebi.

»Saj ni potrebno. Zgolj za

preverjanje časovne uskla-

jenosti naših gibov gre, ker

so Ostrini za nekatere spre-

tnosti bolj okorni od nas

in imajo težave s posnema-

njem plesnega izražanja

ob dodatku akrobatskih

vložkov. Tudi žongliranje

z veliko predmetov jim gre

malo težje, čeprav so se ga

sposobni naučiti, enako

kot spretnosti rokohitrcev,

ki jim prav tako ne gredo

najbolje od rok. Kar malo

bolj okorne narave so od

nas.«

»In kako jim je potem

uspelo priti skozi ta vrata?«

sem vprašal z nakazanim

pomislekom glede Čuti-

novega samozavestnega

nasmeha, »tja do 74. in do

vaše posadke?«

112

“Yes, well, they also have more skilful individuals with special abilities. And they also foresaw tests of this kind.”“That might explain their successful penetration of all the barriers,” I agreed, “but are these tests merely simple verifications?”“Yes and no. In the case of a large number of requi-rements that are suffici-ently varied, the crucial ones become easier. As a rule one of these tests will cause difficulties for an individual. And the pas-sage through each succes-sive door is more difficult. At least by our standards.”“That will be a problem for me too. I won’t be up to this,” I said after a pause. “Don’t worry. In our team you have the position of energy systems manager,” said the Sensin reassurin-gly.“Energy systems mana-ger?” I had to smile.

»No, ja, imajo tudi bolj spre-

tne posameznike z nekaj

dodatnimi sposobnostmi.

Pa tudi predvideli so tovr-

stna testiranja.«

»Glede na njihov uspešni

prehod skozi vse zapore

bo že tako,« sem mu pri-

trdil, »toda to so najbrž le

preprostejša preverjanja?«

»Da in ne. V primeru

večjega števila med seboj

dovolj različnih zahtev

postajajo usodne tudi

lažje. Že kar praviloma

bo eno od teh preverjanj

posamezniku povzročalo

težave. Sicer pa je prehod

skozi vsaka naslednja vrata

na zahtevnejši ravni. Vsaj

po naših merilih.«

»To bo tudi zame problem.

Tega ne bom zmogel,« sem

navrgel po kratkem premi-

sleku.

»Ne skrbite. V naši ekipi

imate mesto upravnika

energetskih sistemov,« me

je pomiril Čutin.

»Upravnika energetskih

sistemov?« sem se moral

nasmehniti.

113

“We, and this includes you, are a special forces unit sent to re-establish the route to the control panels. And you are in our group with precisely defined tasks of your own. None of us has nor will have any more powers than those defined for him in advance.” The Sensin studied my reaction to his explanation.“Right,” I agreed, “because I have no special desire for your energy fields. Even if I found myself alone at the control panel, I would stick to the agreement.”The Sensin looked at me thoughtfully once again. “You won’t be alone at the control panel.” Some-thing in his voice seemed to betray a slight uncerta-inty. At least that was the impression I got.In the meantime the first Sensins had already walked up to the “door-keepers” and were pro-ving their identity by imi-tating all those skills one

»Mi smo, skupaj z vami,

enota specialcev, poslana

za ponovno vzpostavitev

poti do komandnih pultov,

in vi ste v naši skupini s

točno za vas določenimi

nalogami. Nihče med nami

nima niti ne bo imel nobe-

nih večjih pooblastil od

tistih, ki so vnaprej dolo-

čena zanj.« Čutin je s pogle-

dom preletel moj odziv na

njegovo obrazložitev.

»Prav,« sem se strinjal, »saj

nimam nobenih poseb-

nih želja po vaših energet-

skih poljih. Tudi če bi se

znašel sam za komandnim

pultom, bi deloval po

dogovoru.«

Čutin me je ponovno oce-

njujoče premeril. »Saj ne

boste sami za komandnim

pultom.« Toda prizvok v

njegovem glasu je izdajal

rahlo negotovost. Vsaj tak

vtis sem dobil.

Medtem so prvi Čutini

že stopili naprej do »vra-

tarjev« in s posnemanjem

vseh tistih spretnosti drug

za drugim dokazovali svojo

114

after the other. It was very interesting to watch. They were amazingly good at it. Perfectly at ease, with the tranquillity of a specia-list who trusts in his own ability, they executed all those difficult tricks and then joined the juggler in a collective juggling of all those balls, cubes and other objects, before vaul-ting over obstacles at a run and somersaulting to the floor, landing perfectly. A very different type of test awaited us at the next door. This time it consisted of apparently random requi-rements from the most diverse spheres, which somehow added up to an agglomeration of indivi-dual abilities. The Sensins satisfied all the require-ments without difficulty. And so it went on, all the way to the seventy-fourth door, where they stopped, as though they had done their part. And since they had stopped, that must mean it was my turn. Some

identiteto. Prav zanimivo

jih je bilo videti. Presneto

dobri so bili pri tem poče-

tju. Povsem brez nervoze, z

mirnostjo, kot jo lahko ima

o sebi prepričan specialist,

so izvajali vse zahtevane

trike ter se pridružili žon-

glerju v skupni igri z vsemi

tistimi kroglami, kockami

in ostalimi predmeti,

potem pa so v teku in pre-

skakovanju ovir v zaključ-

nih saltih mirno pristali na

tleh.

Pri naslednjih vratih pa nas

je čakal povsem drug način

preverjanja, z navidezno

naključnimi zahtevami z

raznih področij, znesenih

z vseh vetrov, pa vendar na

koncu zaokroženih v zbiru

posameznih sposobnosti.

Čutini so vse opravili brez

težav. Vse tja do 74. vrat,

pred katerimi so obstali,

kot da so opravili svoj del,

so prišli brez zastoja. Ker

so obstali, sem bil torej

jaz na vrsti. Eni so me celo

115

of them even patted me on the back encouragingly. A good team sticks together, their expressions told me, and it was true that I had shared their happiness at each one of the completed tasks as though it were an obstacle successfully over-come. On the other hand I was still bothered by the Sensins’ conviction that if I wanted a more in-depth conversation about their civilisation I would have to live with them for a little longer. What was it that I wasn’t supposed to be able to understand that meant that they had still not fully revealed themselves to me? Merely something about their benevolence towards us Earthmen, they had told me. That should have been at least partially clear from the whole situation. I suppose. And that the Acutins don’t need Earthmen? Perfectly possible.After passing through the seventy-third door, we

vzpodbudno potrepljali.

Dobra ekipa naj bili vsi

skupaj, so mi sporočali

njihovi zgovorni pogledi,

pa tudi sam sem se že ves

čas veselil vsakega opra-

vljenega testa kot uspešno

premagane ovire, čeprav

me je še vedno motilo pre-

pričanje Čutinov, da bi za

bolj poglobljen pogovor o

njihovi civilizaciji moral

živeti z njimi nekaj več časa.

Vrh tega pa, česa neki ne

bi mogel pri tem razu-

meti, da mi je doslej še

niso predstavili v celoti?

Zgolj o neki njihovi naklo-

njenosti do nas Zemlja-

nov so mi povedali, to naj

bi bilo iz vsega skupaj,

recimo, vsaj delno tudi raz-

brati. Recimo. In da Ostrini

ne potrebujejo Zemljanov?

Povsem možno.

Po vstopu skozi 73. vrata

smo se znašli v velikem

116

found ourselves in a large room, a hexagonal cham-ber measuring something over 50 metres across, with six archways.“Over there! Let’s go!” called a Sensin at the front of the group as he ste-pped towards an archway on the other side. It was actually the largest one, so the others must have been secondary entran-ces. This must be the most important route, the one to the control panels, I ima-gined. Then the leading Sensin stopped and turned towards me. He waited for me to come up to him and then began explaining the situation in a firm but calm voice.“The answers shouldn’t cause you any difficulty. All you need to do is relax and everything will be all right.”“Relax? What do you mean? In the sense of composure?” I asked, wondering if there were any other important deta-ils I needed to know.

prostoru, v šesterokotni

dvorani z nekaj nad 50

metri premera in s šestimi

vhodno-izhodnimi oboki.

»Tja! Gremo!« nas je pozval

Čutin v ospredju med

stopanjem k oboku na

nasprotni strani, prav-

zaprav k največjemu, vsi

ostali so morali bili stran-

ski. Skozenj naj bi peljala

najpomembnejša pot, tja

do komandnih pultov, kot

sem predvideval. Potem je

isti Čutin zastal, se obrnil

k meni, me počakal in

mi začel precej zavzeto,

vendar z mirnim glasom

razlagati:

»Odgovori vam ne bi smeli

delati težav. Le dovolj spro-

stiti se morate, pa bo vse v

redu.«

»Sprostiti? Kako to mislite?

V smislu zbranosti?« sem

vprašal z namigom na

morebitno prisotnost

še kakšne pomembne

podrobnosti.

117

“Of course. That too.” The Sensin went on with his explanation: “But unlike all the tests so far, in your case your emotio-nal response will be more important. And if you are relaxed, you will undo-ubtedly be more convin-cing.”“Well, all right. That sounds good. But why have I been selected as the most suitable? In all the tests up till now I haven’t been better than you even in the slightest detail. I wouldn’t have passed any of the previous tests.”The Sensin smiled encou-ragingly: “As I have alre-ady said, it will be very simple for you.”“Okay. I’m sure you know what you’re doing.” I pushed aside my doubts and accepted the Sensin’s encouragement or task or whatever it was. I walked up to the archway and on to the now familiar door, identical to the seventy-

»Seveda. Tudi to,« je Čutin

nadaljeval začeto razlago,

»toda v nasprotju z doseda-

njimi preverjanji bo pri vas

pomembnejše čutno odzi-

vanje. In sproščenost vam

bo pri tem prav gotovo

povečala prepričljivost.«

»No, ja. Lepa reč. Po

kakšnem kriteriju pa sem

bil prav jaz izbran za naj-

primernejšega? Pri vseh

dosedanjih preverjanjih

nisem bil niti pri najmanjši

podrobnosti boljši od vas.

Nobenega od dosedanjih

preverjanj ne bi uspel

opraviti.«

Čutin se mi je ohrabrujoče

nasmehnil: »Kot sem vam

že omenil, bo zadeva za

vas zelo preprosta.«

»Prav. Najbrž veste, kaj

delate,« sem v smislu odmi-

kanja dvomov sprejel Čuti-

novo spodbudo oziroma

nalogo ali karkoli je že

bilo to, kar je govoril, ter

stopil do oboka in potem

še naprej do zdaj že znane

oblike vrat, enake vsem

118

three we had already come through. I stopped outside the door and looked up, and then to both sides. There was nothing to see. Judging from the tranquil-lity of the Sensins around me, I concluded that they were convinced about this enterprise of ours, or this system or, in other words, the success of our mission. Then the door opened, but there was no doorkeeper. There was no-one at the door. Just a room with furniture along the walls. Actually it was more like a theatre stage on which someone had placed a low table, like in a living room – a table for drinking coffee or tea while chatting to visitors, two armchairs and three more chairs that looked as though they belonged in a kitchen, because they didn’t match the style of the other furniture. It was all somehow familiar to me. Years ago, when I was a student, we had had fur-

73, skozi katere smo prišli.

Pred temi vrati sem obstal,

pogledal navzgor in še na

obe strani, pa ni bilo videti

nič posebnega. Glede na

mirnost Čutinov ob meni

sem lahko sklepal na nji-

hovo trdno prepričanje o

delovanju tega našega pod-

jetja oziroma sistema ali, z

drugimi besedami, o uspe-

šnosti naše misije. Nato so

se vrata odprla, vendar ni

bilo nikjer vratarja, se pravi

nikogar ni bilo pri vratih.

Le prostor s pohištvom ob

stenah, pravzaprav je bilo

vse skupaj bolj podobno

gledališkemu odru, na

katerega so postavili nizko

mizo, tako za dnevne sobe,

namenjeno bolj za pitje

kave ali čaja med pogovo-

rom z gosti, ter z dvema

naslanjačema in še s tremi

stoli, najbrž prinesenimi iz

kuhinje, ker vsekakor niso

bili v stilu ostalega pohi-

štva. Nekam znano mi je

bilo vse skupaj. Pred leti

smo tudi pri nas doma, v

času mojega študija, imeli

tako pohištvo. Še natanč-

119

niture like this at home. I started to look more care-fully at the room and its contents. No! This was our living room at home from when I was at secondary school. Unbelievable!I had started to inspect the cupboard when I heard the doorbell ring.“Yes!” I shouted automati-cally, and by way of a reply I heard some noisy chatter and someone commenting that parents should go away from home more often and “leave us in peace a bit more”. I hesitated. The whole thing had taken me by surprise. Then, one after the other, my friends from my school days came into the room.“Your parents have picked exactly the right time to go off on holiday. Once the girls get here it’ll be a full house. They’re coming this evening. We’ve alre-ady fixed it up,” shouted Jim above the din the others were making. They whooped enthusiastically

neje sem si začel ogledo-

vati ves prostor in seveda

vso opremo. Presneto!

Saj to je bila vendar naša

domača dnevna soba iz

mojih gimnazijskih let. Ta

je pa dobra!

Že sem si začel ogledovati

omaro, ko sem zaslišal zvo-

njenje.

»Da!« sem vzkliknil kar

samodejno ter v odgovor

zaslišal neko glasno govor-

jenje, neko komentiranje,

da bi starši morali večkrat

od doma in da bi »nam

pustili malo več miru.«

Neodločno sem obstal. Vse

skupaj me je vendarle pre-

senetilo. Tedaj pa so drug

za drugim začeli vstopati

moji prijatelji iz gimnazij-

skih let.

»Ravno pravi čas so tvoji

odšli na dopust. Še dekleta

morajo priti, pa bomo

kompletni. Zvečer pridejo.

Smo se že dogovorili,« je v

veselem razpoloženju med

hitro nastalim direndajem

sporočil Janko in v odgo-

vor dobil prav tako navdu-

šeno pritrjevanje. Mirno

120

at the news. I observed them calmly. Some went into the kitchen, others sat down in the living room. There were cards on the table. Jim took a chess set from a drawer and Matt stood in the doorway and raised a bottle of wine. Everything was happe-ning exactly as it had back in my school days. Then John and Mal had a mock fight, there was a crash, and a smashed vase lay on the floor. We all looked at them and at the shattered fragments on the floor. I remembered that vase, and the fight between John and Mal. It had happened exactly as it had before. I looked back through the door. The Sensins were still there.“He pushed me!” prote-sted Mal. John immedia-tely denied it and swore it wasn’t true. Mal continued to blame John and, exactly as before, each stuck to his story.I went to fetch a dustpan

sem jih opazoval. Eni so šli

v kuhinjo, drugi so posedli

v dnevni sobi. Na mizi so se

znašle karte, Janko je vzel

iz predala šah, Matija pa je

med vrati dvigoval stekle-

nico vina. Vse je potekalo

enako kot v tistih mojih

gimnazijskih letih. Potem

sta se Janez in Malček nekaj

ruvala, odjeknil je tresk,

na tleh je obležala razbita

vaza. Vsi smo se ozrli vanju

in v razbitine na tleh.

Tiste vaze sem se še dobro

spominjal, tudi ruvanja

med Janezom in Slavcem.

Čisto enako se je zgodilo

tokrat. Pogledal sem nazaj

skozi vrata. Tam so bili še

vedno Čutini.

»On me je sunil!« se je opra-

vičeval Slavc, to pa je Janez

takoj zanikal in zatrdil, da

ni res. Po nadaljnjem Malč-

kovem zvračanju krivde

nanj pa sta tako kot nekoč

ostala vsak pri svojem.

Šel sem po metlo in sme-

121

and brush, swept the broken fragments into a heap and wrapped them in newspaper. “I’ll take this out to the bins. You just carry on!” This was exac-tly what I had done that other time. But this time, as soon as I was out of the “front door”, I stepped over to the Sensins. “All of this is from when I was at school,” I told them. “Yes, this whole recor-ding is from that time, everything as it originally happened, except that your character has been completely deleted. It is missing and you are here to take its place.”“So I haven’t gone back in time?”“No, no. This is simply the past recorded on hologram film, and everything is computer-generated except the furniture, which is an exact copy of the origi-nals, so that you too can sit comfortably on the couch. Your friends are merely

tišnico, pometel vse na

kup ter nato še v časopisni

papir. »V smeti bom odne-

sel. Kar nadaljujte!« Tudi

takrat sem naredil enako.

Toda to pot sem takoj za

»vhodnimi« vrati stopil k

Čutinom.

»Vse to je iz mojih gimna-

zijskih let,« sem jim dejal.

»Da, ves ta posnetek je prav

iz tistega časa, vse po origi-

nalnem dogajanju, le da je

vaš lik v celoti izbrisan. Ta

manjka in vi ste tu, da ga

nadomestite.«

»Torej ne gre za časovno

premikanje v preteklost?«

»Ne, ne. Tu je samo pre-

teklost, posneta na holo-

gramski film, in vse je raču-

nalniško obdelano, razen

pohištva, ki je natančna

kopija originalov, tako da

se tudi vi lahko mirno use-

dete na kavč. Vaši prijatelji

122

hologram images. All we expect of you is to behave and respond exactly as you did back then.”“Is that it?” I looked at the smiling Sensin and then smiled myself. “I think I can manage that.”“Good. It will be hard for us to help you in this, beca-use we are missing the recording of your original responses.” The Sensin continued to look enco-uragingly at me. I conti-nued to smile at him. For the first time I had found out something more speci-fic about my tasks. “Yes, I probably will be able to this better than you could.”The Sensin nodded. “Good luck!”I went back into “my” flat and was very soon immer-sed in events of which I still had a vivid memory. Even moments I had nearly for-gotten came back to me, or at least enough for me not to cause any delays or

so le hologramski prikazi.

Vse, kar od vas pričaku-

jemo, je le enako obnaša-

nje in čutno odzivanje.«

»Nič drugega?« Zazrl sem

se v nasmehljanega Čutina

in se nato še sam nasmeh-

nil. »To bom menda že

zmogel.«

»Lepo. Pri tem pa vam

bomo bolj težko pomagali,

ker nam manjka zapis o

vašem takratnem odziva-

nju.« Čutin me je še naprej

gledal spodbudno. In tudi

jaz sem ga gledal z nasme-

hom. Prvič sem izvedel

nekaj bolj določenega o

svojih nalogah. »Hja, pa

bom res najbrž jaz to bolje

opravil, kot bi storili vi.«

Čutin mi je prikimal.

»Dobro opravite!«

Stopil sem nazaj v »svoje«

stanovanje in se prav

kmalu vživel v čas in doga-

janje, ki mi je bilo še v

živem spominu. Celo rahlo

pozabljeni trenutki so se

mi sproti obujali oziroma,

bolje rečeno, dovolj, da »v

tem dogajanj« nisem pov-

123

introduce any confusion to the “scene”, and this after all was probably the first requirement of this test. But the sensation of being thrown back to my school days, even if it was only through a hologram recor-ding, was so overpowering that I soon found myself experiencing the whole thing almost as vividly as I had experienced it back then, and this realisation actually made me even more enthusiastic. I joined in so eagerly with argu-ments and discussions that I remembered as though it were yesterday, and laug-hed so heartily along with the others that I risked overdoing it and ruining everything. A momen-tary doubt about this pos-sibility flashed through my brain. An involuntary “hey!” even slipped out. No, I thought, I must play my part according to the rules. I can do this, I felt, despite the fact that much

zročal zastojev ali kakor

koli vnašal vanj zmedo, to

pa je bila najbrž osnovna

zahteva tega preverjanja.

To, da sem bil vržen nazaj v

gimnazijska leta, čeprav le

skozi hologramski posne-

tek, pa me je kmalu tako

zasvojilo, da sem začel vse

dogajanje doživljati skoraj

enako živo, kot sem ga bil

občutil nekoč, in prav to

spoznanje me je še bolj

podžigalo. S tako vnemo

sem se vključil v sprotne,

meni sicer dobro znane

razprave in komentarje,

ter se tako živo pridruže-

val sprotnim izbruhom

smeha, da bi zadeva lahko

propadla prav zaradi

mojega preveč okreplje-

nega podoživljanja. En sam

utrinek pomisleka glede te

možnosti mi je šel v prebli-

sku skozi možgane. Celo

rahel razposajeni »heh« mi

je ušel. Kakor koli, ta del

bom opravil po vseh pra-

vilih, to bom lahko uredil,

sem čutil, pa čeprav mi

je bilo še marsikaj iz celo-

tnega dogajanja precej ali

124

was still unclear to me. And so it went on, right up to the moment when I turned round and sud-denly there was no-one in “my” room.“Let’s go! The way is clear!” Benesens was gesturing me in the direc-tion of the next door. I had done it. The smiling faces of the other Sensins con-firmed it. Another test was behind us and now there were only three doors left to go. Benesens gave me a fri-endly pat on the shoulder: “Excellent. Everything is going according to plan. Some of us had certain doubts, but I was fairly sure about you, although emotional responses are very slippery terrain with you Earthmen. Isn’t that right?” I nodded automatically. In this slightly triumphant atmosphere Benesens’s words were a perfectly appropriate and amusing pleasantry. Even I smiled.

povsem neznano. Tako je

bilo vse do konca oziroma

do trenutka, ko sem se

obrnil in nenadoma ni bilo

več nikogar v »moji« sobi.

»Gremo! Vstop je prost!«

me je med zamahom roke

v smeri naslednjih vrat

pozval Dobročut. Uspel

sem. To sem lahko razbral

tudi iz priznavajočega sme-

hljanja ostalih Čutinov. Še

ena preizkušnja je bila za

njimi in le še troje vrat nas

je čakalo.

Dobročut mi je s treplja-

njem po rami izrazil prija-

teljsko priznanje: »Odlično.

Vse gre po predvidevanjih

in načrtih. Nekateri so

sicer imeli že določene

pomisleke, sam pa sem

bil kar precej prepričan o

vas, pa čeprav so čustveni

odzivi pri vas Zemljanih

zelo drsljiv teren. Kajne?«

Samodejno sem prikimal.

V tem rahlo zmagoslavnem

vzdušju so bile Dobroču-

tove besede povsem ume-

sten in zabaven dovtip.

Še sam se je smehljal. In

125

And then he added that emotional responses were slippery terrain for them too, and that it would have been hard for them to assemble my past respon-ses without my help.“Yes, that’s true. But this was just a party, without any particularly strong emotions,” I said, before asking in a slightly more serious tone: “How come one part is missing?” “We lost it,” he muttered, shrugging his shoulders. This however rather con-tradicted my impression of the Sensins. They radi-ated such a sense of infal-libility that it was, to put it mildly, difficult for me to understand them losing something so important.“Are you forgetful too?” I asked in obvious surprise.Benesens shook his head: “It’s not that, it’s just that the combination of cir-cumstances was unfavo-urable. It’s not a question of forgetting. Technically,

potem je navrgel, kako so

čustveni odzivi tudi zanje

drsljiv teren ter da bi moje

nekdanje odzive bolj težko

ponovno sestavili brez

moje pomoči.

»Hja, to pa res. Čeprav je

bila to le ena od družab-

nih zabav, brez pretiranih

čustev,« sem rekel, nakar

sem ga vprašal v rahlo zre-

snjenem tonu: »Kako pa,

da vam en del manjka?«

»Izgubili smo ga,« je odvr-

nil z nejevoljno odsotno-

stjo in zmignil z rameni.

Vendar je to delovalo le

malo preveč v nasprotju

z mojim razumevanjem

Čutinov. Tako nezmotlji-

vost so izžarevali, da mi je

bilo izgubljanje zanje tako

pomembnih stvari milo

rečeno bolj težko razu-

mljivo.

»Ali ste tudi vi pozabljivi?«

sem vprašal s poudarje-

nim začudenjem.

Dobročut je odkimal: »Ni

stvar v tem, le splet okoli-

ščin je bil neugoden. Ne

gre za pozabljanje. Teh-

126

of course, we could have provided enough copies so that something like this couldn’t occur. But there are also principles at stake here. Important principles that we never violate, even in the case of recordings as important as the ones that are missing here.”“Principles?” He could tell from the way I looked at him that once again I was having difficulty under-standing his answers. “Well,” he went on, in view of my evident lack of comprehension, “I have already told you about the incursion of the Acu-tins to the seventy-fourth door and the slaughter of the control panel garrison. That was when the recor-dings were destroyed, although we could have stored a copy somewhere else.”“Oh yes?” This sounded a little more likely, altho-ugh I couldn’t dismiss a number of nagging doubts. I nodded and was about to

nično bi seveda lahko

zagotovili dovolj kopij, da

do česa takega ne bi moglo

priti. Toda tu so še načela.

Pomembna načela, ki jih

nikoli ne kršimo, niti ko

gre za tako pomembne

zapise, kot je na primer

tale manjkajoči.«

»Načela?« Pogledal sem ga

v priznavanju ponovnega

nerazumevanja njegovih

odgovorov.

»No,« je nadaljeval ob moji

nakazani nemoči razume-

vanja, »povedal sem vam

že o vdoru Ostrinov do

74. vrat in poboju posadke

nadzornih komandnih

pultov. Takrat je prišlo

do uničenja teh zapisov,

čeprav bi kakšno kopijo

lahko imeli spravljeno še

kje drugje.«

»Aja?« To mi je zvenelo

malo bolj možno, vendar

ob nekaterih težje spreje-

mljivih pomislekih. Zato

sem mu po rahlem priki-

mavanju hotel zastaviti še

127

ask him why they hadn’t done so, but he went on:“Look! Here is the next door. In all probability this test is going to be more demanding.”“Will it be me again?” I asked.“Most likely.” Benesens considered for a moment before going on: “But with a little composure you will cope with every task, as long as you don’t get confused. After what you have demonstrated so far, I can conclude this with a considerable degree of certainty.”As he was talking we had come up to the next entrance and, following the usual presentation and the invitation to enter the testing room, we stopped expectantly outside a per-fectly normal, terrestrial wooden door. It looked quite familiar, and all the Sensins were looking at me too. Clearly it was my turn again. We exchanged glances and then I ste-

vprašanje, kako to, da tega

niso storili, a je nadaljeval:

»Glejte! Tu so zdaj nasle-

dnja vrata in po vsej ver-

jetnosti bo preverjanje na

zahtevnejši ravni.«

»Bom spet jaz na vrsti?«

sem vprašal.

»Najbolj verjetno.« Pravčut

je nekoliko pomišljal ter

nadaljeval: »Toda z nekaj

zbranosti boste kos vsem

nalogam, če se le ne boste

pustili zmesti. Po tem, kar

ste pokazali doslej, tako

sklepam že z dokajšnjo

gotovostjo.«

Medtem smo že prispeli

pred naslednji vhod ter po

že utečeni predstavitvi in

vabilu, naj vstopimo v pro-

stor za preverjanje, zastali

v pričakovanju pred lese-

nimi vrati, povsem nava-

dnimi, zemeljskimi. Precej

domača so se mi zdela,

in tudi Čutini so se ozrli

vame. Jaz sem bil na vrsti,

očitno. Izmenjali smo si

še nekaj pogledov, potem

128

pped forward alone, as the others around me nodded affirmatively. I hesitated briefly outside the door and then went in. “Hey!” came a voice from inside the room. “I’ll be right with you. Come into the kitchen a moment!”It was a woman’s voice. I didn’t recognise it but something seemed to spark in my memory. The hall I was in didn’t seem very familiar. Neither did the kitchen. “Did you get it?” The same voice again.I mumbled something indistinct by way of reply. There was no way I could remember what I was supposed to be bringing.“Did I tell you I nearly got a distinction in the exam? In the end he gave me a ‘good’. Not bad, huh?”“Yes, well done.” Hang on a minute, isn’t that... what was her name? I remembe-red the face but I couldn’t think of her surname. If I had ever known it. She

pa sem ob pritrjevalnem

kimanju vseh naokoli zako-

račil naprej, pred vrati še

nekoliko postal, ter nato

vstopil.

»Hej!« sem zaslišal iz sobe.

»Takoj pridem. Kar v kuhi-

njo stopi za ta čas!«

Ženski glas je bil to, in

čeprav mi ni bil znan, se

mi je nekaj majhnih pre-

bliskov le utrnilo skozi

spomin. Predsoba pa mi

ni bila pretirano znana. In

tudi kuhinja ne.

»Si dobil?» sem spet zaslišal

isti glas.

V odgovor sem nekaj neraz-

ločno zamomljal. Nikakor

se nisem mogel spomniti,

kaj naj bi takrat prinesel.

»Sem ti povedala, da sem

izpit opravila skoraj z

odličnim? Na koncu mi je

dal trojko.V redu, kajne?»

»Da, dobra si.» Pa menda ni

to tista… kako ji je že ime,

obraza sem se spomnil,

priimka pa nikakor ne. Če

sem ga sploh kdaj vedel.

Verjetno mi ga je bila pove-

129

had probably told me. Pro-bably. It was the mad girl! That time in the mounta-ins, that party in the log cabin a friend of mine had rented for a week, that was when I had met her. We were both in the first year at university, but she was from some other town. We weren’t made for each other. At least as far as my feelings for her were concerned. Or in any other way. Actually she was a bit crackbrained. I had met her for the first time that evening. While we were preparing dinner, which was supposed to be our job, we suddenly seemed to click. Then we had dinner, and then there was music, a party atmo-sphere. After two or three hours people were already pairing off on couches or in corners. Each couple separately, of course. Us too. But by the next day we had already started to split up. We didn’t get on. And then she suddenly

dala. To že, najbrž. Krava

zmešana! Na srečanju v

Kranjski Gori, z zabavo v

leseni koči, ki jo je najel

moj prijatelj za en teden,

sem se spoznal z njo. V prvi

letnik fakultete sva hodila,

le da je bila ona iz drugega

mesta, čeprav je študi-

rala v Ljubljani. Nisva bila

za skupaj. Vsaj po mojih

nagnjenih do nje ne. Pa

tudi sicer. Dejansko je bila

malo prifliknjena. Tistega

večera sem jo šele spoznal.

Med pripravljanjem

večerje, midva naj bi jo

naredila, sva se kar na hitro

zapletla. Potem smo večer-

jali, sledila je glasba, bilo

je kar zabavno vzdušje, po

dveh ali treh urah pa smo

se že začeli v parih razgu-

bljati po kavčih ali kotih.

Vsak par posebej, seveda.

Tudi midva. Toda že nasle-

dnjega dne sva se že začela

razhajati. Nisva se ujela. In

nato jo je kar nenadoma

nekaj pičilo. Dobila je

napad igralskega zanosa

130

started acting all offen-ded. She was overcome by a sudden urge to put on a performance for us, a stupid one, and ended up in the arms of one of my acquaintances and while dancing with him began egging him on as though trying to get us to com-pete for her attentions. He probably wasn’t any keener on her than I was. But anyway she mana-ged to create this whole circus – which actually ended up as an argument with Ben. We nearly came to blows over her. What an idiot. And now after all this time I was going to have to play the same role again, with the right timing and the same emo-tional responses, just like at the previous door with the hologram recording. But this was going to be harder, because as far as I could remember my fee-lings on that occasion were very muddled, and then there was that fight with Ben too. And of course

oziroma nam je kar upri-

zorila neko predstavo, tra-

pasto, ter pristala v naro-

čju mojega znanca in med

plesom z njim začela nape-

ljevati, kako da se midva

s tem znancem potegu-

jeva zanjo. Pa najbrž tudi

znancu ni bilo kaj dosti

več do nje kot meni. Toda

cirkus ji je vseeno uspelo

narediti, pravzaprav spor

z Benom, kajti skoraj bi

se celo stepla zaradi nje.

Prava avša. In zdaj po toli-

kem času bom moral tako

kot pri prejšnjih vratih v

hologramskem posnetku

ponovno odigrati svojo

vlogo, z ustreznimi časov-

nimi in čustvenimi odzivi.

Toda to bo bolj težko, ker

kolikor sem se lahko spo-

mnil, sem tistikrat imel

pravo zmešnjavo občut-

kov, potem je prišlo še do

ruvanja z Benom. Nekaj

131

the excessive quantity of wine I had drunk had pro-bably contributed a little too, or perhaps not such a little. The whole thing was really quite confused.“Here I am!” she called as she came through the door. Damn. It was really her! I don’t think I’ve ever met such an idiot. Zaza – that’s what they called her. I couldn’t remember her real name. She looked around and went over to the window. “They’re not here yet.”“They’ll be here. Jim shouted from the cable car that we should go on. He said he’d follow later,” I replied, just like I had back then. That was something I could still remember.“Okay. Who needs them anyway?” Zaza giggled.I laughed too, just as I had that day when we first met. It was actually mere chance that we were alone together. I tried to collect my thoughts. To begin with we had got along fine. Not

malega, morda tudi ne tako

malega, pa je prispevalo še

preveč popitega vina. Vse

skupaj je bilo dokaj zme-

deno.

»Sem že tukaj!» je zaklicala

med vstopanjem skozi

vrata. Prekleto, res je bila

ona! Tako zmedene avše

pa še ne!

Gica, tako so jo klicali, pra-

vega imena se nisem več

spomnil, se je ozrla nao-

krog ter se primaknila k

oknu. »Ni jih še.«

»Bodo že prišli. Janko mi

je z vlečnice zaklical, naj

kar gremo naprej, da bo že

prišel za nami,« sem odvr-

nil tako kot nekoč. Tega

sem se lahko še spomnil.

»Prav, saj jih niti ne pogre-

šava,« se je zahihitala Gica.

Tudi sam sem se zasmejal

tako kot tistega dne med

najinim začetnim spozna-

vanjem. To je bilo namreč

naključje, da sva bila sama.

Poskušal sem se zbrati. Na

začetku sva se namreč kar

132

especially intimate, but I could still remember that conversation. “What year are you in?” I asked her.“First year. You too, right?”“Yes. Law. You’re stu-dying drama aren’t you?”“How did you know?”“Earlier when we were having tea you were saying something about it.” Actually she had put on a whole performance about the course at the drama faculty.“Were you listening to me?”I nodded. If I’d known then what I knew now I would probably have told her that actually no-one in our group had had much choice. It was a real performance, like in the theatre, when the spec-tators aren’t supposed to talk among themselves. But back then her fon-dness for extemporane-ous acting at the slightest provocation still seemed quite amusing. Less so

lepo razumela, sicer brez

močnejše intimnosti, toda

tistega pogovora sem se

še spominjal. »V katerem

letniku si?« sem jo vprašal.

»V prvem. Ti tudi, kajne?«

»Da. Na pravno hodim. Ti

pa na igralsko.«

»Kako veš?«

»Prej si ob čaju govorila

nekaj v tem smislu.« Prav-

zaprav je imela celo pred-

stavo o študiju na njihovi

fakulteti.

»A si me poslušal?«

V odgovor sem ji prikimal.

Takole nazaj, z vsem seda-

njim vedenjem, bi ji najbrž

odvrnil, da pravzaprav

nihče iz tiste skupine ni

imel nobene druge možno-

sti. Saj je imela kar pravi

nastop, podobno kot v

gledališču, ko medsebojni

pogovori gledalcev niso

zaželeni. Toda tedaj je bilo

zame njeno veselje do spro-

tnih igralskih nastopov ob

vsakem malo močnejšem

preblisku v njeni glavi še

dokaj zabavno. Pozneje

133

later, of course. “I get the impression that appearing on stage or in front of a camera isn’t a problem for you. Or shouldn’t be, if my impression is right.”“Are you saying I’m a born actress?”“There might be some-thing in that,” I said, flat-teringly. Although in fact she was so obviously expecting me to agree with her that there wasn’t much else I could have said. At least that’s how it had been then, and it was my job to repeat the whole thing as faithfully as possible. After that things seemed to proceed fairly smoot-hly. Just like that evening, although I had already for-gotten quite a lot about it. Actually the only thing I could remember with any clarity was her throwing herself at my friend later on. That must have been over an hour later. That was supposed to really bother me. And then there was that guy with the glas-

seveda manj. »Zdi se mi, da

ti nastopi na odru ali pred

kamero ne delajo težav.

Vsaj po mojem občutku

sodeč, ti ne bi smeli.«

»Mar me imaš za rojeno

igralko?«

»Nekaj je že na tem,« sem ji

polaskal. Pa tudi sicer mi

ob njenem tako očitnem

pričakovanju moje pritrd-

tve ni ostalo nič drugega.

Vsaj takrat je bilo tako in

sedaj naj bi to vse skupaj,

kolikor je mogoče zvesto

ponovil. Potem se je nadalj-

nje dogajanje odvijalo brez

večjih zastojev. Enako kot

tistega večera, pa čeprav

sem vse skupaj že precej

pozabil. Pravzaprav sem

se močneje spomnil le nje-

nega kasnejšega objemanja

z mojim znancem. Dobro

uro pozneje naj bi bilo.

Tedaj naj bi bil jaz zaradi

tega zelo prizadet. Potem

pa je bil tam še tisti tip z

134

ses. That’s right, I’d almost forgotten about him, beca-use I never met him again after that. But he was the one she had come with – just for the skiing. Nothing else, as she later explained as she pressed herself aga-inst me. Actually she had treated him in exactly the same way she treated me later. The more he looked at her, the more she pres-sed herself against me, wrapping herself round my neck.“Have you noticed how he’s watching us?” she whispered.I threw a glance at him and caught a glimpse of his face and was about to carry on when I couldn’t help remembering what my situation would be an hour later, when I would find myself in a very simi-lar position. Except that then that acquaintance of mine would beam with happiness, because in his imbecilic opinion she had made a fool of me, which

očali, saj res, nanj sem že

skoraj povsem pozabil, ker

ga pozneje nisem nikoli

več srečal. Toda prav z njim

se je ta avša prišla oziroma

se je pripeljala na smu-

čanje, in na nič drugega,

kot mi je pozneje poja-

snila med prižemanjem

v mojem objemu. Pravza-

prav je z njim delala enako

kot pozneje z mano. Bolj

ko jo je tisti tip gledal, bolj

se je prižemala k meni in

se mi ovijala okoli vratu.

»Si opazil, kako naju gleda?«

mi je pošepnila.

Vrgel sem pogled na tistega

tipa in ošinil še njegov

obraz ter že mislil nada-

ljevati, ko se mi je nehote

vrinil utrinek iz spomina

na moj položaj dobro

uro pozneje, v katerem

se bom sam znašel v zelo

podobnem položaju. S to

razliko, da bo potem tisti

moj znanec kar žarel od

veselja, ker mi jo je po nje-

govem bebastem mnenju

speljal, kar pa sploh ni

135

in fact wasn’t true at all. But he was convinced of it. That was her fault and it was all I could do to stop myself giving her a kick up the backside. The silly cow! My blood boiled. After so many years I felt such indignation as she embraced me that without meaning to I pushed her away.“Funny, isn’t it?” she went on, smiling. And automa-tically I replied: “What’s funny?”At that moment the room suddenly went completely dark and then the lights came back on. Everything had disappeared. “Oh no!” I gasped. “Back then I responded with a laugh.”The Sensins ran up to me. “What happened? Why didn’t it work?” I spread my arms helples-sly: “I made a mess of it.”“How?” The Sensins were looking at me with evident disappointment. Clearly because of my mistaken

bilo res. Ampak tisti tip

je bil o tem prepričan do

onemoglosti. To je bilo

njeno maslo in toliko, da

je nisem sunil v rit. Krava

prifliknjena! Kar kri mi je

zavrela v glavi. Po toliko

letih mi je ob njenem obje-

manju privrel iz spomina

tak gnev, da sem jo nehote

odrinil od sebe.

»Smešno, kajne?« je smeje

se nadaljevala. In meni

je kar samodejno ušlo z

jezika: »Kaj je smešno?«

V tistem trenutku se je

prostor najprej povsem

zatemnil, nato pa ponovno

razsvetlil. Vse je izginilo.

»Hudirja!« mi je še enkrat

nekontrolirano ušlo z

jezika. »Takrat sem se

odzval s smehom.«

Pritekli so še Čutini. »Kaj

je bilo? Zakaj ni šlo?«

Nemočno sem razširil

roke: »Polomil sem ga.«

»Kako?« Čutini so me

gledali z vidnim razoča-

ranjem. Očitno zaradi

mojega napačnega odziva,

136

response, and so I started apologising. “I remembered how that scene developed, “ I said, “and a detail that happe-ned a good hour later came back to me with such force that I suddenly got upset. For a moment my compo-sure abandoned me.” The Sensins shook their heads in silence. The moment seemed to last an eternity. But then they started focusing on the question of how to pro-ceed. What could we do? The seventy-fourth door remained closed.I was filled with a feeling of guilt. How could I have forgotten myself like that? I had to say something by way of apology.“Without getting into the spirit of the situation you can’t respond emotionally. That’s why I tried to relive it as faithfully as possible. I tried really hard. But that whole business was just a muddle, with silly play-ac-

tako da sem se začel opra-

vičevati.

»Spomnil sem se nadalj-

njega poteka tistega

dogajanja,« sem dejal, »in

podrobnost, ki se mi je

zgodila dobro uro pozneje,

mi je oživela iz spomina

s tako močjo, da sem se

nenadoma vznemiril. Za

trenutek mi je popustila

zbranost.«

Čutini so molče zmajevali

z glavami, in to najbrž ne

pretirano dolgo, čeprav so

se zame tisti trenutki vlekli

v nedogled. Potem pa so se

osredotočili na vprašanje,

kako naprej oziroma, kaj

lahko storijo. Prehod skozi

74. vrata je ostal zaprt.

Obšel me je občutek

krivde. Da sem se mogel

tako spozabiti! Nekaj bi

moral reči v opravičilo.

»Brez vživetja v dogaja-

nje se ne moreš čustveno

odzvati. Zato sem se spu-

stil v čim bolj zvesto podo-

življanje. Prav trudil sem

se. Toda tisto dogajanje je

bilo v celoti ena sama zme-

šnjava z neverjetno tra-

137

ting and stupid situations. That woman was capable of being extremely cun-ning, despite all her sil-liness. I think she had a kind of fixed idea that she was appearing on a stage, or even in a film…” I stopped in mid-sentence. When it came down to it, she was right: it was all being recorded. On a holo-gram film complete with emotions. Wow. But that was something different. She couldn’t have known that. “All this confusion, after it all came true, she actu-ally really enjoyed it. She really enjoyed the circus she had triggered with her intrigues.”Benesens patted me reas-suringly on the shoulder: “It’s all right. No-one is accusing you of anything. We would just like to find a solution. We will have another chance in thirty-three days’ time. Till then the best thing will be to think over the whole thing

pastimi sprenevedanji in

situacijami. Tisto je bila na

trenutke do skrajnosti pre-

brisana ženska, kljub vsej

njeni prifliknjenosti. Po

moje je tedaj imela fiksno

idejo, da nastopa na gleda-

liškem odru, če že ne na

filmu.« Zastal sem z zadr-

žano besedo na jeziku.

Saj je na koncu koncev res

bilo vse posneto. In to na

hologramski film s čustvi

v red. Presneto. Toda to

je nekaj drugega. Tega ni

mogla vedeti.

»Vsa ta zmešnjava, potem

ko je to res postala, ji je

bila celo zelo všeč. Da,

prav uživala je v cirkusu,

ki ga je sprožila s svojimi

intrigami.«

Dobročut me je pomirje-

valno potrepljal po rami:

»Je že v redu. Nihče vam nič

ne očita, le rešitev bi radi

našli. Naslednjo možnost

imamo čez 33 dni. Do

tedaj pa bo najbolje vse

skupaj še enkrat premisliti

138

again and try and envisage possible slips during the next attempt.”“Even that won’t be so easy. That constant feigning innocence of hers.” I con-sidered for a little while, weighing up my doubts, and went on: “Actually she was more preten-ding than acting, and that complicated things even further. Forgotten deta-ils were coming back to me. If I could just spend a little time with her again it would be easier for me to remember details of what happened back then. And of course all of her other bright ideas. But the next attempt would still be quite risky.”Benesens listened in silence and after a brief pause said: “That could be arranged, although it won’t be so simple. But there is enough time. A journey to the Earth and back is possible. With a certain amount of risk, of course.”

in predvideti morebitne

spodrsljaje pri naslednjem

poskusu.«

»Tudi to ne bo tako prepro-

sto. To njeno neprestano

sprenevedanje.« Še neko-

liko sem se zamislil ob

tehtanju svojih pomisle-

kov ter nadaljeval: »Prav-

zaprav se je bolj sprene-

vedala. kot pa igrala, in to

je še dodatno zapletlo vso

zadevo. Res pa se mi vra-

čajo v spomin pozabljene

podrobnosti. Če bi bil

vsaj nekaj časa ponovno

z njo, bi se laže spomnil

posameznih podrobnosti

iz takratnega dogajanja.

In seveda tudi vse drugih

njenih domislic. Tako bo

pa tveganje pri naslednjem

poskusu ostalo še naprej

kar močno.«

Dobročut me je molče

poslušal ter po krajšem

premisleku dejal: »To bi se

dalo urediti, čeprav ne bo

tako preprosto. Vendar je

časa dovolj. Pot do Zemlje

in nazaj je možna. Z nekaj

tveganja, se razume.«

139

“A certain amount of risk?” I said, emphasising the last word. “We set off for here, as you say, with a negligible amount of risk. But in the end we were lucky to survive – in fact we almost didn’t.”“Well, yes. But we are on the brink of war with the Acutins and in such con-ditions surprises are more frequent. But your kno-wledge of the current con-ditions should tell you that we will not expose you to risk unnecessarily. If you manage to meet this… what do you call her?”“Idiot.”“Right. As I say, if mee-ting her again would make it easier for you to remem-ber what happened back then and all the details of your experience, we will take you to her and bring you back.”I considered this. My suggestion that meeting her again would help jog my memory had actually been more of an excuse,

»Z nekaj tveganja?« sem

zategnil s pomenljivim

naglasom. »Sem smo se

odpravili, kot pravite, z

zanemarljivo majhnim tve-

ganjem. Preživeli pa smo

s kar precej sreče, in še to

komaj.«

»No, ja. Z Ostrini smo pač

na pragu vojne in presene-

čenja so v tako napetih raz-

merah pogostejša. Da vas

po nepotrebnem ne bomo

izpostavljali tveganju, pa

lahko že sami dovolj zane-

sljivo sklepate iz vsega

vašega poznavanja nasta-

lih razmer in dogodkov.

Če bi vam uspelo srečanje

s to… kako ji pravite?«

»Avša prifliknjena.«

»Ja, če bi ob ponovnem sre-

čanju z njo lažje obudili v

spomin tisto dogajanje in

vse podrobnosti iz tega

vašega doživetja, vas odpe-

ljemo do nje in nazaj.«

Nekoliko sem še pomi-

šljal. To o nujnosti ponov-

nega srečanja zaradi laž-

jega obujanja spomina

sem sicer navrgel bolj kot

140

but the more I thought about the more it made sense. Especially since she was quite unpredictable. Then there was the fact that I myself had changed a lot since that time, so that it would be impossible for me to react spontaneo-usly, without preparation, in exactly the same way as back then. Especially when faced with one of her sudden outbursts.“Then use her to jog your memory, if that is the best solution. A few meetings with her, a little conversa-tion, perhaps while taking a stroll or over dinner. We can arrange that. That wouldn’t be difficult, since talking to her can’t be too much of a problem for you.”“No, no. After all, she’s not stupid, or ugly. I could even call her pretty. But you’d be hard put to find anyone as crazy as her.”“So if I have understood correctly, you did not find her disagreeable at first? It

izgovor, vendar se mi je

ob ponovnem premisleku

kazalo precej smiselno. Še

posebej, ker je na trenutke

nastopala precej nepredvi-

dljivo, sam pa sem se v tem

času že zelo spremenil,

tako da se povsem spon-

tano, brez predhodne pri-

prave, ne bi mogel odzvati

povsem enako kot tisti-

krat. Še zlasti ne ob tistih

njenih nenadnih izpadih.

»Potem pa ob njej obu-

dite svoj spomin, če je to

najboljša pot. Nekaj sre-

čanj z njo, malo pogovora,

morda med sprehodi ali

ob večerji, lahko uredimo.

To ne bi bilo težko, saj za

vas pogovor z njo ne more

biti preveč moteč.«

»Ne, ne. Saj ni neumna ne

grda. Celo med čedne bi

jo lahko prištel. Ampak na

tako prifliknjeno pa zlepa

ne naletiš.»

»Torej, če sem prav razu-

mel, vam sprva niti ni bila

zoprna. Le vaši čustveni

141

is merely that your emoti-onal responses when you met differed quite consi-derably from your later emotional responses when you parted. But during the test you must not mix up these different emoti-onal states. It has already happened once, and by the look of things this lapse could happen again.”“That’s for sure. Because in this game of hers it’s not easy to know when she’s being serious and when she’s faking.” I was beginning to feel more and more confused. My failure, though not forgot-ten, had at least been put to one side. And the only possibility we had left was to make sure that we had the best possible starting-point for the next attempt.“Okay. So be it,” I said resignedly. “Perhaps this time your assessment that there is little risk involved in the journey to Earth and

odzivi ob vajinem spozna-

vanju so se precej razliko-

vali od kasnejših med raz-

hajanjem. Vi pa med prever-

janjem ne smete mešati teh

različnih čustvenih stanj.

Enkrat se nam je že pone-

srečilo in, kot vse kaže, se

nam spodrsljaj prav lahko

ponovi.«

»To pa prav gotovo. Ker pri

tej njeni igri zlepa ne ugo-

toviš, kdaj misli resno in

kdaj se spreneveda.« Obha-

jali so me vse bolj mešani

občutki. Moj neuspeh je

bil, če že ne pozabljen, pa

vsaj odmaknjen na stran.

In nič drugega nam tudi

ni ostalo kot odločna

usmeritev v zagotavljanje

čim boljšega izhodišča ob

ponovnem poizkusu.

»Prav. Naj bo,« sem se vdal.

Morda bo to pot vaša

ocena, da gre le za majhno

tveganje na poti do Zemlje

142

back will be more accu-rate than the ‘guaranteed safe journey’ we had on the way here.”

in nazaj, bolj natančna

od tiste tako imenovane

zagotovljene varne poti do

sem.«

143

Chapter VII

The first part of the jour-ney, as far as the space sta-tion that we had secretly left that evening during the get-together with the Acutins, was as peace-ful as predicted, with no attacks by Acutin rockets or pursuits by their ships. The landing itself attrac-ted no attention. I would later learn that meetings between the Sensins and the Acutins were very common – one of the Sen-sins told me they were organised by pacifists on either side – and it turned out that we were to attend a reception hosted by the Acutins that very evening. The theory was that more frequent meetings would diffuse tension and streng-then efforts to find mutu-ally acceptable solutions. But in Benesens’s opinion there was far too little of

VII. poglavje

Prvi del poti, vse do vesolj-

ske postaje, iz katere

smo skrivoma zapustili

tisto večerno srečanje z

Ostrini, je potekel v pred-

videnem miru brez napa-

dov ostrinovskih raket ali

obletavanja njihovih letal,

pa tudi sam pristanek je

minil povsem neopazno.

In ker so se srečanja med

Čutini in Ostrini, kot sem

pozneje izvedel, dogajala

zelo pogosto, po bese-

dah enega od Čutinov jih

organizirajo mirovniki z

obeh strani, smo se še isti

večer tudi sami udeležili

sprejema pri Ostrinih.

Pogostejša srečanja naj bi

zmanjševala napetost in

krepila prizadevanja po

iskanju dogovornih reši-

tev. Toda po Dobročuto-

vem mnenju je bilo tega

daleč premalo za nekoliko

144

this to have any serious effect, let alone to prevent the outbreak of war. The two sides apparently allo-wed these meetings as an excuse for their intransi-gence with regard to their own demands, while at the same time appealing to the need to defend themselves and placing the blame for the situation on the other side.Together with my Sensin friends – or perhaps after everything that had happe-ned it would be more appropriate to call them comrades in arms – I sat down at a large round table with a mixed company of Sensins and Acutins. I soon observed that a lively discussion was in pro-gress. There was quite a lot of laughter to be heard, and I found myself glan-cing increasingly frequen-tly round the table. There was something slightly unspontaneous if not even forced about that laughter. But since both sides were

resnejši vpliv, kaj šele za

preprečitev izbruha vojne.

Obe strani naj bi ta sreča-

nja dopuščali kot izgovor

za svojo nepopustljivost

in za svoje potrebe, ob

hkratnem sklicevanju na

nujnost lastne obrambe in

zvračanju krivde za nastalo

zaostritev na nasprotno

stran.

Skupaj s prijatelji Čutini

ali soborci, slednja oznaka

je bila po vsem, kar se je

zgodilo, že skoraj bolj pri-

merna, sem se usedel za

24-sedežno okroglo mizo

z mešano družbo Čutinov

in Ostrinov, kjer je, vsaj kot

sem lahko kmalu opazil,

potekal živahen pogovor.

Precej smeha je bilo slišati,

tako da sem se vse pogo-

steje oziral v navzoče,

čeprav mi je ta smeh učin-

koval nekam nespontano,

če že ne prisiljeno. Toda

ker je obojestranska spod-

145

making a conscious effort to contribute to the cheer-ful atmosphere, it seemed to work. Cross-table con-versations kept starting up and those around me had to raise their voices to be heard. Those from my side of the table joined in with cries of agreement or jocular denial, depen-ding on the point that was being made or the clever-ness of the comment. Dia-logues like this must have been quite common thro-ughout the hall. I looked around appraisingly, my eyes wandering over the tables and beyond them. I couldn’t actually see the far walls, partly because of the decorative fountains and the stairs by the colu-mns containing the lifts. Crowds of figures were strolling among the tables. At that moment I was dis-tracted by a slightly louder shout, which I ignored, assuming it was nothing to do with me. At the next

buda prispevala h krepi-

tvi veselega vzdušja, je

vseeno delovalo. Pogovori

so se sproti vzpostavljali

navzkrižno čez omizje

ter neposredno bližino

pritegovali h glasnejšemu

sodelovanju. Še od mojega

omizja so se pridružili s

posameznimi pritrjeval-

nimi klici ali z nasmejanim

odkimavanjem, odvisno

od navzkrižnega razmišlja-

nja ali bistroumnosti pri-

pombe. Tako vzpostavljeni

dialogi so morali biti kar

pogosti po vsej dvorani.

Ocenjujoče sem se spre-

hodil s pogledom naokrog

in več deset metrov mimo

omizij, do koder mi je segel

pogled, saj oddaljenih sten

pravzaprav sploh nisem

mogel videti, delno tudi

zaradi okrasnih vodnja-

kov in stopnišč ob stebrih

z dvigali. Videl sem pravo

gnečo sprehajalcev med

omizji. Tedaj me je zmotil

malo glasnejši klic, na kate-

rega se nisem odzval, ker

nisem pričakoval nobe-

nega znanca. Po nasle-

146

shout I looked round and spotted a smiling Acutin, two tables away. His arm was raised in greeting and he was trying to attract my attention. It was the Acutin I had been talking to that time before our journey to the energy dump – when I was forced to interrupt what promised to be an interesting conversation. I returned his greeting by slightly raising my hand. He beckoned me to come and sit by him, but I wasn’t sure if that was a good idea. After all, the Acutins were the Sensins’ enemies: deadly serious enemies. The Sensins wouldn’t exactly be happy about me going over to him. I looked round. Benesens was sha-king his head, as though to confirm my doubts.“It is difficult to know what the Acutins are up to,” he said. “They are past masters at feigning ignorance and at leading innocent conversations in the direction they want,

dnjem klicu pa sem se le

ozrl in zagledal smehljajo-

čega se Ostrina; dve omizji

naprej me je s privzdigom

roke v pozdrav opozoril

nase. Prav tisti Ostrin je

bil, s katerim sem med

potjo v energetska skladi-

šča moral prekiniti dialog

kljub nakazanemu zanimi-

vemu pogovoru. Še sam

sem mu odzdravil z rahlim

dvigom roke, Ostrin pa mi

je namignil, naj prisedem

k njim, a to je bilo zame

vseeno malo težje sprejeti.

Ostrini so bili vendarle

nasprotniki Čutinov, in to

presneto resni, moje spre-

hajanje k njim bi Čutini

težko sprejeli. Zastal sem

ob Dobročutovem pritr-

jevalnem odkimavanju

mojim pomislekom.

»Težko je ugotoviti, kaj

imajo Ostrini za bregom,«

je dejal. »Pravi mojstri so

tako v sprenevedanju kakor

v speljevanju pogovorov z

neresno tematiko v želeno

smer s povsem določenim

147

for a clearly defined pur-pose and with an objective that they are able to achi-eve through skilful mani-pulation. We must not talk to them about our mis-sion, or they will attack us with redoubled zeal. The balance of power that has been established is still the best guarantee of peace and if we do not soon re-establish the connection with the communications centre in our largest energy reservoir, some Acutins might start to think that they have the upper hand. As you can see, even now quite a number of them are convinced of their superi-ority. Too many of them, perhaps.”“That’s very possible,” I began, intending to men-tion my theory about sudden outbreaks of war, when I was interrupted by a light touch on my shoul-ders.“Hey, I heard you were back.” The smiling face of the beautiful Honaja

namenom in ciljem, ki ga

znajo doseči s spretno igro

besed. O naši misiji pa jim

ne moremo govoriti, ker bi

nas potem napadli s pod-

vojeno vnemo.

»Vzpostavljeno ravnotežje

sil je še najboljši garant

miru in če v dovolj kratkem

času ne bomo ponovno

sprostili prehoda do komu-

nikacijskih pultov našega

največjega energetskega

bazena, bi se nekaterim

Ostrnom že lahko utrnila

misel o njihovi premoči.

Saj, kot vidite, jih je že zdaj

kar precej prepričanih o

svoji premoči. Če jih ni že

celo preveč.«

»Tudi to je prav možno,«

sem mu pritrdil, z name-

nom navreči svoje ugiba-

nje o nenadnih izbruhih

vojne, ko me je prekinil

mehak oprijem mojih

ramen.

»Hej, slišala sem za vašo

vrnitev.« Smehljajoči se

obraz lepe Honaje se je

148

was bent towards me. She was even more beautiful than at our first meeting. She was also dressed sli-ghtly more provocatively, in a manner more suita-ble for an evening func-tion, although the military overalls she was wearing that first time had also suited her very well. This time she was in a happier mood. Without that hint of pain in eyes that were slightly red from crying. All I could sense in her was a kind of exuberance. She made no effort to hide her happiness at seeing me again.“I heard that things got off to a good start,” she said. “And then there some pro-blems, right?”“Yes. It worked for a while, until…”“It’s all right. You proved yourself enough. Our efforts have now been confirmed, that’s the most important thing. It is enough to know that it

narahlo sklanjal k meni.

Zdaj se mi je zdela še lepša

kot ob najinem prvem sre-

čanju. Pa še napravljena je

bila malo bolj izzivalno,

povsem primerno večer-

nim prireditvam, četudi

ji je njen takratni vojaški

kombinezon prav tako

zelo lepo pristajal. Bila pa

je tokrat bolj veselo raz-

položena. Brez tiste zadr-

ževane bolečine v rahlo

objokanih očeh. Le igrivo

razposajenost sem lahko

zaznal v njih, brez skri-

vanja veselja nad najinim

ponovnim srečanjem.

»Slišala sem za uspešni

uvod,« je dejala. »Potem so

nastale težave, kajne?«

»Hja, nekaj časa je šlo, vse

dokler. . .«

»Je že v redu. Dovolj ste se

izkazali. Naša predvideva-

nja so zdaj potrjena, to je

najpomembnejše. Dovolj,

da zadeva deluje. Tudi

149

works. You’ll be able to do the rest, too. I know you will.”That was nice to hear. “Thanks for the encoura-gement.” I nodded at the Sensins round the table. “My friends think so too.”“I know it better than your friends do,” she answered with a self-assured smile. “Believe me.” Now it was her turn to nod towards the table: “A lot better than they do.”I smiled back her, feeling slightly embarrassed as I wasn’t really sure what she meant – although I had nothing against her having such confidence in me or indeed in her abi-lity to judge the situation. But the more I looked at her beautiful face, turned towards me, the more I felt an unusually strong connection to her. For her part – and this was strange and pleasant at the same time – she was gazing at me, now with tenderness

ostalo boste zmogli. Jaz že

vem.«

To je bilo prijetno slišati.

»Hvala za spodbudo,« sem

namignil na Čutine ob

mizi, »tudi moji prijatelji so

prepričani o tem.«

»Jaz vem to bolje od vaših

prijateljev,« mi je odvrnila

med samozavestnim sme-

hljanjem, »lahko mi ver-

jamete.« Ponovila je moj

namig na omizje: »Precej

bolje od njih.«

Vrnil sem ji nasmeh, sicer

z rahlo zadrego zaradi tež-

jega razumevanja njenih

besed, čeprav nisem imel

nič proti tako prepriča-

nemu zaupanju vame in

očitno tudi v njene spo-

sobnosti ocenjevanja. Toda

bolj ko sem gledal njen

lepi obraz, primaknjen

k meni, bolj sem občutil

nenavadno močno naveza-

nost nanjo, ona pa je, kar

je bilo nenavadno in pri-

jetno hkrati, gledala vame

zdaj z mehkobo, zdaj spet

150

and now with a sly teasing look, apparently convin-ced of the obviousness of our belonging together. The strange thing was that I felt the same, which was funny in a very strange way. “That crazy woman has got you all confused again!” she said with a tea-sing giggle. But I sensed so much understanding in her and at the same time an unconcealed revulsion at the mention of “that crazy woman” that I was confused for a moment.“You know a lot about it,” I commented after a brief pause in which I looked at her with curiosity. “Did they tell you everything?” “They have to tell me.” She carried on smiling that mysterious smile that I didn’t quite understand – because I didn’t know the background or something like that; that was the only explanation that occurred to me.“Are you married?”

s prebrisano nagajivostjo,

vse z nakazanim prepri-

čanjem o samoumevnosti

najine medsebojne pripa-

dnosti. Pa tudi sam sem

enako občutil, in to je bilo

zabavno na prav nenava-

den način.

»Tista avša pa vas je le

spet zmedla!« me je med

hehetanjem rahlo podra-

žila. Vendar je prišlo iz

nje toliko razumevanja

in hkrati še neprikritega

odklanjanja ob besedi

‘avša’, da mi je razmišljanje

celo za hip zastalo.

»Precej veste,« sem pripo-

mnil po kratkem molku

med pogledovanjem vanjo

z dokajšnjo radovednostjo.

»So vam vse povedali?«

»Meni že morajo.« Še

naprej se je smehljala s

skrivnostnim nasmehom,

ki ga nisem povsem razu-

mel zaradi nepoznavanja

ozadja ali nekaj takega;

tako sem ugibal v prepletu

raznih pomislekov.

»Ste poročeni?« mi je ušlo

iz ust.

151

She shook her head slowly. “I was. Unfortunately I lost him.” We exchanged glances and for a moment I caught a glimpse of her inner pain. “My husband, I mean.”‘Yes, of course.’ I was alre-ady regretting my over-ha-sty curiosity. “Actually, they killed him. He was one of the super-visors of the energy fields. When the Acutins broke in, he was with the gar-rison behind the seventy-third door. He was killed in the fight with the Acu-tins.”“Oh!” I said in surprise, but Honaja went on: “He was the one who set up the coded protection that is causing us problems now.”“That was him? Oh!” That was an even bigger sur-prise. At least for me. “So he…” I stopped. Several things occurred to me all at once. “So he was the one who got me invol-ved in this business?” I

Narahlo je odkimala. »Bila

sem. Na žalost ga ni več.«

Med živahnimi pogledi se

mi je za trenutek razkrila

njena notranja bolečina.

»Mojega moža, mislim.«

»Da, da, seveda.« Pomišljal

sem nad svojo prenagljeno

radovednostjo.

»Pravzaprav so ga ubili. On

je bil eden od zaupnih nad-

zornikov energetskih polj.

Prav ob preboju Ostrinov

je bil skupaj s posadko v

prostorih za 73. vrati. Padel

je v boju z Ostrini.«

»Ou!« sem zategnil vidno

presenečen, Honaja pa je

nadaljevala: »On je posta-

vil to šifrirno zaščito, ki

nam zdaj dela težave.«

»On? Huh!« To je bilo pa

še večje presenečenje.

Vsaj zame. »Torej je… » sem

zastal sredi stavka. Nekaj

pomislekov mi je spodbu-

dilo domišljijo. »Torej me

je on vpletel v to zadevo?«

152

asked finally, and after a pause, in which she remai-ned silent too, I looked at Honaja, who nodded.“And he chose me?”“Yes. He knew you very well!”“How do you mean ‘knew me’? Where from?“He monitored you.”“Monitored me? Wow!” I took a deep breath.“It wasn’t intrusive. Of course he didn’t interfere with you in any way, at least not deliberately. It’s not allowed. And he cer-tainly wouldn’t have done anything bad to you.” Honaja looked at me affec-tionately. “He actually grew very attached to you. Very strongly. You meant a lot to him. Actually you were a very dear friend to him.” Honaja was get-ting excited. “He wasn’t your biological clone, and you weren’t his either, if that’s what you are thin-king. And we do not have the ability to travel thro-ugh time either. There is

sem na koncu vprašal in

se po premolku, tudi ona

je ostala tiho, zagledal v

Honajo, ki mi je prikimala

v odgovor.

»In izbral je mene?«

»Da. Zelo dobro vas je

poznal!«

»Kako - poznal? Od kod?«

»Spremljal vas je.«

»Spremljal? Huh!« Po glo-

bokem vdihu sem zastal s

polnimi pljuči.

»Saj ni bilo moteče. Prav

gotovo vas ni z ničimer

prizadel, vsaj hote ne. Tudi

dovoljeno ni. On pa vam

še posebej ne bi naredil

nič žalega.« Honaja me je

gledala s toplo naklonje-

nostjo. »Še celo navezal

se je na vas. Zelo močno.

Veliko ste mu pomenili.

Pravzaprav ste mu bili zelo

drag prijatelj.« Honaja se je

še sama vznemirila. »Ni bil

vaš biološki klon, pa tudi vi

niste njegov, če ste morda

pomislili na to možnost. In

tudi skozi čas se ne znamo

sprehajati. Nič iz priho-

153

nothing from the future or the past here.” Honaja gri-pped my hand with a kind of urgent intimacy. “All of us Sensins have frien-dly ties to Earthmen, so for us your collaboration with us in this business is something quite natural. You don’t mean anything to the Acutins. They would happily sacrifice you, since for them you are merely beings at some primitive level of develo-pment, too low down on the evolutionary spiral for them to give you any serious consideration. We, however, see things quite differently, and this is also the origin of the conflict between the Acutins and us. We nurture very bene-volent feelings towards you.”“I’m happy to hear it,” I replied, under the influence of her humorous playful-ness. I could sense consi-derable emotional benevo-lence in the way she looked at me, and at a deeper level

dnosti ali preteklosti ni

tu prisotno.« Honaja se je

oprijela moje roke s čutno

intimnostjo. »Vsi Čutini

smo dovolj prijateljsko

navezani na Zemljane, zato

je vaše sodelovanje z nami

v tej zadevi za nas precej

samoumevno. Ostrinom

nič ne pomenite, mirno bi

vas žrtvovali, ker ste zanje

le bitja na določeni pri-

mitivni razvojni stopnji,

preveč nizko na evolucij-

ski spirali, da bi vas resno

upoštevali. Mi pa razmi-

šljamo povsem drugače,

in prav tu je tudi zametek

spora med nami in Ostrini.

Do vas gojimo zelo naklo-

njena čustva.«

»To mi je všeč,« sem odvr-

nil še sam pod vplivom

njene humorne igrivosti. V

njenih pogledih vame sem

občutil precej čustvene

naklonjenosti, in to celo

globlje, ne zgolj spoštljive,

154

than just respect. It was the same thing that I felt when I looked at her. Yes, I couldn’t be mistaken. On the other hand she wasn’t doing anything to hide her feelings towards me, which were surely more than just a vague benevo-lence. Quite a lot more, if I wasn’t mistaken. Meanw-hile, my feelings were gro-wing stronger too.“Come on, let’s go and dance,” she said, offering me her hand. My neigh-bour, Benesens, was in the middle of a lively con-versation with an Acutin from the next table. I looked at the others. They were talking among them-selves. No-one was paying any attention to Honaja or me. Right then, I thou-ght to myself, and slowly stood up and walked with Honaja to the dancefloor. I still didn’t know very much about these Sensins, I thought with a grin, and shook my head. They were

ampak enake moji ob

pogledu nanjo. Da, nisem

se mogel motiti. Pa saj tudi

ni kaj dosti skrivala teh

svojih nagnjenj do mene,

ki so morala biti več kot

le zgolj rahlo naklonjena

čustva. Precej več, če se

nisem motil. Pa tudi moja

čustva so ob tem postajala

še močnejša.

»Pridi, greva plesat,« me

je povabila s ponujeno

roko. Dobročut ob meni

je bil v živahnem pogo-

voru z Ostrinom od sose-

dnje mize, pogledal sem

še ostale, pa so se tudi ti

pomenkovali med sabo,

brez kakršnega koli zani-

manja za Honajo ali zame.

Prav, sem si mislil in počasi

vstal ter stopil ob Honaji

do plesišča. Še vedno

nisem vedel kaj dosti o teh

Čutinih, nejeverno sem

se nakremžil med rahlim

zmajevanjem z glavo, prav-

155

in fact revealing themsel-ves to me gradually, but all things considered they now seemed stranger or perhaps more mysterious than at our first encoun-ter. Nevertheless some things didn’t quite add up, or at least that was my sensation. Even the explanation of how her husband had apparently been monitoring my life was quite strange in itself. I was unable to form a more definite view of it, and meanwhile Honaja was acting towards me as though I were…as though I…a comparison had just formed in my mind but I was somehow reluctant to put it into words. Then I had to smile. At times she really did react as though she saw her husband in me. Where did that impression come from? After all, she had explained that it was nothing to do with time travel, which was some-

zaprav so se res sproti raz-

krivali, vendar so se mi

zdeli po vsem skupaj še

bolj nenavadni, če že ne

skrivnostni, kot ob prvem

srečanju. Kljub vsemu se

mi nekateri pogledi niso

povsem ujemali, vsaj po

občutku sodeč ne, ker je

bila tudi razlaga o spre-

mljanju mojega življenja,

kar naj bi izvajal njen mož,

že sama po sebi dovolj

nenavadna. Niti vsaj malo

bolj določene predstave

o takem početju si nisem

mogel ustvariti, Honaja pa

se je obnašala do mene,

kot da bi bil jaz . . . ozi-

roma, kot da sem . . . prav-

kar porojena primerjava

se mi nikakor ni hotela

zaokrožiti v zaključno ugo-

tovitev. Nato sem se moral

sam zase nasmehniti. Na

trenutke se je res odzivala,

kot da vidi v meni svojega

moža. Presneto, da so se

mi porajali taki vtisi. Sicer

mi je lepo razložila, da ne

gre za sprehajanje skozi

čas, tega naj tudi oni ne bi

156

thing they were apparently not capable of, and that I was not a clone of her hus-band either. So what was behind it? What was the basis on which all of this was happening?Honaja stopped at the edge of the dancefloor. “Let’s go over there,” she said, poin-ting to where there were slightly fewer dancers. I led her across the middle of the dancefloor, past the dancing couples. As we moved to the rhythm of the music, her arms around my neck and mine around her waist, I whispered into her ear: “There’s a nice atmosphere here.” She was all mine. With her entire being and her sensual abandon, she was becoming more and more part of me. But then she gave a kind of sigh and I found myself imagi-ning her dancing with that husband of hers. She must have loved him. But she

bili sposobni početi, in jaz

naj ne bi bil niti biološki

klon njenega moža. Toda

kaj je potem v ozadju? Na

kakšni podlagi vse to sploh

poteka?

Honaja je obstala pred ple-

siščem. »Greva tjale,« mi je

dejala med namigom na

malo manj nagnetene ple-

salce, kamor sem jo nato

odpeljal mimo plešočih

parov prek osrednjega

dela plesišča.

Ob prepuščanju plesnemu

ritmu, ko sva se prižela v

objemu, z njenimi rokami

okrog mojega vratu in

z mojimi ovitimi okrog

njenih ledij, sem ji zaše-

petal na uho: »Prijetno

vzdušje je tukaj.« Vsa je

bila moja. Z vsem svojim

bitjem in s svojim čutnim

predajanjem se je vse bolj

vraščala vame. Pa vendar

sem zaznal še nekakšen

zadržan vzdih, ob katerem

so se mi med misli vrivali

namišljeni prikazi nje-

nega plesa s tistim njenim

možem. Rada ga je morala

157

was also fond of me, here and now: I could sense it. Every movement of her hands, draped gently around my neck, told me this. Then she gave me a slight shake. “Look. They are calling us. It must already be time for you to go.”I glanced over to where she was looking. The Sen-sins were surreptitiously signalling to me that it was time to leave and that I should get away without attracting attention.I pressed Honaja closer to me and we exchanged elo-quent glances. I squeezed her hand and our fingers brushed together. Then I left the dancefloor and walked towards our group. When I reached them I sto-pped and we exchanged a few words so as to maintain the impression of a relaxed gathering. Then I set off after the others, who were already making their way towards the exit in twos and threes, at brief inter-

imeti. Toda tudi mene

mora imeti rada, in to prav

zdaj, to sem dobro čutil.

Vsak gib njenih rok, mehko

ovitih okoli mojega vratu,

mi je to govoril. Tedaj me

je narahlo stresla. »Glej,

kličejo naju. Verjetno boš

moral že iti.«

Ozrl sem se v smeri nje-

nega pogleda. Čutini so

mi prikrito, z rahlimi gibi,

kazali na odhod in da naj

čim bolj neopazno zapu-

stim te prostore.

Stisnil sem Honajo v rahlo

močnejšem objemu, si z

njo izmenjal še nekaj pri-

jetno zgovornih pogledov

ter se po rahlem stisku

rok in zadržanem prepletu

najinih prstov podal s ple-

sišča, najprej do naše sku-

pine, ob kateri sem se usta-

vil, izmenjal nekaj povsem

nepomembnih besed, bolj

zaradi vzbujanja vtisa spro-

ščenega vzdušja, nakar

sem se podal za ostalimi,

ki so se že drug za drugim

v kratkih časovnih razmi-

158

vals, and then following a path lined with ornamen-tal shrubbery to the next building, whose ground-floor rooms appeared to contain several groups of Sensins and Acutins. Our group quickly re-assem-bled and we were given a short briefing. Then we set off in the direction of the test range, from where we were apparently going to continue our jour-ney. Once again in small groups and at carefully-timed intervals. The rest of us spread out so that we were still within sight of each other and waited for the signal to move towards the ship. But before it was my turn to embark (I was already looking out for the signal to move), a Sensin from our group hurried up. He passed along the line, pausing momentarily to give a short message to individual Sensins from our unit: “Six tables of Acutins got up from their places

kih po dva ali trije odpra-

vljali k izhodu in potem po

poti skozi okrasno grmi-

čevje do sosednje zgradbe

s številnimi skupinami

Čutinov in Ostrinov v pri-

tličnih prostorih. Tam se je

naša skupina kar hitro zbi-

rala in se nato po kratkem

sprejetju navodil usmerjala

proti poligonu, od koder

naj bi takoj nadaljevali pot.

Spet v majhnih skupinah

in v časovnih presledkih.

Ostali smo se razmaknili

na medsebojno vidno raz-

daljo ter se po komaj opa-

znih namigih sprehodili

proti našemu letalu. Toda

še preden je prišla vrsta

name (že sem se spogledo-

val v pričakovanju namiga

na moj odhod), je prihi-

tel Čutin iz naše skupine

in se v mimohodu komaj

opazno zadržal s kratkim

sporočilom ob posame-

znih Čutinih naše enote:

»Šest omizij Ostrinov je

takoj po našem odhodu

159

as soon as we left. I have just received the message that they are heading for their pursuit ships. They suspect something, altho-ugh they do not know the true importance of our flight to Earth. Therefore we should not discuss this, not even amongst oursel-ves.” The Sensin looked at me very earnestly and after my muttered “okay” he moved on to the next trio from our unit.With a sense of foreboding at this new turn of events I turned towards my neigh-bour: “What does this actually mean?”“That they are going to follow us,” came the answer. “And probably you too, or rather you in particular. That’s my impression. In any case they will want to monitor us closely to ensure that their forecasts are as exact as possible. Yes, it looks as though that’s the main thing. They want to get to the bottom of the whole

zapustilo svoja mesta.

Pravkar pa sem dobil spo-

ročilo, da živahno tekajo

k svojim zasledovalnim

letalom. Nekaj slutijo,

čeprav ne poznajo pravega

pomena našega leta na

Zemljo. Zato naj bi se mi

ne pogovarjali o tej temi,

tudi med sabo ne.« Čutin

se je ob tem povsem zre-

snjeno zazrl vame ter se po

mojem nakazanem strinja-

nju s pritrdilnim »v redu«

podal naprej do sosednje

trojice iz naše enote.

Z nič kaj prijetnimi občutki

ob zaostritvi našega polo-

žaja sem se nagnil k svo-

jemu sosedu: »Kaj pa to

pravzaprav pomeni?«

»Da nas bodo zasledovali,«

mi je ta odvrnil v poja-

snilo. »In verjetno tudi vas,

morda vas še posebej, tako

se mi vse skupaj pač doz-

deva. Vsekakor pa si bodo

želeli izboriti to bližnje

spremljanje za čim natanč-

nejše predvidevanje. Da,

predvsem to, kot vse kaže.

In razkriti vso zadevo v

celoti ter nenadno ukre-

160

business and then take decisive action. It appears that your presence is star-ting to disquiet them more and more.” I smiled: “They won’t succeed in assembling the missing details on their own. I am sure of it. You weren’t able to either, not on your own and not with me. My crazy friend simply let herself go that evening. There was no logic in her behaviour. Or to put it another way, whe-never she lost the thread, she improvised by putting on an act. I don’t believe that even she knew where her emotional outpourings actually came from. And as far as I have been able to remember so far, my emotions that evening were almost as confused as everything else.” It occurred to me that there might be a compa-rison here between Acu-tins and Sensins, but I was unable to reach any more definite conclusions about their abilities.

pati. Vaša prisotnost jih,

kot vse kaže, že vse bolj

vznemirja.«

Narahlo sem se nasmeh-

nil: »Manjkajočih podrob-

nosti že ne bodo uspeli

sami sestaviti. O tem sem

prepričan. Saj jih tudi vi

niste, ne sami in ne skupaj

z mano. Moja avšasta prija-

teljica se je tistega večera

preprosto sproščala, brez

logike v obnašanju. Ozi-

roma, kadar koli je zgubila

nit dogajanja, je improvizi-

rala z igralskim nastopom.

Po moje še sama ni vedela,

iz kakšnega nagiba izvira

njen posamezni čustveni

izliv. In kolikor sem se

uspel doslej spomniti, so

bila tisti večer tudi moja

čustva skoraj tako zmešana

kot vse takratno dogaja-

nje.« Potem se mi je vsilila

še primerjava med Ostrini

in Čutini, pa glede njiho-

vih sposobnosti nisem

mogel narediti nobenega

bolj določenega sklepa.

161

“Those Acutins seem quite self-confident in their dea-lings with you,” I said.“Ha! Self-confident? Arro-gant, you mean! The most suitable word for their character is arrogance.” But then the Sensin drew himself up slightly and, with a slightly absent look in his eyes, conti-nued: “Well, perhaps for us, here, this arrogance of theirs is actually desirable. We welcome it. At least I do. Because if their arro-gance didn’t make them believe that they had an advantage over us in fore-casting events, they would have already attacked us.”“With weapons?” I asked.“Yes, with weapons too.” The Sensin continued to stare in front of him with an absent look in his eyes, but even so he flinched slightly under my steady gaze.“So the safety of this flight is actually slightly more conditional?” I said slowly, with an emphasis

»Se pa Ostrini precej samo-

zavestno vedejo do vas,«

sem dejal.

»Hja! Kaj samozavestno!

Naduto! Najprimernejša

beseda za njihov značaj

je nadutost.« Toda tudi

Čutin se je pri tem vzrav-

nal v malo bolj vzvišeno

pozo ter z rahlo odsotnim

pogledom nadaljeval raz-

mišljanje: »No, ja, morda

je za nas tukaj ta njihova

nadutost celo zaželena.

Prav dobrodošla nam je.

Vsaj po moje, kajti če ne bi

zaradi nadutosti verjeli v

svoje prednosti pri predvi-

devanju dogajanja, bi nas

že napadli.«

»Z orožjem?« sem vprašal.

»Da, tudi z orožjem.«

Čutin je pri tem gledal

bolj predse z odmaknjeno

odsotnim pogledom, a se

je vseeno rahlo zdrznil ob

mojem vztrajnem strme-

nju vanj.

»Torej je varnost tega

poleta vendarle malo bolj

pogojna?« sem počasi pri-

pomnil s poudarkom na

162

on the questionability of the notion of conditiona-lity.“Well, that’s not exac-tly it. We are also able to predict their intentions, and, as you have already had the chance to see, in these minor skirmishes we are more than a match for them, don’t you agree? Even in a conflict involving all our forces, we believe that we would have more chances than them.”Naturally the fact that my life appeared to depend on how each side predicted the actions of the other was not the most encoura-ging news, but I didn’t tell the Sensin that. It probably wasn’t appropriate.Then the Sensin who had just arrived summoned us, waving his arms, all attempt at concealment abandoned. “Let’s go! To the asteroid belt as quickly as possible!” he shouted. After waving his arm in the direction of our ship he broke into a run, and

vprašljivosti pojma pogoj-

nosti.

»No, ni čisto tako. Tudi

mi znamo predvideti nji-

hove namere in, kot ste že

lahko spoznali, se v takih

manjših spopadih kar lepo

kosamo z njimi, kajne? In

tudi v spopadu vseh obo-

roženih sil bi po našem

mnenju imeli mi nekaj več

možnosti kakor oni.«

Seveda pa mi dejstvo, da je

moje življenje odvisno od

tega, kako bodo oni med

sabo predvideli dejanja

drug drugega, ni bilo naj-

bolj všeč, vendar mu tega

nisem omenil, ker najbrž

ne bi bilo primerno.

Tedaj nas je brez prikriva-

nja in z odločnimi zamahi

rok pozval Čutin, ki je

pravkar pritekel. »Gremo!

Z vso naglico do aste-

roidnega pasu!« nam je

zaklical ter se po zamahu

roke v smeri našega letala

pognal v tek, mi pa za njim

163

we followed him in a stra-ggling column. But before we had gone more than a few hundred metres, to my surprise, our ship took of and flew towards us. It paused in mid-air above our heads and started suc-king us up into itself, one by one. Or at least that’s what it looked like. “Wha…!” I said in sur-prise, and suddenly found myself being pulled verti-cally up into the air. I ran to my seat and gazed out through the big window.“That was quick,” I said to Benesens, with a glance at the other Sensins who all appeared completely unruffled. “We’re in a hurry. We must get to the asteroid belt before them, and then we will probably have to talk a little more seriously about this pursuit.” Our ship rose up into the air and accelerated rapidly, banking steeply towards the exit corridor and then heading at full speed in

v sproti izoblikovani raz-

potegnjeni koloni. Toda

po nekaj sto metrih nam

je, na moje presenečenje,

priletelo naproti naše

letalo, obstalo nad nami

ter nas, vsaj kot je bilo

videti, enega za drugim kar

posesavalo vase, tako da

sem potem tudi jaz lahko

spravil iz sebe samo malo

presenečeni ‘huh’, ko me

je povleklo navpično nav-

zgor. Hitro sem stekel do

svojega sedeža in se zazrl

skozi veliko sprednjo šipo.

»To je šlo pa hitro, kajne?«

sem ob pogledu na povsem

neprizadete bližnje Čutine

navrgel Dobročutu, ki mi

je z rahlo zategnjenimi

ustnicami dejal: »Mudi se.

Vsaj do asteroidnega pasu

moramo priti pred njimi,

potem pa se bo verjetno

treba malo bolj resno

pogovoriti o tem zasledo-

vanju.« Tedaj smo po dvigu

s silovitim pospeškom zle-

teli v ostrem loku proti

izhodnemu koridorju in

se pognali z vso močjo

164

the direction of the aste-roid belt I already knew so well.Through the window I could see two more of our ships in the foreground, and the hologram dis-play showed our imme-diate vicinity. There was no sign of any pursuing ships. Or was there? Yes, I could make out six Acutin ships within visible range, caught in the holo-display. I tried to estimate their speed and whether they would catch us up, but our speeds were too evenly matched for me to tell. I beckoned Benesens over to the holo-display: “Will they be able to catch us?”He shrugged his shoulders: “They are probably plan-ning something else. There are many possibilities.” Benesens considered for a moment. “At the galac-tic level, by which I mean all planets, both natural and artificial, a kind of trial of strength is taking place. At every step a new

motorjev v smer meni že

dobro znanega asteroi-

dnega pasu.

Skozi veliko okno sem med

tem spremljal v ospredju

še dve naši letali in v holo-

gramskem prikazovalniku

prikaz naše neposredne

bližine. Nikjer ni bilo

zasledovalnih letal. Ali

pač. Da, šest letal Ostrinov

sem lahko zaznal na vidni

razdalji, zajeti v holijevem

prikazu.

Skušal sem oceniti hitrost

in morebitno dohitevanje

zasledovalcev, pa zaradi

prevelike izenačenosti

nisem mogel presoditi.

Namignil sem Dobročutu,

naj pogleda v hologram:

»Ali nas lahko prehitijo?«

V odgovor je zmignil z

rameni: »Najbrž načrtujejo

nekaj drugega. Marsikaj

je možno.« Dobročut se

je zamislil. »Na globalni

ravni, po vseh planetih,

tako naravnih kot umetnih,

poteka nekakšno merjenje

moči. Na vsakem koraku

se vzpostavlja ravnovesje,

165

balance is established, with an increasing amount of brute force. Wherever there is any gathering of forces of whatever kind – military, energy produc-tion or intellectual – and for whatever reason, that is a sufficiently strong reason for the other side to do exactly the same. And this is what is causing this confusion now. Seen from this point of view, this Acutin pursuit is perfectly normal behaviour, or, to put it another way, it could be perfectly normal. The same thing happens eve-rywhere where no-man’s-land has, up until now, been used for free passage by both sides. This pursuit could actually have the same origin as all actions of this type, couldn’t it?” Benesens looked at me with a smile. I didn’t know what to say.“Or perhaps they have already worked out what’s going on. That is also a possibility.”

in to z vse več brutalne

sile. Kjer koli, ne glede na

razlog, je že samo zbiranje

kakršnih koli sil, vojaških,

energetskih ali intelektu-

alnih, dovolj močan razlog

za enako delovanje naspro-

tnih strani. In prav to je

zdaj tisto, kar vnaša zmedo.

Zasledovanje Ostrinov je v

tej luči povsem normalno

obnašanje ali, bolje rečeno,

lahko bi bilo povsem nor-

malno, kot je povsod, kjer

je nikogaršnji prostor,

doslej namenjen prostemu

prehodu obeh strani. To

zasledovanje bi prav lahko

izviralo iz enakega razloga

kot vsa tovrstna dogajanja,

kajne?« Dobročut se je z

nasmehom zazrl v vame,

ki si tako na hitro nikakor

nisem mogel vzpostaviti

nobenih bolj določenih

predstav.

»Lahko pa so v tem času že

tudi kaj razvozlali. Tudi to

je možno, kajne?« Dobro-

166

Benesens smiled as though admitting that despite all his cleverness this que-stion was too much for him, and went on: “But as you have seen, the asteroid belt is dotted with a great many asteroids, both ours and theirs. Quite a number of them are space stations, despite their convincingly asteroid-like exterior. That is where we shall see what importance these Acutins actually attribute to our group and to your pre-sence among us.”“And how will you know that?” I asked.“For now I can only guess. It will probably all depend on the extent and intensity of the intervention of their forces in the asteroid belt in order to halt our flight, or indeed to destroy us. And as you can probably imagine, the forces gathe-red here are considerable.”“Could our clashes with their forces along our route to the Earth merely be part of the ongoing

čut se je nasmehnil v pri-

znanju, da kljub vsej svoji

bistroumnosti ni kos temu

vprašanju ter nadaljeval:

»Toda kot ste videli, je aste-

roidni pas posejan tako

z našimi kot z njihovimi

asteroidi. In kar dobršen

del so to vesoljske postaje,

kljub vsej svoji prepri-

čljivo asteroidni zunanjo-

sti. Tam bomo šele videli,

kak pomen pravzaprav ti

Ostrini dajejo naši skupini

in vaši prisotnosti med

nami.«

»In po čem boste to spo-

znali?« sem vprašal.

»O tem lahko za sedaj

samo ugibam. Najbrž bo

vse odvisno od obsega in

intenzivnosti udeležbe nji-

hovih sil na asteroidnem

pasu z namenom zausta-

vitve našega leta, če že ne

našega uničenja. In kot

verjetno domnevate, je tu

zbranih kar precej sil.«

»Ali bi lahko bili tisti naši

spopadi z njihovimi silami

na poti od Zemlje zgolj

zaradi sprotnega dokazo-

167

mutual demonstrations of strength?”“Yes, of course. Because of the major redistributions of forces and the power-ful military concentration in this part of the galaxy, even in the case of minor skirmishes all the armed forces from the surroun-ding area are immediately involved.”“I see. After everything we managed to survive on the way here, I really don’t want to have go through anything like that on the way back, despite my con-fidence in your technical abilities and the accuracy of the computerised gui-dance systems. But from what you say…” I paused. Benesens raised his eye-brows. Then with a gesture of his head, a slow move-ment of his arm and finally two spread palms, he indi-cated his belief in the need to accept the facts as they were. He ran an appraising eye over me: “Perhaps after this new redistribu-

vanja ob stalnem medse-

bojnem merjenju moči?«

»Da, seveda, ker so zaradi

velikih prerazporeditev

in močnega osredotoče-

nja vojaških sil v tem delu

vesolja tudi ob manjših

spopadih takoj na kupu

vse oborožene sile iz oko-

lice.«

»Huh. Po vsem, kar nam

je uspelo preživeti, si

prav gotovo ne želim več

podobnega dirkanja nazaj

grede, in to kljub zaupanju

v vaše obvladovanje teh-

nike z natančnim računal-

niškim vodenjem. Po vaših

besedah pa nam sledi . . .«

Zastal sem v razmišljanju,

Dobročut pa je zmignil z

obrvmi, nato še z glavo, in

s počasnim gibom roke ter

z razprtimi dlanmi nakazal

svoje prepričanje o nujnem

sprejemanju nastalih dej-

stev, nato pa me je ocenju-

joče preletel s pogledom:

»Morda pa se je po tistem

168

tion of forces things will have calmed down again. That is very possible.”Yes, of course. But I was far from reassured by his reflections on the proba-ble risk of our flight past Acutin gun emplacements disguised as asteroids.

novem razporejanju sil vse

skupaj ponovno umirilo,

to je prav možno.«

Hja, seveda, le da jaz nisem

bil nič kaj ravnodušen ob

njegovem razmišljanju o

verjetnem tveganju našega

leta mimo strelnih gnezd z

asteroidno zunanjostjo.

169

Chapter VIII

When we reached the aste-roid belt the pursuing ships moved in closer and flew along in formation like an escort. Then they banked steeply to circle around the first asteroids – or what looked like asteroids from the outside. We did the same, so that after flying past the first enormous mass the ship turned on its longitudinal axis and the straight line of our course to the asteroid belt became an ever tighter spiral. Sud-denly the asteroid in front of the Acutins opened like an umbrella – an umbrella several kilometres across – and forced us into a sharp turn. Somehow we mana-ged to avoid it but then the next asteroids began ope-ning too. We were going to be trapped inside a kind of giant shell. At that moment

VIII. poglavje

Ob prihodu v asteroidni

pas so se nam zasledo-

valna letala približala na

vzporedno spremljanje,

takoj zatem pa so v ostrih

lokih zaokrožila okoli

prvih asteroidov, ki so to

bili videti po svoji zuna-

njosti. In tudi sami smo

storili enako, tako da se

nam je po letu mimo prve

masivne gmote letalo zavr-

telo okoli vzdolžne osi in

se nam je ravna črta leta do

asteroidnega pasu spreme-

nila v zbito vijačnico z vse

bolj vozlasto obliko, aste-

roid pa se je pred Ostrini

razprl kakor avtomatski

dežnik z več kilometrskim

premerom ter nas prisilil

v oster zavoj, ki nam ga je

še uspelo zvoziti. Zatem

pa so se začeli razpirati še

naslednji asteroidi, tako da

je že kazalo, da bomo zajeti

znotraj orjaške lupine, ko

170

we picked up a signal from an asteroid that had sud-denly appeared in front of us. A split second was enough for us to exchange coded light impulses: yes, it was one of ours, come to rescue us. The asteroid would carry us through the shell. We immediately changed course and turned in a short arc towards the entrance that had been indicated to us. The bar-riers were still lifting as we flew through them towards a runway several hundred metres long, with the arches of an enormous vault curving over it. I looked at Benesens: “How are we going to get out of this?”“The shell is probably too thin to resist an asteroid as big as this,” explained the Sensin as he watched the hologram display of our asteroid’s progress towards the shell-like covering of this cage that had suddenly formed to trap us.Automatically I gripped

smo dobili pozivni znak iz

nenadoma priletelega aste-

roida, s katerim smo si v

trenutku izmenjali šifrirne

svetlobne impulze. Da,

eden naših nam je priskočil

na pomoč. Prenesel nas bo

skozi lupine, nam je sporo-

čil. Takoj smo se usmerili

k njemu in v kratkem loku

zavili proti nakazanemu

vhodu ter nato skozi še

vedno dvigajoče se zapore

proti več sto metrov dolgi

pristajalni stezi, prek

katere so se napenjali loki

stometrskega svoda. Pogle-

dal sem Dobročuta: »Kako

pa se mislimo prebiti?«

»Najbrž je lupina pretanka

za tako velik asteroid,« je

pojasnil Čutin med opa-

zovanjem hologramskega

prikaza naleta našega aste-

roida iz notranje strani v

lupinasti ovoj naše nena-

doma nastale kletke.

Samodejno sem se oprijel

171

the handle on my seat. What would such a colli-sion mean? The asteroid might even explode. Did these Sensins really know what they were doing? “So we are going to crash into it?” I said.Benesens turned excite-dly from the big frontal window to the hologram display of the computer’s simulation of our current position: “They’re not going to let us through!”I continued to observe our approach to the shell in the holo-display. There was a bright gleam as the giant masses came into con-tact and the whole of the asteroid started shaking. Through the window we could see the quivering of the walls and the bending of the giant arches above the hangar into which we had retreated. After this violent buckling, howe-ver, the ceiling arches immediately straighte-ned themselves again. All eyes turned to the three-

držaja svojega sedeža. Kaj

pa lahko pomeni tako trče-

nje? Še asteroid se lahko

razleti. Ali Čutini res vedo,

kaj delajo? »Torej bomo

trčili,« sem dejal.

Tudi Dobročut je vznemir-

jeno pogledoval zdaj skozi

veliko čelno okno, zdaj

spet v hologramski prikaz

računalniške simulacije

trenutnega položaja. »Ne

bodo nas spustili skozi!« je

dejal.

V hologramskem prikazu

sem opazoval naše bliža-

nje lupini, vse dokler se

ni zalesketalo ob stičišču

orjaških mas in se je stre-

sel ves asteroid skozi vso

svojo notranjost, da smo

še skozi okno lahko videli

drhtenje sten in upogi-

banje orjaških lokov nad

pristajalnim hangarjem,

v katerega smo se uma-

knili. Toda po silovitem

upogibu so se stropni loki

ponovno zravnali. Takoj

so se vsi pogledi usmerili

v tridimenzionalni prikaz

172

dimensional display of the computer simulation. The asteroid was sinking deeper and deeper into the collapsing shell, crushing it and pushing the shat-tered fragments ahead of it. It looked as though we were going to make it, and the crew responded with mounting enthusiasm. We were through!“The asteroid will carry us part of the way. Remain in readiness!” The commander’s voice cut through the noisy shouts. Once again we all looked at the holo-display, which showed our asteroid’s path through the smaller barri-ers put up by the Acutins. These were probably capa-ble of stopping smaller vessels, but they were too small for asteroids as big as ours. It looked as though this was merely a routine operation by the Acutins, more to do with their con-stant measuring themsel-ves against the Sensins than with the importance

računalniške simulacije

položaja. Asteroid se je vse

bolj in bolj pogrezal v vda-

jajočo se lupino ter drobil

in potiskal predse odletele

kose. Vse je kazalo na uspe-

šen preboj, tudi posadka se

je začela vse bolj živahno

odzivati. Prebili smo se.

»Asteroid nas bo prenesel

še del poti. Ostanite v pri-

pravljenosti!« se je skozi

vse glasnejše vzklike zare-

zal kapitanov glas.

Spet smo se vsi ozrli v holo-

gram, kjer se nam je kazal

let našega asteroida skozi

manjše zaporne pregrade

Ostrinov, verjetno uspe-

šne pri ustavljanju manj-

ših plovil, za asteroide, kot

je bil naš, pa premajhne.

Vse je tudi kazalo na bolj

rutinsko delovanje Ostri-

nov, bolj v smislu stalnega

merjenja moči s Čutini kot

zaradi pomena naše misije.

173

of our mission. But when we found ourselves tra-pped for a second time by the automatic opening of those giant umbrellas, our fresh attempt to break through the shell revealed a very different situation. The shell simply would not break and we were unable to split it open. Like a parachute covering the head of a parachutist who has just landed, it hung over our asteroid and prevented it from moving. An alarm sounded. The danger was visible on the holo-display in the form of a multitude of tiny moving dots that we immediately identified as landing craft. Other, larger ships, with more powerful weaponry also appeared. The whole area around our asteroid was filled with teeming movement. It was an inva-sion.“Battle stations, eve-ryone!” ordered the com-mander. “We are caught in a flexible shell which for

Toda po ponovnem zajetju

s tistim njihovim sprožlji-

vim odpiranjem dežnikov

v zaporne lupine je pri

našem poskusu preboja

lupine nastal povsem spre-

menjen položaj. Lupina se

nikakor ni hotela zdrobiti

niti je nismo uspeli raz-

klati. Kot padalsko krilo,

poveznjeno na glavo prav-

kar pristalega padalca, je

obvisela na našem astero-

idu ter nam onemogočila

let. Opozoril nas je alarmni

pisk. Nevarnost se nam je

kazala skozi hologramski

prikaz v velikem številu

majhnih premikajočih

se pikic, iz katerih smo

takoj lahko razbrali plo-

vila za spust posameznih

skupinic. Pokazala pa so

se tudi večja, z močnejšo

oborožitvijo. Ves prostor,

vse okoli našega asteroida,

se je napolnil z njihovim

živim premikanjem. Prava

invazija.

»Vsi na bojne položaje!«

je rezko ukazal kapitan.

»Zajeti smo v prožno

174

the time being is obstruc-ting the view of our rapid intervention forces on the outside. We will have to rely on our own strength for a little while at least. The holo-display already shows the enemy landing on the surface of our aste-roid and the first clashes between the attackers and the robots of our asteroid’s garrison.”“Zoom in on the fighting!” the commander ordered the computer display. It showed us the surface of the asteroid and such a violent turmoil of fighting between the robots of both sides that I was seized with anxiety as I watched these implacable humanoid machines engage each other in single combat. Projectiles of every kind, from metal bullets to fla-shing energy bolts lit up the whole area like fire-works, and metal hands, feet, heads and body parts flew through the air. Yet although these explosions

lupino, ki sedaj zakriva vpo-

gled našim zunanjim silam

za hitro posredovanje. Vsaj

nekaj časa se bomo morali

boriti z lastnimi močmi. Iz

prikaza v holiju že lahko

razberemo spuščanje na

površino našega astero-

ida in prve spopade napa-

dalcev z roboti posadke

našega asteroida.«

»Približaj spopade!« je

kapitan ukazal računal-

niškemu prikazovalniku.

Pokazala se nam je povr-

šina asteroida s tako silo-

vito razvnetim bojnim

metežem med roboti obeh

strani, da so me zajeli

tesnobni občutki ob gle-

danju teh neizprosnih dvo-

bojev med stroji s člove-

ško zunanjostjo. Izstrelki

vseh vrst, od kovinskih do

bliskajočih energetskih so

razsvetljevali ves prostor

do pravega ognjemeta, le

da so tu letele po zraku še

kovinske roke, noge, glave

in deli trupa. Toda čeprav

so te eksplozije dovolj raz-

175

revealed the metal struc-ture of the robots, much of their bodies looked remar-kably similar to living, human flesh. They were probably made of some kind of plastic, or perhaps even from living muscle and skin grown in labora-tories. Everything was in movement, including my thoughts and emotions. My heart in my throat, I watched the attackers penetrate our first line of defence. It was not only the human exterior of these robots and their relen-tless mutual destruction; the presence of a power-ful intellect and a deci-sive mind was evident in the rapid transitions from chaos to order, on both sides. When the attacking groups of robots pierced the asteroid garrison’s defensive line, our robots immediately formed a new line. Once again the attackers broke through,

krivale kovinsko sestavo

robotov, je bil dobršen del

njihovega telesa videti pre-

sneto podoben živemu,

človeškemu. Najbrž so bili

iz neke plastike, morda

celo iz živih, v laborato-

rijih vzrejenih mišic in

kože. Vse je bilo v gibanju,

tudi moje misli, skupaj

z občutki, ki so se mi ob

nenadnem preboju napa-

dalcev skozi obrambne

črte povzpeli prav do grla.

Pa ne le človeška zuna-

njost teh robotov in neiz-

prosno medsebojno uni-

čevanje, ampak tudi priso-

tnost mogočnega razuma

s trdno odločenostjo je

bilo zaznati v hitrih pre-

hajanjih iz kaotičnega v

urejeno premikanje, tako

na eni kot na drugi strani.

In ko so napadalne diver-

zantske skupine robotov

prebile obrambno črto

posadke asteroida, so naši

roboti takoj vzpostavili

naslednjo obrambno črto.

In spet je sledil preboj

napadalcev, kar sem

176

something I perceived as the inexorable advance of the entire civilisation of the Acutins. At the sight of the asteroid’s garrison fal-ling back ever more rapi-dly, even my Benesens, who until now had been calmly observing the bat-tles of the robots and the individual advances of the enemy forces in individual sectors, began shifting in his seat with growing ner-vousness, staring now at the holo-display and now at me. Then something lifted our ship and twisted it round with such force that I was thrown into the air and then back into my seat. The Sensins standing by the holo-display were all knocked off their feet. An explosion had pier-ced the wall. Everything happened very quickly, and as I turned to look at the sprawling Sensins I noticed out of the corner of my eye a powerful flash of light from the frontal window and, immedia-

zaznal kot trdo napredo-

vanje celotne civilizacije

Ostrinov. Še moj Dobro-

čut, ki je dotlej z mirno

zavzetostjo opazoval

tako dvoboje robotov kot

posamezna napredovanja

nasprotnih sil na posame-

znih odsekih, se je ob tem

vse hitrejšem umikanju

posadke našega asteroida

začel čedalje bolj nelago-

dno presedati in ozirati

zdaj v hologramske pri-

kaze, zdaj v vame. Tedaj pa

je nenadoma tako silovito

dvignilo in zasukalo naše

letalo, da me je vrglo v

zrak ter takoj zatem nazaj

na sedež in spet skoraj

z njega, Čutine, stoječe

ob holijevem prikazoval-

niku, pa je kar pometlo po

tleh. Eksplozija je prebila

našo steno. Vse se je zgo-

dilo v hipu, in še preden

se mi je pogled ustavil na

kotalečih se Čutinih, sem

s kotički očesa zaznal iz

smeri velikega čelnega

okna močne svetlobne

bliske ter takoj zatem še

177

tely afterwards, a number of small craft firing at us. A moment later they were scattered by bolts from our cannon. Even before the last of the attacking trio had been shot down, a fresh group of vessels had begun its attack. These vessels were much larger, more numerous and of various kinds, as though designed for different pur-poses. Some fired their cannon at our ship and pierced its hull with their energy bolts. The others flew rapidly past and immediately reappeared behind us. Slowing down, they lowered groups of robots to the ground, and then returned to the attack with rockets powerful enough to pierce our hull. At last the Sensins mana-ged to shoot them down, one by one. Meanwhile the robots had already taken shelter behind the hangar’s giant pillars. They divided themselves into several groups and set off in vari-ous directions.

majhna plovila z odprtim

ognjem v nas, ki pa so se

že naslednji hip razletela

od zadetkov naših topov.

Še pred sestrelitvijo

zadnjega iz napadalne

trojice pa nas je že napa-

dla nova skupina plovil,

neprimerno večja, številč-

nejša, in tudi različna, za

posebne namene. Ena so

udarjala s svojimi topovi

po naši vesoljski ladji in ji

z izstrelki prebijala trup,

medtem ko so se druga

po hitrem letu mimo nas

takoj prikazala zadaj ter

med upočasnitvijo spu-

ščala na tla skupine robo-

tov, nakar so se takoj obr-

nila v napad z raketnimi

izstrelki, dovolj močnimi

za preboj ladijskega trupa.

Toda Čutinom jih je na

koncu le uspelo stolči dru-

gega za drugim. Vsa letala

so sproti stolkli. Spuščeni

roboti pa so si med tem že

poiskali zatočišča za orja-

škimi stebri ter se, razde-

ljeni v več skupin, poga-

njali v razne smeri.

178

I watched the erection of a barrier on the site of the shattered doors of our lan-ding bay. It was too late for that, though. Before it was finished, the Acutins attacked once again with astonishing speed, brea-king through as far as the barrier builders and attac-king them. Our exit was blocked. I looked at the commander, who had also been observing the group of robot engineers. He stood up. The same tho-ught must have occurred to him. He raised his hand and we all fell silent.“We can’t hold out here,” he said briefly. “We must retreat into the interior of the asteroid and we must do so without delay. One group of robots has alre-ady broken through to our exit door. Arm yourselves with high-powered wea-pons to hold the robots in the corridors!” He then walked over to a wall decorated with engra-vings of historical motifs

Zazrl sem se v postavljanje

zapore na mestu razbitih

vrat našega pristajališča,

kar pa bi morali storiti že

prej, ker so nas Ostrini

ponovno presenetili s

svojo hitrostjo in prebojem

do naših graditeljev zapore

ter z napadom nanje. Naš

izhod je bil blokiran. Vpra-

šujoče sem se ozrl v kapi-

tana, ki ga je ob zavzetem

motrenju te robotske sku-

pine inženircev verjetno

prav to spoznanje dvignilo

s sedeža. Dvignil je roko.

Vsi smo utihnili.

»Tu ne bomo zdržali,« je dal

kratko oceno. »Umakniti

se moramo v notranjost

asteroida. In to takoj, ker

se je ena skupina robotov

že prebila do naših zadnjih

izhodnih vrat. Vzemite

orožje z močnejšimi ener-

getskimi naboji za zadrže-

vanje robotov na hodni-

kih!«

Nato je stopil k steni z gra-

viranimi reliefnimi podo-

bami zgodovinskih moti-

179

that were probably terre-strial in origin: medieval knights in armour, Roman legions, heroes from Anci-ent Greek and Hebrew mythology, such as a youth holding a shepherd’s sling and, in the background, the figure of a giant. At least this was the associa-tion suggested to me by the relief, although in them-selves the lines and inci-sions were only enough to create a faint impression. They were not distinct enough to form a clear picture. On slightly closer observation, however, the motif became sufficiently recognisable.“Our escorting forces on the outside are on constant alert and ready to inter-vene, with weapons if need be. And now this situation has arisen. They will soon discover that we have been captured, but of course the Acutins are aware of this too. That is why they are in such a hurry. They made preparations for a

vov, najbrž zemeljskih, s

srednjeveškimi vitezi v

oklepih, z rimskimi legi-

jami, z junaki iz starogrške

in izraelske mitologije, npr.

mladenič v zamahu s sta-

rodavno pračo za metanje

kamnov in v ozadju neka

orjaška postava. Vsaj asoci-

acijo na ta motiv je vzbujal

relief, čeprav so vse črte

in vrezi zadostovali le za

rahel vtis, sicer pa niso bili

dovolj razločni za jasno

predstavo. Toda ob malo

natančnejšem opazovanju

je motiv le postal dovolj

razpoznaven.

»Naše zunanje sile nas

spremljajo v stalni pri-

pravljenosti na poseg,

tudi z orožjem, v primeru

potrebe. In zdaj je nastal

tak položaj. Kmalu bodo

odkrili naše zajetje, toda

tudi Ostrini se tega zave-

dajo. Zato sedaj tako hitijo.

Vse so pripravili za blisko-

180

lightning attack after clo-sing all the sections of the shell to form a giant egg-shaped cage with flexible walls. First our asteroid, then the ship, and now us, every one of us. Or at least him…” The commander looked at me and I felt the eyes of the whole crew on me. He went on: “And so when we leave the ship we are going to take particular care of him. The groups of robots around him will be reinforced. In view of the Acutins’ recent behaviour, it is impossible to predict whether they intend to take him alive, because they suspect that his pre-sence is necessary at the entrance to the energy fields, or whether they have also been ordered to destroy him if they fail to seize him.”There was a moment’s silence. They were all still looking at me as I shook my head and swallowed nervously. This was a far

vit napad po sklenitvi vseh

delov lupine v orjaško jaj-

často kletko s prožno raz-

tegljivimi stenami. Najprej

na naš asteroid, potem

na ladjo in zdaj že narav-

nost na nas, na vsakega

posameznika. Ali pa vsaj

nanj…« Kapitan se je ozrl

vame, pogledi vse posadke

so obviseli na meni, ter

nadaljeval: »Zato bomo ob

izpadu iz letala še posebej

pazili nanj. Tudi robotske

skupine okoli njega bodo

okrepljene. Iz vsega obna-

šanja Ostrinov v zadnjem

času pa ne moremo pred-

videti, ali ga nameravajo

zajeti živega zaradi suma

o njegovi nujni prisotno-

sti na vhodu v energetska

polja ali pa imajo že tudi

povelje za njegovo uniče-

nje v primeru neuspele

ugrabitve.«

Nastal je trenutek tišine. Še

vedno so vsi zrli vame in v

moje komaj vidno odki-

mavanje z občasnim poži-

ranjem povečane sline v

181

cry from the safe jour-ney I had been promised, although I had had my reservations about that from the beginning. As far as I could make out, the best thing to do from the Acutins’ point of view would be to eliminate me. This thought paralysed me even more than the commander’s words had done.“Some of their robots have probably managed to break through in our rear, perhaps even as far as the corridors along which we are planning to retreat. But there is no doubt that we have superior numbers of combat robots. Are there any questions?” The commander looked at the crew in front of him, and then back at me. I con-tinued to listen in silence. Then he ordered us to arm ourselves and to prepare for our sortie. A crowd immediately formed by the wall where the wea-pons were stored, and then

grlu. To je bilo sedaj nekaj

povsem drugega od zago-

tovljene mirne poti, čeprav

sem si pri svoji oceni var-

nosti že na začetku vzel

dokaj pridržka. Po tem, kar

sem iz vsega skupaj lahko

dojel, bi bila za Ostrine še

najbolj smotrna moja izlo-

čitev iz dogajanja. Ob tem

pomisleku pa mi je zastal

pretok misli še močneje

kot ob kapitanovih bese-

dah.

»Nekaterim njihovim

robotom je verjetno uspel

preboj v naše ozadje, prav

možno, da celo do hodni-

kov, po katerih se name-

ravamo umakniti v notra-

njost. Toda število naših

bojnih robotov za spopad z

njimi je prav gotovo večje.

Še kakšno vprašanje?«

Kapitan je s pogledom pre-

letel posadko pred sabo, še

enkrat pogledal vame, ki

sem ga ves čas molče poslu-

šal, ter nam nato ukazal,

naj se oborožimo in pri-

pravimo za izpad. Takoj je

nastal pravi vrvež ob steni

za dvig orožja, zatem pa še

182

again at the exit. At the back of the ship a column was forming, consisting of ranks of three robots and two more along each side for protection. The two ends of the column were reinforced by additional robots. A red light star-ted flashing and the upper section of the wall opened outwards and lowered itself to the ground to form a ramp. We ran down it, first the robots and then the rest of us, and hurried in the direction of the corri-dor leading to the interior, scanning the surrounding walls as we ran.The Acutins’ robots had to be somewhere nearby. Every movement of the Sensins showed that they were expecting an attack. I could sense it too, as I gri-pped my laser rifle, ready to open fire immediately. We were all on the loo-kout. After such a compre-hensively planned attack, they were not going to let us simply escape into the

pred izhodom, v ozadju

ladje pa se je izoblikovala

kolona s po tremi roboti

v vrsti in s po dvema za

zaščito na vsaki strani. Na

začelju in na koncu kolone

smo postavili še dodatno

okrepitev z roboti. Tedaj je

začela utripati rdeča lučka

v ospredju in stena pred

njimi se je odprla na zgor-

njem delu ter se po spustu

do tal razprla v izhodni

most. Stekli smo čezenj,

najprej roboti, za njimi pa

še ostali, ter se v teku in

med stalnim oziranjem po

okoliških stenah usmerili

v hodnik proti notranjim

prostorom.

Toda roboti Ostrinov so

morali biti nekje v bližini.

Vsak gib Čutinov je kazal

na pričakovanje napada. In

tudi sam sem čutil povsem

enako med stiskanjem

laserske puške v stalni pri-

pravljenosti na takojšnji

strel. Vsi smo prežali. Po

tako obsežno zastavlje-

nem napadu nam že ne bi

pustili prostega pobega v

183

interior of the asteroid. No way. My brain struggled to make sense of the situ-ation, but the only thing that was certain was that the next stage was going to be hellishly difficult.Our corridor was a little over ten metres wide and about the same in height, with numerous exits on two upper levels as well as on the ground level. After less than a hundred metres it suddenly widened out and we found ourselves in an enormous hall with several exits, some of them with round arches twenty metres across and twenty metres high in the centre. The largest of them, of almost double the diame-ter, was at the opposite end of the hall to where we stood. “There!” shouted our commander. He ordered the robots to set up a pro-tective cordon to the exit tunnel and they imme-diately dashed forwards. But before the cordon had

notranjost asteroida. Tega

že ne. Nikakor. Druga za

drugo so se mi misli vrtele

okoli te ugotovitve in le

ena, namreč da bo preboj

hudirjeva zadeva, je vodila

k nadaljevanju.

Po slabih sto metrih se

je naš, nekaj nad deset

metrov širok in prav toliko

visok hodnik s številnimi

izhodi v obeh zgornjih

nadstropjih in pritličju

nenadoma razširil v stome-

trski prostor z več izhodi,

nekaterimi tudi večjimi,

z dvajsetmetrskimi kro-

žnimi loki in s skoraj enako

sredinsko višino. Prav na

našem nasprotnem koncu

je bil največji, s skoraj pod-

vojenim premerom.

»Tja!« se je glasil poziv

našega poveljnika, po

katerem je sledilo še pove-

lje robotom, naj vzposta-

vijo zaščitni kordon do

izhodnega tunela, in tja

so se takoj zagnali. Toda

tik pred končno vzposta-

184

reached the exit towards which we were now moving, at least a hun-dred robots poured from the neighbouring door-ways, firing at our robots and rushing at them in a concerted effort to shatter their ranks.“Run!” shouted the com-mander. The attempt to break through had begun. The only question now was the actual balance of forces. Robots from the rear ran to help the unit that was under attack, hitting the enemy in the flank at the last moment. A slightly stronger coun-terattack would suffice to repel the attack, and we still had a reserve group of robots in readiness. But before they could engage the enemy the Acutins’ forces also received rein-forcements. The waves of reinforcements, first from one side, then from the other, merged into each other. Then the Acu-tins’ robots struck out

vitvijo kordona do našega

izhodnega oboka, proti

kateremu smo se pomikali,

je iz sosednjih vhodov zle-

telo vsaj sto robotov ter se

med sprotnim streljanjem

v naše robote pognalo z

vsemi silami v razbijanje

njihovih vrst.

»Teci!« je zavpil poveljnik.

Pričakovani preboj se je

začel in vprašanje je bilo

le še dejansko razmerje

sil. Naši roboti iz ozadja

so tekli na pomoč napa-

deni enoti v ospredju in

še zadnji hip udarili napa-

dalcem v bok. Samo malo

močnejši protinapad bi

zadostoval za zavrnitev

napada, pripravljeno pa

smo imeli še rezervno sku-

pino robotov. Toda prav

pred njihovo vključitvijo v

spopad so dobili okrepitve

tudi napadalci Ostrinov.

Kar druga v drugo so se

pogrezale vse okrepitve,

zdaj z ene, zdaj z druge

strani. Tedaj so roboti

Ostrinov udarili še po sre-

185

across the centre of the giant hall, straight for our column and the protective escort on our flanks. Our robots immediately enga-ged them, in four close ranks, side by side, their laser rifles aimed at the attackers. The first rank was shattered immedi-ately. It was almost the same with the second: the attackers passed through it with barely a pause. The third rank at least slowed down the attackers, and managed to stop them some of them, while the fourth offered stronger resistance. I had to strain every muscle to keep up with the fleeing column of Sensins. Just a few metres away I saw one of the Acu-tins’ robots break through our defences and pounce on the nearest Sensin. One of our robots immedia-tely rushed at it with such force that the next moment they were both rolling on the ground, each beating its metal hands against the

dini te orjaške hale, in to

naravnost v našo kolono,

v naše zaščitno spremstvo

ob straneh, v naše robote,

ki so se v štirih strnjenih

vrstah, drug ob drugem, z

laserskimi puškami usmer-

jenimi proti napadalcem,

takoj spopadli z njimi. Toda

njihova prva vrsta je bila

takoj prebita. Skoraj enako

tudi druga, napadalci so

šli skoznjo brez izgublja-

nja časa. Tretja vrsta pa je

napadalce vsaj upočasnila,

in delno tudi ustavljala.

Četrta se je še upirala. S

skrajnim naporom svojih

mišic sem vzdrževal hitrost

bežeče kolone Čutinov. In

le nekaj metrov stran sem

lahko videl, kako se je eden

od ostrinovskih robotov

prebil skozi našo zaščito

ter se že zagnal proti naj-

bližjemu Čutinu, ko se mu

je naš robot zaletel v bok s

tako silo, da sta se v nasle-

dnjem trenutku skupaj

zavalila po tleh med udar-

janjem kovinskih rok ob

prav tako kovinski oklep

186

metal armour of its oppo-nent. Another Sensin ran up and fired an energy bolt that blew off the attacking robot’s head, thus freeing our robot, which immedi-ately dived back into the fray. I looked once again in the direction of our exit, at the protective cordon and the clashing robots. Their metal bodies cra-shed together. The robots raised themselves up in the air and threw them-selves at their opponents. A little further away two robots were wrestling on the ground. Just beyond them I saw a small group of robots break through the ranks of our defen-ders as far as the Sensins, who immediately opened fire with their laser rifles. One robot was destro-yed instantly, a second was damaged, but a third managed to grab one of the Sensins around the waist and lift him up high, onto his shoulders. With a great leap, he jumped

nasprotnika. Priskočil je še

eden od Čutinov in s stre-

lom energetskega naboja

odbil napadajočemu

robotu glavo ter tako spro-

stil našega robota, da se je

lahko pognal takoj nazaj

v boj. Ponovno sem se

ozrl naprej v smeri našega

izhoda, v zaščitni kordon

in žvenketajoče spopade

robotov. Železna telesa

so udarjala drugo ob dru-

gega, roboti so se dvigali

v zrak in metali v naspro-

tnike, malo stran sta se po

dva ruvala na tleh, nekaj

naprej se mi je spet kazal

preboj manjše skupine

robotov skozi vrste naših

branilcev in vse do Čuti-

nov, ki so takoj udarili po

njih s svojimi laserskimi

puškami. Enega robota so

takoj uničili, še drugega

poškodovali, tretjemu pa

je uspelo ujeti enega od

Čutinov okrog pasu, ga

dvigniti, visoko, že kar

na ramena, ter se s svojo

žrtvijo v orjaškem skoku

187

over the duelling robots and disappeared with his victim into the rear of his own side. “They are taking priso-ners!” cried Benesens. “Why?” I asked. Benesens merely shook his head uncertainly. “Why indeed? Perhaps they want to find out more about our mission.”“Ah. So that means that we might survive?”“It is going to take them some time to destroy our robots.”Once again I was nagged by unpleasant doubts. The Sensins could not simply surrender me to the Acu-tins. And they would not. Even they would rather see me dead than alive in the hands of the Acutins. An awkward situation. But what other option did they have? This could get dangerous. In the end I wouldn’t know who to be afraid of. My attention was attrac-ted by a confused jostling

pognati nazaj prek boju-

jočih se dvojic v zaledje

lastne strani.

»Ugrabljajo!« je vzkliknil

Dobročut.

»Zakaj pa?« mi je ušlo.

Toda Dobročut je v odgo-

vor le neodločno odkimal.

»Hja, zakaj. Morda želijo

zvedeti kaj več o naši

misiji.«

»Aja. To bi pomenilo, da

bomo morda preživeli?«

»Toda preden jim bo uspelo

uničiti naše robote, bo še

minilo nekaj časa.«

Spet so me obšli tisti nič

kaj prijetni pomisleki.

Čutini me ne morejo pre-

pustiti Ostrinom kar tako.

In me tudi ne bodo. Še oni

bi me verjetno raje videli

mrtvega kot živega v rokah

Ostrinov. Presneto zagu-

ljeno. Vprašanje je, ali jim

sploh ostaja kaj drugega

kot taka opredelitev do

mojega obstoja. To bi šele

bilo nevarno. Na koncu

sploh ne bom vedel koga

naj se bojim.

Pogled mi je pritegnila

gneča, nejasno preriva-

188

in the foreground. Just in front of the archway of our exit, the situation had dege-nerated into confusion and chaos. Our whole column had come to a halt. Then we heard shouts warning us that the Acutins’ robots had broken the column right next to the corridor that was our intended line of retreat.“Robot guard detachments from the rear to the front, now!” ordered our com-mander.Benesens and I looked at each other. Did that mean that the rear of our column would remain unprotec-ted? The situation must have been desperate if this was the only possibility left to us.“The rear of the column will defend itself!” came the next order.I looked at Benesens. “Are we going to fight the robots ourselves?” I asked.“Yes. I had not counted on such an escalation,” he replied gravely. “Or

nje v ospredju. Tik pred

obokom našega izhoda

se je vse skupaj sprevr-

glo v nepregleden vrvež.

Vsa kolona se nam je usta-

vljala. Potem smo zaslišali

vzklike, da so nam roboti

Ostrinov prebili kolono

tik ob hodniku, skozi kate-

rega smo se nameravali

umakniti.

»Zaščitni oddelki robotov

iz zaledja takoj na čelno

stran!« je poveljeval naš

kapitan.

Z Dobročutom sva se spo-

gledala. Bo zadnji del naše

kolone ostal nezaščiten?

Nam pa mora res slabo

kazati, če nam ne ostane

nič drugega.

»V ozadju kolone poskrbita

za lastno zaščito!« se je gla-

silo naslednje povelje.

Pogledal sem Dobročuta.

»Ali se bomo sami spopa-

dali z roboti?« sem vprašal.

»Da. Nisem računal na tako

hitro zaostritev,« je odvrnil

z resno zategnjenimi ustni-

cami. »Pa še tako ostro.«

189

such ferocity.” He leaned towards me: “Although it is my opinion that they do not intend to kill you, it would nevertheless be better for you to move towards the middle. Leave the fighting to us. In this unit we have been well trained for it.” “Our battleships have penetrated the walls of the cage.” The message spread like a wave from the rear. “Help is coming. Landing craft are already heading for our asteroid. Hold on!” This boost to our morale had not yet subsided when we were struck by an even more powerful wave of hostile robots, both from the front and on both flanks at the same time. The ranks of our robots, inclu-ding the last ones from the defensive cordon, disappe-ared under the advancing Acutin robots. Now the first Sensins threw them-selves into the counterat-tack, joining battle with the hostile robots without

Nato se je nagnil k meni:

»Čeprav vas po mojem

mnenju ne nameravajo

ubiti, bo vseeno bolje, da

se pomaknete proti sre-

dini. Boj prepustite nam.

V naši enoti smo dobro

usposobljeni zanj.«

»Naše bojne ladje so že

prebile stene naše lupi-

naste kletke,« nas je kot

val prešlo sporočilo iz

začelja. »Pomoč prihaja.

Pristajalna letala so že

usmerjena na naš asteroid.

Vzdržite!« Toda živahni

vzpon upanja se še ni niti

polegel, ko je udaril v nas

še močnejši val sovražnih

robotov, in to tako spredaj

kot tudi v bok naše kolone,

z vseh strani hkrati. Vrste

naših robotov, tudi zadnje

iz zaščitnega kordona, so

izginjale pod napredu-

jočimi roboti Ostrinov.

V protinapad so se vrgli

tudi prvi Čutini. Zdaj so

še sami sprejeli boj od

blizu s sovražnimi roboti

190

the protective barrier of our own robots. They were incredibly brave, and surprisingly success-ful. Their laser rifles were fitted with special barrels for firing energy bolts, and these bolts were power-ful enough to blow off the robots’ heads, arms and legs and shatter their bodies. More and more of the Acutins’ robots were rapidly converted into scrap metal. But this didn’t seem to make any diffe-rence to their numbers. If anything, the opposite was true: they kept on coming and they were pushing us into a circle that was gro-wing tighter by the minute. I looked at the robots and then back at the Sensin defenders. They were inc-redibly courageous and also extremely skilful. Suddenly I realised some-thing – something that the various explosions and flying fragments of shat-tered robots had prevented me from noticing before:

brez zaščitne pregrade

naših robotov. Neverjetno

pogumno, in tudi uspe-

šno. S svojimi laserskimi

puškami s posebno cevjo

za energetske naboje so

jih lahko uničevali. Dovolj

močni so bili ti njihovi

energetski naboji, da so

odbijali robotom glave,

roke, noge in jim razstre-

ljevali trupe. Vedno več nji-

hovih robotov je bilo kar

na hitro spremenjenih v

kose železja. Toda videti je

bilo, kot da se to njihovem

številu nikakor ne pozna.

Celo prav nasprotno, bilo

jih je zmeraj več, in tudi

stiskali so nas v vse bolj

zategnjen obroč. Gledal

sem zdaj vanje, zdaj spet

v pogumno izpostavljanje

Čutinov pri teh spopa-

dih. Izredno drzni in tudi

izjemno spretni so bili

ti Čutini. Toda tedaj sem

zastal ob nenadnem spo-

znanju, ki se mi je zaradi

številnih eksplozij in lete-

čih delov razbitih robotov

izmaknilo prvotni zaznavi.

191

it was true that the robots were pushing us into an ever tighter circle, but they were not killing the Sen-sins. They were simply moving forwards, dodging the Sensins’ energy bolts and – this was the sur-prising thing – capturing individual Sensins in their steel embrace. They could have crushed them but they didn’t. Our power-lessness was becoming clearer and clearer: at any moment they could shat-ter our resistance. Some individual Sensins reali-sed this and began to fall back, while their comra-des kept up their frenzied firing. But the robots were seizing more and more of them. Suddenly we heard a pier-cing whistle. The robots stopped. A transparent craft came to a halt some metres away. It was a kind of saucer with a transpa-rent dome, and there appe-ared to be Acutins in it. We all looked at them.

Res, da so nas roboti poti-

skali v vse ožji krog, toda

Čutinov niso ubijali. Samo

pomikali so se naprej in se

izmikali strelom ter, to me

je presenečalo, s svojimi

jeklenimi rokami posame-

zne Čutine samo zajemali v

jeklen objem. Lahko bi jih

zdrobili, a jih niso. Bolj in

bolj pa je postajala očitna

nemoč našega odpora, ki

bi ga lahko vsak hip zlomili.

Tudi posamezni Čutini so

to sprevideli in se začeli

umikati, medtem ko so nji-

hovi tovariši še vedno prav

besno streljali. Vendar so

jih roboti vseeno uspevali

vse pogosteje zajeti v svoje

objeme, in to že kar mno-

žično.

Tedaj nam je prešel skozi

ušesa prediren pisk. Roboti

so se ustavili. Nekaj deset

metrov stran je obstalo

prozorno plovilo, neka-

kšna plošča s presojno

kupolo, in kazalo je, da so

v njem Ostrini. Vsi smo se

zazrli vanje.

192

An amplified voice began speaking: “Sensins, figh-ting with such fury against robots is irrational at our level of civilisation. We do not wish to kill you, or we would have already done so. That is not our inten-tion. We only wish to talk to you.”“The war between us has not yet begun, nor has it been declared. What you are doing goes against all the agreements between us,” said our commander, stepping to the front. “You have no right to attack us and you have no chance of concealing this attack. Our forces are already on their way to this asteroid. Outside, our battleships are in complete readiness. There is no way for you to get out of this situation, whatever you do. The best thing would be to let us go while there is still time.”

“That is not a problem. It is true that these clashes between robots have pro-

»Gospodje Čutini,« smo

zaslišali zvočno okrepljen

glas. »S toliko besa se boriti

z roboti je vendar nerazu-

mno za našo civilizacij-

sko raven. Saj vas vendar

ne želimo pobiti, sicer bi

vas že. To ni naš namen.

Le pogovoriti se želimo z

vami.«

»Vojna med nami se še ni

začela, ni bila napovedana.

To, kar počnete, je proti

vsem dogovorom med

nami,« se je oglasil naš

kapitan med stopanjem

v ospredje. »Nobene pra-

vice nas nimate napadati

in tudi nobene možnosti

prikrivanja tega napada.

Naše sile že prihajajo na ta

asteroid, zunaj pa so naše

bojne ladje v popolni pri-

pravljenosti. V nobenem

primeru se ne boste izvle-

kli, ne glede, kaj naredite.

Raje nam pustite prost

izhod, dokler je še čas.«

»To ni problem. Res, da je

nastalo kar nekaj odpadne

kovine po vseh teh spo-

193

duced quite a quantity of scrap metal, but you are as used to this as we are,” the Acutin on the flying saucer continued calmly. “And you are also used to discussions with us, are you not?” This was said in a sligh-tly cynical tone, and our commander bristled visi-bly. “What do you want?” he asked, with the measu-red voice of an equal even though, as far as I could judge, he was already a prisoner, just like all the other Sensins and me.“We shall interview each one of you separately.”“I will not permit any que-stioning of individuals.”“As far as permission is concerned, our robots have already reached agre-ement. That is sufficiently clear, is it not?”“With force, then. I will not allow it! That will be war!”“Arrogance is of little use to you here. It is true that we prevented the robots

padih robotov, toda tega

ste vajeni tako kot mi,« je

mirno nadaljeval Ostrin

na leteči polkrogli. »Pa

tudi pogovora z nami ste

vajeni, kajne?«

To pa je bilo izrečeno že

z rahlo ciničnim prizvo-

kom, ob katerem se je naš

kapitan vidno vznemiril.

»Kaj želite?« je vprašal z

odločnim glasom enako-

pravnega sogovornika,

čeprav je bil, vsaj po moji

presoji, že ujetnik, tako kot

vsi ostali Čutini z mano v

red.

»Z vsakim posameznikom

se bomo posebej pogovo-

rili, z vsakim od vas.«

»Nobenega izpraševanja

posameznikov ne dovo-

lim.«

»Glede dovoljenja so se že

naši roboti dogovorili. In

to dovolj nazorno, kajne?«

»S silo torej. Tega vam ne

dovolim! To bo vojna!«

»Nadutost vam tu bolj

malo zaleže. Robotom smo

resda prepovedali stre-

194

from firing at you, but not because of fear. It simply was not necessary. How they would act in the face of stronger resistance, however, we can only guess.” The Acutin gave a cynical laugh: “Or rather, you can only guess.” “You may be able to kill us,” replied the comman-der sternly, “but you will not get away with it. You may have surrounded our crew, but our ships have surrounded this asteroid, and that includes you. You cannot evade them. You cannot escape. If you kill us, you too will soon become victims.”“So be it. We shall take your warning into consi-deration.” The Acutin’s tone was still cynical, but now there was also a mixture of inso-lence and satisfaction in his voice as he gave orders to the robots. “Be as gentle as possible as you take away these Sensins…or whatever I

ljati na vas, toda ne zaradi

bojazni. To preprosto ni

bilo potrebno. Kako bi

ravnali v primeru moč-

nejšega odpora, pa lahko

le ugibamo.« Ostrin se je

spet cinično zasmejal: »Ali,

bolje rečeno, ugibate.«

»Pobijete nas res lahko,«

je trdo odvrnil kapitan,

»toda možnosti nekazno-

vanega odhoda nimate.

Enako kot ste vi obkolili

našo posadko, so naše

ladje obkolile ta aste-

roid, in s tem tudi vas.

Ne morete se jim izma-

kniti. In tudi skoznje se

ne morete izmuzniti. Če

nas pobijete, boste tudi vi

kmalu postali žrtve.«

»Prav, vaše opozorilo

bomo upoštevali.« Ostri-

nov prizvok v glasu je še

naprej ostal ciničen, le da

je bilo v njem zaznati še

neko mešanico nesramno-

sti in zadovoljstva med

ukazovanjem robotom.

»Čim bolj nežno odne-

site te gospode Čutine.

. . ali kako naj že temu

195

should call them.” The Acutin gave a low chuckle that seemed to contain a great deal of malevolence. “As gently as possible,” he went on, “and no more, isn’t that right, Sensins? As much in fact as we can afford. Naturally you will not be able to refuse to talk to us. That is proba-bly already clear. At least I hope so.”The Sensins glanced quic-kly at each other. “They want him,” said the commander, indica-ting me. “They are going to question him.” Then he moved over to Benesens. “Explain to him,” he said, “that he must delay them for as long as possible. It is true that the Acutins’ speed has taken us by sur-prise, but we are capable of something similar our-selves.” Benesens continued to stare at the floating tran-sparent disc with a glassy look in his eyes, and then turned to me: “You must

rečem,« se je Ostrin pridu-

šeno zasmejal, po mojem

mnenju s kar precej zlobe.

»Nežno, kolikor je možno,«

je nadaljeval, »nič več,

kajne, gospodje Čutini?

Kolikor si pač lahko privo-

ščimo. Pogovora nam pa

seveda ne morete odreči,

to je najbrž že jasno. Vsaj

upam.«

Čutini so se hitro spogle-

dali. »Njega hočejo,« je dejal

kapitan in namignil name.

»Izprašali ga bodo.« Nato

se je pomaknil do Dobro-

čuta. »Razloži mu,« je dejal,

»naj čim bolj zavlačuje.

Res, da so nas Ostrini pre-

senetili s svojo hitrostjo,

toda tudi mi smo zmožni

česa takega.«

Dobročut je zastal s srepo

uprtim pogledom v tisto

lebdečo prozorno kroglo

ter se po krajšem opa-

zovanju ponovno obrnil

196

not let them take you in. Do not believe them. They will try and get as much information out of you as they can. Tell them eve-rything except about the seventy-fourth door and our abortive attempt to get through it. Putting off tel-ling you about our civilisa-tion was a great error. But bear in mind one thing…” Before he could finish, the steel hand of an Acutin robot seized his forearm, pushed him easily for-wards as though he wei-ghed nothing, and then led or rather dragged him away. Other robots did the same with the other Sen-sins, and then it was my turn. Except that after a few steps the robot pushed me out of the column and towards the floating disc, which in the mean-time had descended to the ground, just over twenty metres away. I tried in vain to wrest myself from its steel grip. Twisting round, I could see three Acutins

k meni: »Ne smete jim

nasesti. Ne verjemite jim.

Ko bodo želeli čim več

izvleči iz vas, jim povejte

vse, razen o zadnjih 74.

vratih in o ponesrečenem

poskusu prehoda skoznje.

Veliko napako smo nare-

dili s prelaganjem pred-

stavitve naše civilizacije.

Toda zapomnite si eno. . .«

Tedaj ga je sredi besede

prijel za laket ostrinovski

robot s svojo jekleno roko

ter ga z lahkoto, kot da nima

opravka z nobeno težo ali

močjo, porinil predse in

ga odpeljal, bolje rečeno

odvlekel, kot so okoliški

roboti počeli z ostalimi

Čutini in takoj zatem še z

mano. Le da je robot mene

po nekaj korakih potisnil

stran iz kolone in proti tisti

lebdeči polkrogli, ki se je

medtem že spustila na tla,

le dobrih dvajset metrov

stran. Poskusil sem se še

izviti iz jeklenega objema,

a zaman. Sem pa med

svojim obračanjem lahko

videl, kako so iz prozorne

kupole stopili trije Ostrini

197

stepping out of the transpa-rent dome. They walked forward a few paces and stopped. The robot placed me on the floor in front of them and, at an order from the Acutin in the middle, released me from its grip. “Welcome!” said the Acutin, smiling. “Do not be afraid of us. We are not your enemies. Certainly not in the way that these Sensins have told you.”I returned his greeting with a slight nod of the head and then raised my eyes. I looked at the middle Acutin, then at his two neighbours, then back at him.“You are an Earthman?”“Yes.”The Acutin smiled. “Are you fighting on the side of the Sensins?”I remained silent. I couldn’t think of a suitable answer. The Acutin seemed quite friendly. There was nothing harsh in his voice

ter se po nekaj korakih

ponovno ustavili. In prav

prednje me je na tla posta-

vil robot ter me na ukaz

srednjega Ostrina spustil

iz svojega jeklenega pri-

jema, v katerega sem bil

vklenjen.

»Pozdravljeni!« me je sme-

hljaje se nagovoril srednji

Ostrin, »nikar se nas ne

bojte. Mi vam nismo sovra-

žni. Prav gotovo pa ne tako

kot so vam natvezli tile

gospodje Čutini.«

Z rahlim naklonom glave

sem vrnil pozdrav ter nato

privzdignil pogled, najprej

k sredinskemu Ostrinu,

potem pa še k njegovima

sosedoma in ponovno

nazaj k sredinskemu.

»Vi ste Zemljan?«

»Da.«

Ostrin se je nasmehnil.

»Na strani Čutinov se boju-

jete?«

Ostal sem tiho. Nisem se

mogel domisliti smisel-

nega odgovora. Ostrin je

bil videti precej prijazen,

brez ostrine v svojem

glasu in tudi brez pri-

198

and there was none of the arrogance I had expec-ted. No aggressiveness. Even the condescension I had noticed during those receptions seemed to be absent. Actually I was sli-ghtly surprised by their friendliness. Or whatever it was that this unexpec-tedly friendly reception demonstrated.I smiled back at him.“But are you sure that you are not mistaken in this?” The Acutin smiled patronisingly. Despite the ambiguity of the situa-tion, or perhaps because of it, I continued to smile and shrugged my shoul-ders as if to ask what else I could do in my situation. Just as I was on the point of asking him if there was anything strange or unexpected about this, we were distracted by sudden cries and a commotion in the column opposite us. One of the Sensins

čakovane nadutosti v

nastopu. Nobene napa-

dalnosti. Celo vzvišeno-

sti, ki sem jo lahko zaznal

med tistimi sprejemi, ni

bilo na njem. Pravzaprav

so me kar malo presene-

tili s to svojo prijaznostjo.

Ali kar koli je že to bilo,

kar se mi je kazalo pri

tem nepričakovano prija-

znem sprejemu.

Vrnil sem mu nasmeh.

»Pa ste prepričani, da glede

tega niste v zmoti?« Ostrin

se je nasmehnil s pokrovi-

teljskim nasmehom, jaz pa

sem kljub nastali nejasno-

sti oziroma prav zaradi nje

še naprej ohranjal rahel

nasmeh, zmignil z glavo in

nato še z rameni, kot češ,

kaj drugega pa naj bi bilo

na mojem mestu sploh

smiselno. In ko sem ga že

nameraval vprašati, kaj bi

lahko bilo na tem nenava-

dnega, nepričakovanega

ali kaj takega, so nas zmo-

tili nenadni klici in takoj

nato še neko premetavanje

v koloni nasproti nas, iz

199

had managed to extricate himself from the arms of his captor. Dodging the outstretched arm of the next robot he ran straight towards us, coming to a stop between the three Acutins and me. “Let him go!” he said loudly and, it seemed to me, with a somewhat exa-ggerated self-assurance that would achieve him nothing under the circum-stances. Everything was in the hands of the Acutins.The Acutins looked at each other and smiled conde-scendingly. “But we mean him no harm. Not only that,” – the middle Acutin stepped towards him – “but this should already have become clear, even to you.”“You have no right to interfere in our connec-tions with the Earthmen, nor in our discussions with them. This has always been the way. You are about to violate one of the fundamental tenets of the

katere se je uspelo iztrgati

enemu od Čutinov; stekel

je, se izmaknil stegnjeni

roki naslednjega robota

ter se pognal naravnost k

nam, dokler se ni ustavil

med tistimi tremi Ostrini

in mano. »Pustite ga!« je

dejal s privzdignjenim

glasom ter, po moji bežni

zaznavi, z nekam pretirano

samozavestjo, s katero v

tistih okoliščinah ni mogel

ničesar doseči. Saj je bilo

vse v rokah Ostrinov.

Ostrini so se spogledali

med vzvišenim posmiha-

njem. »Saj mu nič nočemo.

Poleg tega,« srednji Ostrin

je pristopil k njemu, »pa

je to vendar že tudi vam

moralo postati jasno.«

»Ne v naše naveze z

Zemljani ne v naše pogo-

vore z njimi se nimate pra-

vice vtikati. Doslej je vedno

bilo tako. Eno temeljnih

določil spoštovanja med-

sebojnih izvirnih poseb-

nosti, tako vaših kot naših,

200

mutual respect that until now, despite your impu-dence, you have always maintained. We shall not allow this. You are provo-king war.”“We shall not argue about this. Robots, take him away! Now is really not the time for discussions of this sort.”The Acutin took a step back, gestured to the robots to remove the Sensin and waited for his order to be carried out. The Sensin tried to resist but a robot quickly seized him with its steel fingers and dragged him away by the fore-arm. Suddenly our ears were assailed by a terrible crackling, crashing sound from the opposite side of the giant hall. Something was tearing the wall open from top to bottom. Thro-ugh the yawning gap we saw a mass of Sensin ves-sels of various types, some similar to those used by the Acutins in their attack, judging from their external

ki ste se jih kljub vsej svoji

nesramnosti doslej vseeno

držali, boste prekršili.

Tega vam ne bomo dopu-

stili. Vojno izzivate.«

»O tem se ne bomo prepi-

rali. Roboti, odstranite ga!

Zdaj res ni čas za tovrstne

razprave.«

Ostrin je stopil korak

nazaj, z migom roke naka-

zal, naj Čutina odstranijo,

ter počakal na izvršitev

ukaza, ki se mu je Čutin

hotel upirati, pa ga je robot

kar hitro ujel za laket s svo-

jimi jeklenimi prsti in ga

odvlekel. Tedaj pa nam je

preparalo ušesa straho-

vito hreščanje, pokanje z

nasprotne strani naše orja-

ške večstometrske hale.

Nekaj je trgalo steno po

vsej dolžini, dokler ni zazi-

jala ogromna odprtina,

skozi katero smo zagledali

pravo množico čutino-

vskih plovil, razna letala,

za različne namene, precej

podobne tistim ob napadu

Ostrinov, vsaj na zunaj so

imeli podobno tehniko.

201

appearance. The flashes we could see along the hulls of the vessels in the rear probably meant that there were more Acutin battleships out there, but the main part of this con-flict, at least judging from the flashes of the explo-sions, was taking place in the background, out of sight. Meanwhile, the Sensin craft that had already managed to penetrate our hall were beginning to dis-embark new detachments of their – our – robots. Immediately, however, a number of Acutin ships arrived with their own robotic reinforcements. As soon as the robots were landed they threw themselves into battle, supported by their heavily armed ships and a variety of flying self-guided laser cannon.“You could lose your head in such chaos, no matter which side you’re on,” I commented, with a look

In ko se je zalesketalo po

trupih teh plovil v ozadju,

je to verjetno pomenilo še

dodatno prisotnost bojnih

letal Ostrinov, vendar se

je glavnina tega spopada,

vsaj po svetlikanju eksplo-

zij sodeč, razširila v meni

skrito ozadje.

Plovila Čutinov, ki se jim

je že uspelo prebiti v našo

halo, pa so medtem začela

spuščati nove oddelke

svojih, torej naših, robo-

tov. Toda takoj zatem so

priletela noter še letala

Ostrinov s svojimi okrepi-

tvami robotov. In vsi ti so

se takoj po pristanku spu-

stili v medsebojni boj ob

podpori svojih oborože-

nih letal in raznih letečih,

samodejno vodenih laser-

skih topov.

»V takem metežu pa izgu-

biš glavo, ne glede, na

kateri strani si,« sem izvr-

gel med pogledovanjem v

202

at the Acutin in front of me. The fighting was spre-ading very quickly in our direction. At any moment it would reach us. The Acutin did not reply. It was though he were stun-ned by the violence of the fighting. The expression on his face reminded me of our commander’s reac-tion to the Acutins’ attack. So the Sensins had mana-ged to strike back… Each side was capable of surpri-sing the other with these sudden and rapid incur-sions, and with such a concentrated attack that it was difficult to understand how they had managed to conceal the mustering of their forces that must have preceded it. Now, however, it was the Sen-sins who had once again taken the initiative, or so it seemed. I wondered whe-ther the Acutins had any more forces in reserve. I looked at the three Acu-tins in front of me. They were still watching the

Ostrina pred sabo, ker se

je ta spopad zelo hitro širil

v našo smer. Vsak čas nas

je moral zajeti. Ostrin ni

odvrnil ničesar. Kot da bi

ga silovitost spopada pre-

senečala. Še njegov izraz

na obrazu je spominjal na

odziv našega kapitana ob

nenadnem preboju Ostri-

nov. Torej je Čutinom res

uspelo vrniti udarec. Drug

drugega so sposobni prese-

netiti s temi nenadnimi in

hitrimi vpadi, in to s tako

osredotočenim napadom,

da je bilo že kar neverje-

tno, kako so lahko prikrili

poprejšnje zbiranje svojih

sil. Pobudo pa so to pot,

vsaj tako je vse kazalo,

ponovno prevzeli Čutini.

Toda ob vsem tem dogaja-

nju sem moral pomišljati

še na možne rezerve Ostri-

nov.

Zazrl sem se v svoje sogo-

vornike, ki so še vedno

strmeli v tisti napredujoči

203

Sensins’ advance. Their units were unable to stop them. The Acutins looked at each other. The one on the right, slightly taller than the others and with sharper features on his elongated face, looked at me and then at his two companions. “Where are our forces? How can they have secu-red such superiority? But this is nothing. Our outside forces will not abandon us to these foolish Sensins.”“The matter is becoming clear,” replied the Acutin on his right. “Our plan has affected them considera-bly. We appear to have hit a soft spot, since otherwise they would not have reac-ted so furiously. They are hiding something.” The Acutin turned towards me, still calm and compo-sed, although the Sensins’ robots had already broken through the hastily placed barriers made of material from the shattered walls and the supporting arches

napad Čutinov. Njihove

enote jih niso mogle usta-

viti. Ostrini so se spogle-

dali. Desni, nekoliko višji

in bolj ostrih potez na

podolgovatem obrazu, je

pogledal še mene ter nato

spet ostale Ostrine: »Kje so

naši? Take premoči si prav

gotovo niso mogli zagoto-

viti. To ni res. Naše zuna-

nje sile nas že ne bodo

prepustile tem bebavim

Čutinom.«

»Zadeva postaja jasna, « mu

je odvrnil Ostrin na nje-

govi desni, »naša namera

jih je zelo prizadela. Najbrž

smo jih zadeli v živo, ker

se sicer ne bi tako besno

odzivali. Nekaj skrivajo.«

Ostrin se je z umirjeno

zbranostjo obrnil k meni.

Roboti Čutinov so se

medtem že prebili skozi

hitro vzpostavljene zapore

iz odpadlih materialov od

razbitih sten in nosilnih

stropnih lokov, skozi že kar

204

of the ceiling, and were almost through the forti-fied line that the Acutins’ robots were still con-structing. They launched themselves at the robots guarding the Sensin pri-soners who, on being rele-ased, rushed to rejoin the action. Some joined the robots, while a second, larger group ran towards the transparent disc and the Acutins standing next to me. “Is everything all right?” one of the Sensins asked me, looking first at me and then at the three Acutins.I nodded.“It seems that we too are capable of acting with sur-prising speed, wouldn’t you say?” The Sensin’s manner was already calmer and more self-as-sured. But there was still a hint of ebullience in him when he turned to the Acu-tins: “Your impudence, not to say perfidiousness, has not had the effect you expected, has it?”

pravo utrjeno linijo, ki so

jo roboti Ostrinov sproti

postavljali, ter z nasko-

kom na stražarje zajetih

Čutinov omogočili izpu-

ščenim Čutinom ponovno

ukrepanje. Eni so se pri-

družili svojim robotom,

druga večja skupina pa se

je pognala k tisti prozorni

polkrogli in k Ostrinom

ob meni.

»Je vse v redu?« me je vpra-

šal eden od Čutinov med

pogledovanjem zdaj vame,

zdaj v tiste tri Ostrine

nasproti mene.

Takoj sem prikimal.

»Tudi mi znamo presenetiti

s hitrostjo, kajne?« Nastop

Čutina je bil zdaj že bolj

umirjen in samozavesten.

Pa še nekaj živahnosti je

prihajalo iz njega, ko se je

obrnil k Ostrinom: »Nesra-

mnost, da ne rečem zahrb-

tnost, se vam ni povsem

obnesla, kajne?«

205

But the Acutin looked at him with such a convin-cing appearance of bored resignation that I was forced to ask myself whe-ther this was normal given the situation: the Acutin could simply be preten-ding. It was perfectly pos-sible that they had this abi-lity highly developed. He was so convincing that he put a stop to the Sensin’s ebullience.“And what have they been telling you?” the Sensin asked me.“Well...” In embarras-sment I looked first at the Acutins and then at the Sensins. I had no compla-ints about how I had been treated. The Acutins were still looking at me with that friendly yet superior smile, while the Sensins were still unpleasantly suspicious. I couldn’t hold it against them, despite some misgivings over the Acutin’s comments about my joining the Sensins.

Toda Ostrin je gledal z

zdolgočaseno zadržano-

stjo, in to tako prepričljivo,

da sem se moral zamisliti

nad normalnostjo tega

odziva glede na nastali

položaj, ker lahko bi bilo to

le Ostrinovo spreneveda-

nje. Prav možno, da imajo

tudi tovrstne sposobnosti

dobro razvite. Vendar pa

je s svojo prepričljivostjo

ustavil Čutinovo živah-

nost.

»In kaj so vam lepega pove-

dali?« me je vprašal Čutin.

»No, ja.« V zadregi sem

pogledoval zdaj Ostrine,

zdaj Čutine okoli sebe.

Nikomur nisem imel niče-

sar očitati. Tudi ničesar

žalega ne bi mogel reči o

nikomer. Ostrini so me še

vedno gledali s tistim pri-

jaznim vzvišenim smehlja-

jem, Čutini pa so bili že

kar neprijetno sumničavi,

česar jim kljub nekaterim

pomislekom ob Ostrinovih

besedah glede moje pri-

družitve Čutinom nisem

smel šteti v slabo. Položaj

206

Putting it simply, the situ-ation was a tricky one. For everyone. “Not much,” I said. “There wasn’t time for a serious conversation. Everything has happened so quickly.” I smiled: “Wouldn’t you agree?”“Yes.” A smile formed on the Sensin’s lips. “Yes, that’s probably true. Rather too quickly, even for us.”Suddenly an amplified voice echoed throughout the hall: “Attention, all robots. The commanders of both sides have agreed to cease hostilities. Con-tact your headquarters in the asteroid cloud immedi-ately. The discussions will continue in the pavilions that have just been erected in the asteroid’s main lan-ding area.”“So, Sensins,” began the middle Acutin after a short silence, “as you have heard, a pleasant evening’s entertainment awaits us. Personally this outcome suits me very well, since

je bil, preprosto rečeno,

zaguljen. In to za vse.

»Nekaj malega, to že,« sem

odvrnil. »Za malo resnejši

pogovor pa ni bilo časa,

ker se vsa dogajanja tukaj

odvijajo neverjetno hitro.«

Potem sem se nasmehnil:

»To pa, kajne?«

»Da.« Čutinu so se ustnice

razlezle v nasmeh. »Hja,

najbrž res. Celo za naše

pojme malo prehitro.«

Tedaj smo zaslišali skozi

ozvočenje vsega pro-

stora: »Poziv vsem robo-

tom. Poveljstvi obeh

strani sta se dogovorili

o prenehanju napadov.

Takoj vzpostavite zvezo

s poveljstvom asteroi-

dne meglice. Pogovori se

bodo nadaljevali v prav-

kar postavljenih paviljo-

nih na osrednjem prista-

jališču tega asteroida.«

»Torej gospodje Čutini,« je

po krajšem molku začel

srednji Ostrin, »kot ste sli-

šali, nas čaka še prijeten

večer z zabavnim progra-

mom. Osebno mi je tak

razplet še najbolj pogodu,

207

making your acquaintance has been a great honour for me.” All three Acutins smiled with evident satisfaction and increasing enthusi-asm. The Sensins’ faces, however, still wore a grim expression. They did not seem particularly inclined for a friendly conversa-tion. “If our forces had not sur-rounded you, you would have killed us, wouldn’t you?” The Sensin stared coldly at the leading Acutin, who at these words nodded understan-dingly: “Well, you cannot hold that against us.”“What impudence! First you want to kill us, then you say that we cannot hold that against you. Is there anything that in your opinion we could hold against you?” The Sensin’s contained rage was undiminished. But the other Sensins had alre-ady reconciled themselves to the new situation and

saj mi je bila seznanitev z

vami v veliko čast.« Nakar

so se vsi trije Ostrini pri-

jateljsko nasmehnili z

vidnim zadovoljstvom in

v vse bolj živahnem razpo-

loženju. Toda na obrazih

Čutinov je še vedno ostajal

mrakoben izraz z ne prav

dosti naklonjenosti za pri-

jateljski pogovor.

»Če vas ne bi naše sile obko-

lile od zunaj, bi nas pobili,

kajne?« Čutin je še vedno

upiral svoj hladni pogled

v vodilnega Ostrina, ki je

ob teh besedah prikimal

z razumevajočo naklonje-

nostjo: »No, tega nam ne

morete šteti v slabo.«

»Neverjetna nesramnost!

Najprej ste nas hoteli pobiti,

potem pa še govorite, da

vam tega ne moremo šteti

v slabo. Je sploh kaj, kar bi

vam po vašem mnenju mi

lahko šteli v slabo.« Čutin

je ostajal nespremenjen v

svojem zadrževanju besa.

Toda ostali Čutini so se

le sprijaznili z nastalim

položajem ter začeli pri-

208

began telling their colle-ague to calm down, that he could not change the Acutins because this was simply what they were like. The smiles of the Acutins turned to frowns and it looked as though a new quarrel was about to flare up, but after a few harsh exchanges the Acu-tins and Sensins returned to their own groups, and with some noisy venting of the anger that had just reached boiling point, they set off in their own groups to the “friendly discus-sion”.

govarjati kolegu, naj se

umiri, ker Ostrinov že

ne bo spremenil. So pač

taki, kot so, in Ostrini so

to nekaj časa smehljaje se

poslušali, potem pa so se

začeli ponovno mrščiti.

In že je kazalo na znova

vzplameneli spor, ko so se

po nekaj ostrih besedah

z obeh strani le umaknili

vsak na svojo stran in se

kljub živemu in precej gla-

snemu sproščanju prav-

kar vzkipele jeze v svojih

skupinah počasi odpravili

na, kot rečeno, prijateljsko

dogovarjanje.

209

Chapter IX

The grey rain clouds, from which a light drizzle was falling, were darker over to the northwest and pro-mised heaver rain, if not a downpour, but those few drops were not enough for me to open my umbrella. Passers-by were alre-ady beginning to close theirs. After parking in the square opposite the convent church I walked towards the university building. I had arranged to meet Martha, Zaza’s friend. Over the phone she had explained to me that she had tried to call Zaza several times the previous evening but had got no reply. Maybe her phone battery’s dead, she had suggested. Whatever the reason, she hadn’t been able to get hold of her. Now Martha was approa-ching from the other side of the road. It was nice of her to respond so quickly.

IX. poglavje

Sivi deževni oblaki, iz kate-

rih je po malem rosilo, so s

svojim še temnejšim ozad-

jem na severozahodu obe-

tali močnejše padavine, če

že ne plohe, vendar je bilo

tistih nekaj kapljic pre-

malo, da bi odprl dežnik,

pa tudi mimoidoči so jih

že začeli zapirati. Po par-

kiranju na Kongresnem

trgu, nasproti Nunske

cerkve, sem stopil proti

zgradbi rektorata ljubljan-

ske univerze. Sestal naj bi

se z Marto, Gigino prijate-

ljico, ki mi je po telefonu

razložila, da je Gigo prej-

šnji večer večkrat zaman

klicala po telefonu. Prav

lahko, da ima izpraznjeno

baterijo svojega mobija, mi

je navrgla eno od možno-

sti. Skratka, nikakor je ni

mogla poklicati. Zdaj je

Marta prihajala z naspro-

tne strani. Lepo, da se je

tako hitro odzvala.

210

“Hey!” I greeted her che-erfully. She was an old acquaintance. And after all I had been through recently, it was good to see a familiar face. “Hi! I can’t get hold of her.” Martha’s face was serious, without the smile people normally wear when they meet.“But you say that she’s in town?”“Yes, probably. She hasn’t gone on holiday, I know that much.”“Then we’ll find her. I absolutely have to meet with her.”“Yes, you said. It’s just that recently she’s been more crazy than usual. To start with she broke up with Matt, her third boyfriend this year, or whatever he actually was. She went out with him from time to time. Personally I don’t know if all these acquain-tances have got her in this state or whether there is actually something wrong with her.”

»Hej!« sem jo veselo pozdra-

vil. Stara znanka je bila. In

po vsem, kar sem nedavno

doživel, sem se znanega

obraza še dosti bolj razve-

selil kot sicer.

»Zdravo! Ne morem je

dobiti.« Martin obraz je

bil resen, brez običajnega

smehljaja ob srečanjih.

»Praviš pa, da je v Lju-

bljani.«

»Da, najbrž. Na dopust ni

odpotovala, to vem.«

»Potem jo bova že našla.

Na vsak način se moram

sestati z njo.«

»Si mi rekel, ja. Je pa zadnje

čase še posebej zmešana.

Najprej se je razšla z Mate-

vžem, to je bil že njen tretji

fant v tem letu, ali karkoli

je že bil. Z njim je šla obča-

sno ven. Še sama ne vem,

ali so jo vsa ta poznanstva

tako zmedla ali pa je z njo

tudi sicer nekaj narobe.«

211

She shrugged. Of course what was “actually wrong” with Zaza was that she had a screw loose. There was no doubt in my mind on that point. “And what is she planning to do now?” I asked with a smile.“Planning?” repeated Martha absently. “You know, that’s the problem. I’m worried that this situ-ation is about something more than just her plans. She seemed pretty upset. To start with, she didn’t get a part in a play that she’d been trying for, even though she would have apparently been perfect for it. Then she got sick or something, as far as I could make out from what she was telling me: the last time I saw her she’d been drinking and was already pretty out of it. A little too much, given what I know of her habits. And she kept going on about the mea-ninglessness of life and saying that she was going to kill herself.”

Zmignil sem z rameni.

Seveda je bila Giga »tudi

sicer« prifliknjena, glede

tega sem imel preveč raz-

čiščene pojme, da bi še kaj

dvomil. »In kaj ima sedaj

na programu?« sem vpra-

šal z nasmehom.

»Na programu?« je zami-

šljeno ponovila Marta. »Saj

v tem je problem. Bojim

se, da je zadeva bolj resna

kot nekaj, kar je zgolj na

njenem programu. Precej

prizadeta je bila videti. Naj-

prej ni dobila vloge v gle-

dališki igri, za katero se je

potegovala, čeprav naj bi ji

bila pisana na kožo. Potem

naj bi zbolela ali nekaj

takega, kot sem lahko raz-

brala iz tistega njenega

govorjenja, ker se ga je

ob najinem zadnjem sre-

čanju že kar lepo nabrala.

Vsaj kolikor jo jaz poznam,

je bilo to glede na njene

navade malo preveč. Ves

čas se je vrtela okoli nesmi-

selnosti tega življenja in da

se bo kar ubila.«

212

“What?” I was immedia-tely serious. “Kill herself? Has she completely fli-pped?”“From the way she was talking, that would seem to be the only explanation. Anyway, that’s the situ-ation. We’ll see. You’ve certainly picked a good time to show up. You’re going to get yourself into trouble.”“Trouble?” That was ridi-culous, given that I had recently been dealing with matters that were much more serious than the insignificant problems of Earthmen – or rather of one crazy girl. “If she commits suicide after meeting up with you, you are going to have pro-blems.”“Are you serious about this suicide of hers?”“In the state she’s in now, anything is possible.”“But she can’t commit sui-cide! Are you crazy?”“Not me. Her.” Martha laughed.

»Kaj?« Hitro sem se zresnil.

»Da se bo ubila? Pa se ji

menda res ni popolnoma

utrgalo?«

»Saj, iz tega njenega govor-

jenja je že kar težko pomi-

sliti na kaj drugega. Tako

je. Sicer bomo pa videli.

Prav o nepravem času si

se oglasil. Še sitnosti si boš

nabral.«

»Sitnosti?« To je bilo

nesmiselno, saj sem imel

nedavno opravka z dosti

hujšimi stvarmi, kot so taki

nepomembni problemi

Zemljanov oziroma neke

prifliknjene avše.

»Če naredi samomor po

sestanku s tabo, boš imel

same težave.«

»Pa ti misliš resno s tem

njenim samomorom?«

»V tako zmedenem stanju,

v kakršnem je sedaj, je vse

možno.«

»Ampak ona ne sme nare-

diti samomora! A si nora!«

»Ne jaz. Ona.« Marta se je

zasmejala.

213

Hmm. Of course, she knew both Zaza and me, and she knew perfectly well what that girl meant to me. Nothing. But now it was different.“You know...” I began.“What?” The smile on Martha’s face was simply proof that everything she was saying was true.“She mustn’t commit sui-cide. She…” I tried to find the right word. “She doesn’t have the right.”“The right?” repeated Martha, looking at me. The expression on my face must have surprised her. She shrugged, as if to say that she didn’t consider the problem worth expending any mental energy on.Her mocking tone really annoyed me: “So the fact that your friend might commit suicide doesn’t actually bother you?”

Hm. Seveda, ona je poznala

tako Gigi kot mene, in pri

tem je prav dobro vedela,

koliko mi ta zmešana krava

pomeni. Nič. Toda zdaj je

bilo drugače.

»Veš, kaj…« sem začel.

»Kaj?« Martino smehljanje

je bilo eno samo prepriča-

nje o nedvomnosti vsega,

kar je povedala.

»Ona ne sme narediti

samomora. Ona . . .« Malo

se mi je zataknilo v iskanju

prave besede, »ona nima te

pravice.«

»Pravice?« je Marta pono-

vila, me pogledala, vseeno

jo je moral izraz mojega

obraza presenečati, in

zmignila z rameni, kot da

vse skupaj ni po njenem

mnenju vredno pretira-

nega naprezanja možga-

nov.

Prav zmotil me je posme-

hljivi prizvok v njenem

glasu: »Mar te morebitni

samomor tvoje prijateljice

sploh ne prizadeva?«

214

“What? Probably not.” Martha looked at me more keenly. “Interesting.”“What?”“Your interest in her. All of a sudden.”“Okay, Martha.” I collec-ted my thoughts and deci-ded to try a calmer appro-ach. I had clearly shown a little too much agitation at Martha’s mention of Zaza’s suicide. “We need her. Seriously. We urgen-tly need her.”Martha became more seri-ous. “Who’s ‘we’? I thou-ght this was about you. So it’s nothing personal?” I continued to look at her earnestly, and after a moment she raised her eyebrows: “I think you might actually be tel-ling the truth.”“I am!” I said, and went on in a serious voice: “We have to find her. As quic-kly as possible. Her suicide could have very serious consequences. We have to stop her.”“Hmm. Unbelievable! At

»Aja? Najbrž res ne.« Marta

me je še bolj živo pogle-

dala. »Zanimivo.«

»Kaj?«

»Tvoje ponovno zanimanje

zanjo. Kar naenkrat.«

»Dobro, Marta.« Poskušal

sem se zbrati v bolj tre-

znem premisleku. Najbrž

sem res pokazal malo

preveč prizadetosti ob

Martinem omenjanju Gigi-

nega samomora. »Potrebu-

jemo jo. Resno govorim.

Nujno nam je potrebna.«

Marta se je počasi zresnila.

»Kdo so ti ‘mi’? Sem mislila,

da gre zate? Torej nič oseb-

nega?« Še naprej sem jo

ves zresnjen gledal, ona

pa mene, in po kratkem

premisleku je zmignila z

obrvmi: »To bi pa morda

res lahko bilo možno.«

»Da, zelo možno!« sem

resno, s kar strogim

tonom, nadaljeval. »Najti

jo morava. In to čim prej.

Preveč hude posledice bi

lahko povzročil njen samo-

mor. Ne sme ga narediti.«

»Hm. Ta je pa dobra! Nje

215

our last meeting – in most of our recent conversati-ons, actually – she was complaining that no-one would miss her. Naturally I told her that it wasn’t true, although it seemed perfectly probable to me. To be honest, I thought it was the only sensible thing she said the whole evening. But if you say otherwise, you must have your reasons. I don’t hate her, you know, I’m just fed up of her depressions. I wouldn’t begrudge her a little happiness. Why not? The girl needs cheering up. But who’s going to do it? You?”I didn’t say anything and maintained my compo-sure.“Okay,” agreed Martha. “You could tell me a little more about who ‘us’ are, or about your renewed interest in her. If it isn’t a secret, of course.”I opened my mouth to reply, and then closed it again. I couldn’t tell her

naj ne bi nihče pogrešal,

mi je jamrala na zadnjem

srečanju oziroma zadnje

čase že na večini najinih

pogovorov, pa sem ji govo-

rila nasprotno, čeprav

so se mi zdele te njene

besede povsem realne.

Pravzaprav so to bile po

mojem mnenju edine koli-

kor toliko smiselne besede

v vsem njenem govorjenju.

Če pa ti praviš drugače, pa

naj bo po tvojem. Saj je ne

sovražim, le sita sem teh

njenih depresij, sicer pa

bi ji malo veselja celo pri-

voščila. Zakaj pa ne? Naj

se punca malo poveseli.

Samo kdo jo bo razveseli?

A ti?«

Poslušal sem jo z mirno

zbranostjo.

»Prav,« je pristala Marta.

»Lahko bi mi še kaj več

povedal o tem, kdo ste tisti

‘mi’ oziroma o tem tvojem

ponovnem zanimanju

zanjo. Če ni skrivnost,

seveda.«

Že sem odprl usta, pa jih

nato ponovno zaprl. Saj ji

vendar nisem mogel vsega

216

everything. If I did, she would start wondering about my sanity too. First Zaza and now me. Damn! And I had piqued her inte-rest My answers to her questions would have to be the opposite of what she expected. But what should I say? I couldn’t tell her anything about what was really going on.“Let’s leave the explana-tions for later. We need to find her while there’s still time. Then we can talk about it as much as we like.” Although outwardly I maintained my serious manner, I couldn’t help smiling to myself: I soun-ded just like those Sensins. As though I had absorbed their tactic of evading que-stions… Martha looked at me doubtfully for a moment and then nodded towards the city centre:

povedati, ker bi lahko

začela razmišljati še o moji

prištevnosti. Najprej Gigi

in zdaj še jaz. Presneto. Pa

še zanimanje sem ji vzbu-

dil. Moji odzivi na njeno

govorjenje so res morali

biti v nasprotju z njenimi

pričakovanji. Toda kaj naj

ji rečem? Ničesar od tega,

za kar je dejansko šlo, ji

nisem mogel navesti kot

razlog.

»Pustiva razloge za

pozneje. Raje jo poiščiva,

dokler je še čas, o ostalem

pa se bova že lahko potem

pogovarjala, kolikor naju

bo volja.« Kljub zadržani

resnosti sem se v sebi

nasmehnil, saj sem ji govo-

ril enako kot tisti Čutini

meni. Kot da bi mi njihova

taktika izmikanja pri daja-

nju odgovorov že povsem

prešla v kri. Marta me je

še nekaj trenutkov gledala

v dvomu,ali je vse to res

tako, kot mora biti in kot

je kazalo iz mojega vztra-

janja, naj najprej poiščeva

Gigi, ter z glavo namignila

proti centru mesta: »Morda

217

“We’ll probably find Daria in one of those bars over there. I’ve seen her with Zaza quite a few times recently.”“Okay,” I agreed and follo-wed her across the street. Daria was sitting at a table with two friends in the third bar we tried.“Hey, Daria!” called Martha. “Have you seen Zaza around? We urgently need to talk to her.”“I’m looking for her too. Yesterday evening she was really out of it. She started off by getting drunk, and then that friend of hers in the leather jacket arrived. The tall, thin one, you know. You’ve seen him. I don’t know what his name is. He’s always got that pullover sticking out of the bottom of his jacket. A dealer or something. He sells drugs. I don’t know what her connection is with him. She has taken drugs a few times but I don’t think she’s a junkie. At least she wasn’t before.

je Darja v enem od teh

bifejev, tukaj. Zadnje čase

sem jo pogosto videvala z

Gigi.«

»Prav,« sem se strinjal in

stopil za njo proti Čopovi

ulici, kjer sva Darjo po

dveh pregledanih bife-

jih res odkrila za mizo v

družbi s prijateljicama.

»Hej, Darja!« jo je s poz-

dravnim vzklikom opozo-

rila nase Marta ob meni.

»Si kaj videla Gigi? Nujno

bi jo morali dobiti.«

»Tudi jaz jo iščem. Včeraj

zvečer se ji je povsem

strgalo. Najprej se ga je

napila, potem je prišel

njen znanec v usnjenem

jopiču, suh, visok, saj si ga

že videla, ne vem, kako mu

je ime, zmeraj mu gleda

tisti pulover izpod jopiča,

diler ali nekaj takega je,

mamila preprodaja. Ne

vem, kaj ima ona z njim,

nekajkrat se je sicer drogi-

rala, čeprav po moje še ni

zasvojena, vsaj prej ni bila.

218

They had some kind of argument. I think he was asking for money or offe-ring her grass or maybe something stronger. They caused a bit of a scene, actually. Later, at about one in the morning, I saw her in the pub by the hotel, looking really stoned. She came and sat with us but she wasn’t exactly talka-tive. She told us that life has no point; but then that’s not unusual for her. She would drift off for a while, staring absently in front of her, and then suddenly wake up and start going on about that part in the play she was supposed to get but didn’t. Eventually we started getting fed up with her but when we tried to stop her from repeating the same explanations over and over again she said that she knew how little she meant to us but that she didn’t care about us either any more. She car-ried on in that vein for a bit until finally as she was

Z njim se je nekaj spore-

kla. Mislim, da je zahteval

denar ali pa ji je ponujal

tisto svojo travo, če ne česa

še močnejšega. Celo sceno

sta naredila. Pozneje, ob

enih ponoči, sem jo videla

še v pabu ob Turistu, res je

delovala zadrogirano. Še

prisedla je k nam, čeprav

ni bila nič kaj zgovorna.

Češ da vse skupaj nima

smisla, je govorila; to zanjo

ni nič nenavadnega. Toda

na trenutke se je izgubljala

v neko odsotno strmenje,

potem pa se je nenadoma

povsem zbujena zagnala v

razlaganje tiste svoje vloge

v gledališču, ki bi jo morala

dobiti, pa je ni, da nam je

že vsem začela presedati,

in ko smo jo nekajkrat

zapored zavrnili zaradi

ponavljanja zmeraj istih

razlag, je še govorila, da

ona že ve, kako malo mar

nam je zanjo, ampak da

tudi njej ni nič več za nas.

In še nekaj v tem smislu,

dokler ni naposled med

vstajanjem, nekajkrat se

219

standing up – actually she kept sitting down again – she declared vehemently that it didn’t matter, that she was no longer going to be a burden to anyone, and that it would be sooner than we think. She seemed deadly serious about this. There was something almost fanatical about her. Then she mumbled some-thing else, I don’t know what, and then said, loud and clear ‘Tonight.’ We just stared at her stupidly – what else could we do? – as she repeated ‘toni-ght’, over and over again, but more quietly, almost to herself, but with furious obstinacy.”I moved closer to Martha. “She didn’t get the part she wanted, she’s probably out of work, things are going badly with those boyfri-ends of hers. Add alcohol or drugs or whatever, and anything is possible, don’t you think?”“At a time like this she shouldn’t be on her own,”

je namreč še usedla nazaj,

energično izjavila, da je

pač tako vseeno, ker ona

že ne bo nikogar več obre-

menjevala, in to prej, kot

si mislimo. Pa še smrtno

resno se je držala pri tem.

S prav zagrizeno odloč-

nostjo. Potem je še nekaj

mrmrala, ne vem, kaj, le na

koncu je povsem jasno in

tudi dovolj glasno pribila:

Še nocoj. Na naše bedasto

strmenje, saj drugega ob

taki idiotski sceni tudi ne

moreš narediti, pa je kar

še nekajkrat ponovila tisti

svoj - še nocoj, sicer bolj

tiho, bolj zase, vendar s

prav besno trmo.«

Primaknil sem se k Marti.

»Če je ostala brez vloge,

in morda še brez službe,

s tistimi njenimi fanti pa

ji tudi ne gre, tako da je

ob alkoholu ali mamilih,

kakor koli, že vse možno,

kaj?«

»V takih trenutkih ne bi

smela ostati sama,« se je

220

agreed Martha. “When several things go wrong all at once, badly wrong, you need a little support, perhaps from family; or if you haven’t got family, at least from friends.”“We have to find her. I’ll talk to her,” I said.“Hmm.” Martha’s gaze lingered on my face for a few moments. Even if Zaza’s behaviour was alre-ady more than she could understand, my concern for Zaza evidently didn’t seem any less strange to her. I realised that imme-diately. I had only ever exchanged brief hellos with Zaza, at least in Martha’s presence.“But where on earth can she have gone?” I said out loud. Whatever might come of this, the thing that was clearest to me was the terrible risk we were facing, and the incredibly important consequences.

strinjala Marta. »Ko se ti

več nesreč hkrati povezne

na glavo, in to same skrajno

zoprne, tedaj pač potrebu-

ješ malo opore, morda pri

svojcih; če jih nimaš, pa

vsaj pri prijateljih.«

»Dobiti jo morava, potem

se bom že jaz pogovoril z

njo,« sem dejal.

»Hm.« Ocenjujoči Martin

pogled je za nekaj tre-

nutkov zastal na mojem

obrazu. Če je že Gigino

obnašanje preseglo mejo

njenega razumevanja, se ji

moja zaskrbljenost za Gigi

očitno ni zdela nič manj

nenavadna. To sem takoj

ugotovil. Z Gigi sem se obi-

čajno le bežno pozdravljal,

vsaj v Martini prisotnosti,

in še to bolj v mimohodu.

»Ampak kam, hudirja, bi

lahko šla?« sem se oglasil

z vso odločnostjo. Kajti

kar koli bi že lahko iz tega

nastalo, mi je bila jasna

predvsem prisotnost pre-

hudega tveganja s pre-

sneto pomembnimi posle-

dicami.

221

It was far more impor-tant than just the life of one mixed-up girl. How idiotic! War was about to break out, everything was hanging from a thread, and now there was a risk that the change in the balance of power was going to be exposed. The Acutins still didn’t know that the Sen-sins were unable to reach their energy fields. But sooner or later they would find out, and it seemed very likely that the Sen-sins didn’t have much time left, even though they claimed that their forces would be sufficien-tly powerful even if access to the biggest energy fields remained closed. Yes, the Sensins would give it eve-rything they had. There was no doubt of that. But both sides possessed energy missiles, probably made of antimatter, which could destroy entire pla-nets. Both sides had these weapons. It would only take one missile to destroy

Preveč pomembna je bila,

saj ni šlo le za življenje neke

avše. Kako trapasto! Vojna

je bila tik pred izbruhom,

vse je bilo na nitki, zdaj pa

naj se razgali še to poru-

šeno ravnotežje naspro-

tnih sil. Ostrini še ne vedo,

da Čutini ne morejo do

svojih energetskih polj.

Toda prej ali slej bodo

zvedeli in prav možno je,

da Čutinom ne ostaja več

dosti časa, čeprav so ome-

njali zadostno moč svojih

oboroženih sil tudi v pri-

meru zaprtega dostopa do

največjih energetskih polj.

Da, Čutini se bodo tolkli.

O tem ni dvoma. Toda

energetski izstrelki, tako

enih kot drugih, najbrž

iz antimaterije, lahko raz-

strelijo planete. Oboji

imajo taka orožja. In za

uničenje Zemlje je dovolj

le en tak izstrelek, imajo

222

the Earth, and they had thousands of them. Tho-usands? Billions. Only evenly matched forces could guarantee peace. And peace was the only thing that would ensure the survival of the Earth. The balance of power had to be preserved. I had to open that doorway. I had to undergo that test and above all I had to talk to this wretched girl as soon as possible. She had really picked the wrong moment to start having problems. I had no doubts about my own ability to persuade her. I simply had to find Zaza.“Let’s think about where she could she be,” I said, in an effort to encourage some serious reflection. “Then we will act. And quickly.”No-one contradicted me. Actually they were all loo-king at me – the girls at Daria’s table and the three boys at the next table, who had also been liste-

jih pa na tisoče, kaj tisoče,

milijarde. Le enakost sil

ohranja mir. Samo mir je

tisto, kar lahko Zemljanom

zagotovi preživetje. Rav-

notežje sil je treba ohra-

niti. Moram odpreti tisti

prehod. Moram prestati

preverjanje in predvsem

se moram najprej sestati s

to nesrečno punco, ki ima

prav v tem popolnoma

nepravem trenutku tako

nesrečne probleme. Nisem

dvomil ne o sebi ne o svoji

sposobnosti prepričeva-

nja. Le dobiti moram Gigi.

»Poglejmo, kje bi lahko

bila,« sem dejal v želji po

bolj umirjenem in teh-

tnem premišljanju, »potem

bomo pa ukrepali. In to

hitro.«

Nihče ni oporekal. Pravza-

prav so vsi gledali vame,

tako obe dekleti ob Darji

kot trije fantje za sose-

dnjo mizico, ki so že pred

223

ning to the conversation. Partly because of my deci-sive manner, and partly because we were talking about someone they knew, someone who belonged in their extended circle of acquaintances. With some reservations and on cer-tain occasions they would have even called her their friend. “Hey!” said a skinny lad in the corner. He was wearing a faded tee-shirt and washed-out jeans. The jeans were ripped, I noticed. Deliberately, pro-bably. His friends were all dressed in the same grungy fashion. The addi-tion of leather jackets – and this was the height of summer – merely served to emphasise their “rebel” look. “You looking for Zaza?”“Yes,” I said, staring at the skinny lad with the unsha-ven face and his compani-ons. If these were the sort of people Zaza hung out with, I thought, then it was

tem prisluhnili pogovoru,

deloma zaradi mojega

odločnega nastopa, šlo pa

je tudi za njihovo znanko,

ki je sodila v malo širši

krog tamkajšnje družbe.

Z nekaj pridržka in ob

določenih priložnostih bi

lahko celo rekli, da je nji-

hova prijateljica.

»Hej!« se je iz kota ogla-

sil suhljat poba v znošeni

majici in še bolj znoše-

nih izpranih kavbojkah.

Celo strgane so že bile,

čeprav najbrž nalašč, ker

je bila vsa njegova družba

glede zunanjosti v enakem

modnem trendu, zelo pri-

mernem za potepuške

namene, s poudarjenim

izrazom uporništva, ki so

ga navrženi usnjeni jopiči,

in bilo je poletje, vroče

poletje, že kar izzivalno

poudarjali. »Gigi iščeš?«

»Da,« sem odvrnil med

ocenjujočim opazovanjem

koščenega tipa ter nato

še njegove druščine in

spet suhega poraščenega

obraza, kajti če se je Gigi

224

perfectly possible that she had got into drugs.“I was talking to her flat-mate a little earlier. She was asking after her.”“Who? Her flatmate?”“Yes, the girl who lives with her. She says she hasn’t been home for two days. Apparently it’s not unusual for her to stay out the whole night, if there’s a party or whatever, but she’s always told her in advance whenever she’s gone away for any longer than that. This time, though, she just disappeared.”“Had she shown any sui-cidal tendencies?” I had to clear this up as quickly as possible. “Could she have committed suicide?”“Well, she’s certainly crazy enough.” The skinny kid sniggered idiotically. I gave him a piercing look, but this didn’t seem to bother him. If anything he laughed even more hear-tily, although this frank, open laughter was the last thing I would have expec-

družila s temi tipi, je prav

možno, da je zašla tudi v

mamila.

»Malo prej sem se pogovar-

jal z njeno cimro. Spraše-

vala me je zanjo.«

»Kdo? Njena cimra?«

»Ta, ki z njo stanuje. Pravi,

da je ni že dva dni. Za eno

noč se je že morda tudi prej

kdaj zadržala na kakšni

žurki, sicer pa ji je za daljše

odsotnosti prej povedala.

To pot pa je kar naenkrat

ni več.«

»Ali je morda kazala kakšna

samomorilska nagnjenja?«

Moral sem si priti čim prej

na jasno. »Bi lahko naredila

samomor?«

»Hja, prifliknjena je

dovolj.« Koščeni poba se je

idiotsko zasmejal. Še bolj

predirno sem ga pogledal,

pa ni bilo videti, da bi to

mojega potepuškega sogo-

vornika, morda je bil le

malo starejši študent, kaj

posebno motilo, celo prav

prostodušno se je na ves

225

ted from this grungy type – actually he may have been just a slightly older student. “By my standards I would say that she has gone a little too far.”“By your standards?” His bony, unshaven face with its centimetre-long stubble, and the fact that he was clearly under the influence of alcohol, meant that it was hard to take him seriously. It was difficult to imagine him having standards of any kind. My doubts must have been sufficiently visible on my face for him to see what I was thinking, despite the state he was clearly in.“Yes. Even by my stan-dards she has gone a little too far. And that’s not good.” “It certainly isn’t,” I inter-rupted. I couldn’t waste any more time. “Where can I find her?”His thin face grew seri-ous as he pondered his answer.

glas zasmejal, čeprav je

bil tak smeh zadnje, kar bi

pričakoval od njega. »Vsaj

po mojih merilih bi dejal,

da je šla malo predaleč.«

»Po tvojih merilih?« Suhi, že

kar koščeni neobriti obraz,

s centimeter dolgimi koci-

nami, je pod vplivom zau-

žitega alkohola deloval vse

prej kot resno. Težko si je

bilo predstavljati, da ima

tip sploh kakšna merila.

Vsekakor pa je moral moj

pogled dovolj jasno izra-

žati moje pomisleke, da jih

je razbral celo sogovornik

kljub vsej svoji siceršnji,

vsaj na zunaj očitni odso-

tnosti.

»Da. Tudi po mojih kriteri-

jih je šla malo predaleč. In

to ni dobro. . .«

»Prav gotovo, da ne,« sem

ga prekinil, ker nisem smel

več izgubljati časa. »Kje jo

lahko dobim?«

Suhljati obraz se je

ponovno zresnil v tuhta-

nju možnega odgovora.

226

“If it was a question of sui-cide, which Zaza is certa-inly capable of, there is a place that she has someti-mes dropped hints about. She mentioned it a few times. I never really paid much attention but beca-use she repeated it so often it stuck in my head.”“Can you take me there? I’ll pay you. I’d like to give you something for your trouble.” I placed two hundred euros on the table. I was prepa-red to pay more if need be. But if I hadn’t misjudged this kid and his friends, this was already quite a lot of money for the favour I was asking. “Is it enough?”The skinny kid looked at the banknotes, then at me, and then back at the money, and indicated that I should add a little more. I put down another two hundred euros, and that seemed to satisfy him. He jumped nimbly to his feet, all his lethargy gone.

»Če bi šlo za samomor, kar

je Gigi prav gotovo zmožna

narediti, obstaja kraj, vsaj

po mojem mnenju, o kate-

rem je večkrat govorila

z namigi. Nekajkrat ga je

omenjala, pa mi je bilo

glede tega doslej precej

vseeno, toda ker je to že

tolikokrat ponovila, sem si

ga celo zapomnil.«

»Me lahko odpelješ tja?

Plačam. Prav rad povr-

nem za trud.« Na mizo

sem položil dvesto evrov.

Pripravljen sem bil seveda

dati več, in to bi po potrebi

tudi storil. Glede na mojo

oceno sogovornika in nje-

gove druščine pa je bila že

ta vsota za tako uslugo kar

precejšnja. »Je dovolj?«

Koščeni poba je pogle-

dal bankovce, nato mene

in spet bankovce ter

namignil, naj kaj malega

dodam, in ko sem priložil

še dvesto evrov, je nami-

gnil, da so naredili nanj

pozitiven vtis, ter se tako

gibčno privzdignil, kot da

bi vsa zaležana odsotnost

padla z njega.

227

“Okay. But you mustn’t be disappointed if by any chance she hasn’t killed herself yet. Anything is possible with her.” “I won’t be disappointed. Actually that’s exactly what I’m afraid of.”

* * *

Stubbly Chin stepped onto a path running off to the side towards some bushes below the branches of trees that extended over the beaten track. “Over there, to that tree. A little further on is the pre-cipice. If she’s here, that’s where she’ll be. And now – I’ll go, or you can, wha-tever you prefer. Or we could all go together.”That wouldn’t do. “No, I prefer to go alone.” In her tense and highly emotional state, she didn’t know herself what she was

»No, prav. Toda ne smete

biti razočarani, če po

naključju še ni naredila

samomora. Kajti pri njej je

možno vse.«

»Ne bom razočaran. Prav-

zaprav se ravno tega

bojim.«

* * *

Kocina je stopil na stran-

sko pot do grmičevja pod

vejami, iztegnjenimi nad

izhojeno potjo. »Tjale

do tistega drevesa. Malo

naprej so tiste prepadne

stene. Če je, je tukaj. Zdaj

pa - ali grem jaz tja ali vi,

kakor želite. Lahko gremo

tudi vsi skupaj.«

To ne bi bilo dobro. »Ne,

bom raje šel sam.« V skrajno

napetem čustvenem stanju

še sama ne ve, kaj naredi.

228

doing. If she hadn’t done it already. She was the sort of person whose emoti-ons could very quickly get the better of her, and there was no telling what direction her mood would take. But then she could also calm down again for a while, almost to the point of apathy. At least as far as I could remember.“First I’ll ask her the way and then say something about how people meet in the strangest places,” I went on, “and before she has a chance to think about the actual probability of a chance encounter I’ll alre-ady have got her talking.”“Hmm!” Stubble Chin shot a glance at me. “Inte-resting.” That was all he said. The simplicity of my plan even enticed a smile of ackno-wledgement from him.I walked forwards and stopped by the tree. The outline of a female figure should appear at any moment, but I couldn’t

Če že ni storila? Pri njej so

čustva hitro vzkipela, in

to v eno ter takoj zatem v

nasprotno stran. Potem

se je lahko tudi umirila,

za nekaj časa, in to skoraj

do otopelosti. Vsaj po spo-

minu sodeč, bi ji že lahko

prisodil kaj takega.

»Najprej jo bom povprašal

za pot, pa kje vse se ljudje

srečajo, v tem smislu,« sem

nadaljeval, »ker preden bo

lahko premislila o dejan-

ski verjetnosti naključ-

nega srečanja, jo bom že

zapletel v pogovor.«

»Hm!« Kocina me je ošvr-

knil s pogledom izpod oči.

»Zanimivo.« Pravzaprav je

bilo to vse, kar je dejal. Pre-

prostost mojega naklepa

mu je celo izvabila nasmeh

priznanja.

Stopil sem naprej, ob dre-

vesu zastal, obris ženskega

lika bi se mi moral vsak

čas pokazati, pa ga ni bilo

229

see it. I moved forwards carefully. Still nothing. No-one. I reached the edge of the precipice and looked around. It was dark. Very dark. And this undergrowth, which made everything darker still. I looked down. It would not do to slip over the edge. I’d probably kill myself. I leant a little further for-wards. I really would kill myself, in all likelihood. Involuntarily I drew back, although the ground bene-ath my feet was perfec-tly solid. “There really is something a bit creepy about this place,” I mut-tered to myself and shook my head to get rid of irra-tional thoughts of suicide.As I was moved my head I saw out of the corner of my eye the dark outline of something that was not part of a bush. Instinctively I turned in that direction. It had to be her. Someone was sitting under the bush. And this someone was watching me in silence.

videti. Previdno sem se

pomaknil naprej, še vedno

nič, nikjer nikogar, vse

do roba prepada sem že

prišel, spet pogledal nao-

krog, temno je bilo, pre-

sneto, pa grmičevje, pod

katerim je bilo vse še bolj

temno. Ozrl sem se nav-

zdol. Hja, ne bi bilo dobro

pasti čez rob. Najbrž bi se

res ubil. Še malo sem se

nagnil naprej. Res bi se

ubil. Vsaj po vsej verjetno-

sti. Nehote sem se nekoliko

umaknil, čeprav so bila tla

pod mojimi nogami kar

trda. »Povsem nedolžen pa

ta kraj res ni,« sem si zamo-

mljal v brado ter odkimal

v zavračanju meni nerazu-

mljivega samomorilskega

početja.

In tedaj sem v trenutku

močnejšega obrata glave s

kotičkom očesa ujel teman

obris nečesa, kar ni bilo

sestavni del grma. Instink-

tivno sem se obrnil v tisto

smer. Ona je moral biti.

Vsekakor je nekdo sedel

pod grmom. Čisto tiho me

je ta nekdo opazoval.

230

“Hey!” I waved my hand in greeting. “It would be pretty easy to take a wrong turning here, wouldn’t it?”“Yes,” replied a woman’s voice.“In daylight these paths were clear enough, but now in the dark it’s all dif-ferent. It’s easy to get lost here, isn’t it?”“Yes.”“Actually I’ve already gone a little too far from the path.” I moved over to the figure huddled in the shade of the bushes. She was sitting on the ground, her arms round her knees, which were pulled up to her chin, and she was staring in front of her. As though she didn’t want to be dis-turbed or, more likely, she was simply waiting for me to move on, or go back. In any case she showed no signs of wanting to talk. But I showed no signs of wanting to leave. She might not have realised

»Hej!« sem ob rahlem gibu

roke pozdravil. »Tu pa

lahko kar hitro zdrsneš v

nepravo smer, kaj?«

»Da,« mi je pritrdil ženski

glas.

»Podnevi so mi bile te poti

kar jasne, zdaj v temi pa je

vse drugače. Tu se hitro

izgubiš, kajne?«

»Da,« sem spet dobil v potr-

dilo svojega ugibanja.

»Pravzaprav sem že malo

preveč zavil s poti.« Prima-

knil sem se k ženskemu

liku, stisnjenemu v senci

grmovja. Tam je sedela na

tleh, z rokami okoli kolen,

privitih vse do brade,

naslonjene nanje, in gle-

dala predse. Kot da se ne

pusti motiti ali pa je, kar

je bilo še bolj verjetno, le

čakala, da grem naprej,

mimo, ali nazaj. Vsekakor

ni kazala nobene volje

za pogovor. Toda tudi jaz

nisem kazal nobene volje

za odhod, česar se najbrž

ni dalo takoj razbrati,

231

this at first, but when I sat down my decision to stay put must have become painfully obvious to her. The outlines of the woman in the dark changed from perfect stillness to a slight movement, as though she was intending to stand up. Then, suddenly indecisive, she sat back down under her bush.“How does one actually get down from here?” I asked her in the calm voice of someone out for an eve-ning stroll, pointing in the direction of the precipice.“You have to go that way,” she explained, with a movement of her hand in the direction from which I had come.”“Oh, really?” “As far as that tree, and then down.” This explanation was given in a slightly more communicative tone of voice. At least that was my impression.“And what’s down here, a precipice or what?” I con-

toda potem, ko sem prise-

del, je ta moja odločenost

morala postati zanjo že kar

moteče prisotna. Obrisi

ženske v temi so iz čistega

mirovanja prešli v razno-

liko gibanje z nakazano

namero vstajanja ter nato

v nekakšno neodločnost s

ponovnim umikom nazaj

v grmovje.

»Kako se pravzaprav pride

dol?« sem jo vprašal z

mirnim glasom večernega

sprehajalca med kazanjem

z roko v smeri prepada, ne

meneč se za njene odzive.

»Tja morate iti,« mi je poja-

snila z gibom roke v smeri,

iz katere sem prispel.

»Aja?«

»Do tistega drevesa, potem

navzdol,« sem dobil še

natančnejše pojasnilo.

To je bilo že povedano

v bolj komunikativnem

tonu. Vsaj jaz sem dobil tak

vtis.

»Pa kaj je tu spodaj, prepad

ali kaj?« sem poprijel v obi-

232

tinued in my conversatio-nal way.“Yes,” came the brief reply. It was too dark to recognise her face. Zaza’s face was coming back to me, in all its details, and I was already trying to make out the familiar fea-tures in the dark. When she eventually moved slightly forwards, only a little but at least out of the extra darkness of those bushes, her face appeared for a few moments that were all I needed. It really was her. I had sensed it all along. She would surely have recognised me too, if she hadn’t been staring in front of her.“You’d break every bone in your body if you fell down here, right? I mean, if you slipped.” As I threw out this com-ment I looked at her. It must have been obvious to her that I was expecting her to reply, but instead she moved forwards slightly, and then, as I continued to

čajnem pogovornem tonu

izletnikov.

»Da,« je spet kratko odgovo-

rila ženska. Vseeno je bilo

pretemno za razpoznava-

nje obraza. Gigin obraz

mi je zrasel iz spomina v

vseh svojih posebnostih,

tako da sem skozi temo že

iskal znane obrise. In ko

se je končno nekoliko bolj

zganila ter nagnila naprej,

sicer le za malo, toda ven-

darle iz dodatne senčne

teme tistega grmičevja, se

je njen obraz le pokazal

za nekaj trenutkov, ki so

povsem zadostovali. Res

je bila ona. Sicer sem že

ves čas imel tak občutek.

Pa tudi ona je že morala

mene spoznati, čeprav je

vztrajno gledala predse.

»Vse kosti bi si polomil

pri padcu tu dol, kajne?

Mislim reči, če bi zdrsnil

dol,« sem navrgel svoje

glasno razmišljanje med

oziranjem vanjo v priča-

kovanju odgovora, to pa je

očitno tudi ona opazila in

se zato namesto odgovora

233

look at her, she moved for-ward again – but without leaving the shade of the bush. “You would kill yourself,” she said in a calm voice, although there was no doubting her sincerity.Hmm,” I thought to myself. If I could find a way to contradict her on some pretext, she might actually start talking. Would it work?“I reckon you’d get away with a few nasty brui-ses.” I stretched my neck for a better view over the precipice and shook my head. What I had just said was ridiculous. You really would kill yourself.“A good thing you’re not planning to commit suicide,” I went on, in a transparent attempt to be witty.“No.” Her reply was imme-diate. And, once again, brief. Too brief, at least for my taste. There seemed to be some anger in her voice at my invasion of her pri-

nekoliko premaknila ter

se po mojem vztrajnem

motrenju še močneje zga-

nila, sicer še vedno pod

grmom, in potem spet

povsem mirno obsedela.

»Ubili bi se,« me je opozo-

rila z mirno odsotnostjo,

vendar z občutno gotovo-

stjo glede svojih besed.

»Hm,« sem se zamislil. Če bi

ji malo nasprotoval z doda-

janjem raznih argumen-

tov, bi se že lahko začela

pogovarjati. Morda?

»Po moje bi se najverjetneje

samo krepko polomil.«

Iztegnil sem vrat za boljši

pogled nad prepadom ter

zmajal z glavo. Pravo neu-

mnost sem bleknil. Res bi

se ubil.

»Sicer pa, saj ne mislite

delati samomora,« sem

nadaljeval v očitni želji po

dajanju duhovitih opazk.

»Ne.« Njen odgovor je bil

takojšen. In spet kratek.

Prehiter, vsaj za moj okus.

Pa tudi kar nekaj jeze sem

zaznal v njenem glasu

zaradi mojega nasilnega

234

vacy. Then she made some rapid movements, calmed down again, and then stood up with a jerk, so suddenly that I jumped to my feet and took a quick step towards the preci-pice.“No,” she repeated, more decisively and more angrily. “But what’s that to you?”“Wait a minute! We know each other! What a small world!” I was waving my arms as though in surprise at the coincidence. “What are you doing here?” “Me?” Well, I was going along that path there” – I pointed in the direction I had come from – “and then I turned this way.” “How can you be such an idiot as to walk along a path like this in the middle of the night?”“Yes, well. It’s been a while since we’ve seen each other, hasn’t it?”“Yes.” “You know what, we were

vdiranja v njeno zaseb-

nost. Nato je naredila

nekaj hitrejših gibov, se

spet umirila, potem pa

sunkovito vstala, in to tako

nenadoma, da sem skočil

na noge in naredil hiter

korak proti prepadu.

»Ne,« je ponovila s še

bolj odločnim in jeznim

glasom. »Pa kaj vas to

briga?«

»Oho! Pa saj midva se

poznava! Glej no, kje se

srečava!« Še zakrilil sem z

rokami od presenečenja

nad takim naključjem.

»Kaj delaš tukaj?«

»A jaz? Ja, jaz sem šel po

tisti poti tam,« sem z roko

pokazal v smeri svojega

prihoda, »potem pa sem

zavil še sem. . . «

»Kako moreš sredi noči

hoditi po taki poti kot

zmešan osel?«

»Hja. No, ja. Zdaj se pa že

kar nekaj časa nisva videla,

kajne?«

»Da.«

»Veš, prav včeraj smo se

235

talking about you just yesterday, in connection with the female role in that play, what’s it called? Well anyway, they were looking for an interesting female character and I mentioned you to them.”“Me? You?”“Yes, sure. Why, does that seem strange? There’s an interesting provocati-veness in you. I’m being perfectly serious. You are exactly the type of woman we were talking about. I don’t mean that you would have to play yourself, far from it, but the provoca-tion that the actress would need to communicate to the audience is something that you could do very convincingly.“Me?”“Yes.”“You mean to say that you’re involved in the the-atre, too?” Zaza shifted nervously from one foot to the other. “What are you actually talking about?”“How do you mean what

pogovarjali o tebi, v zvezi

z ženskim likom za tisto

gledališko igro, kako se ji

že reče. . .? No, ja, zanimiv

ženski lik so iskali, pa sem

jim omenil prav tebe.«

»Mene? Ti?«

»Ja, jaz, seveda. Zakaj se ti

zdi to čudno? V sebi nosiš

zanimivo provokacijo. Pa

tudi sicer mislim povsem

resno. Prav o tvojem tipu

ženske je bil govor. Ne

mislim reči, da bi morala

igrati sebe, daleč od tega,

toda provokacijo, ki naj

bi jo igralka posredovala

občinstvu, bi ti znala

narediti najbolj prepri-

čljivo.«

»Jaz?«

»Da.«

»Misliš reči, da se razumeš

tudi na gledališče?« Gigi se

je nervozno prestopala. »O

čem pa pravzaprav govo-

riš?«

»Kako - o čem? Na tvojem

236

am I talking about? In your place I would be interested in this part.” I looked at her, completely convinced by my own words. Zaza looked at me doubt-fully, as though wondering whether what I was saying wasn’t simply a load of rubbish. She still didn’t believe me. No way. But as she was considering, the expression on her face changed, as though her certainty of the futility of everything – and that must have been one of the fun-damental and most consi-stent constants of her tho-ughts in the last few days, and above all in the last few hours – had suddenly lost its sting. And then she didn’t want to reveal her indecisiveness to an old acquaintance. Especially not to me. And the fact that last time we met she had managed to annoy me must have come back to her in a flash, because for a moment I thought I saw a spark in her eyes.

mestu bi se pozanimal za

to vlogo.« Gledal sem jo

popolnoma prepričan o

svojih besedah.

Gigi me je pogledala v

dvomu, ali morda res ni

vse skupaj, kar govorim,

zgolj čista neumnost. Sicer

pa mi še vedno ni verjela.

Nikakor ne. Toda med

pomišljanjem se je izraz na

njenem obrazu spremenil,

kot da bi njeno prepriča-

nje o nesmiselnosti vsega,

in to je moralo biti ena od

temeljnih in najbolj vztraj-

nih stalnic njenega raz-

mišljanja v zadnjih dneh

in še posebej v zadnjih

urah, izgubilo svojo ost. Pa

tudi svoje neodločnosti ni

hotela kazati pred starim

znancem. Še posebej ne

pred mano. In da me je

takrat le uspela malo zamo-

riti, ji je ob tem najinem

srečanju najbrž moralo

ponovno v utrinku preiti

skozi misli, ker so ji v očeh

za trenutek zaplesale malo

bolj živahne iskrice.

237

“So what’s your connec-tion with these theatre types?” she asked after an initial silence during which she looked away from me.“Well, you know, I’ve been a regular theatre-goer for quite a few years.” I smiled at her. That had actually been true, at one time. That was another reason why I was able to answer her question so readily. I had made a good start but now I needed to talk a bit more about that female character. The cha-racter of a slightly crazy woman, in other words. Yes. I carried on smiling as I racked my brains to think of a suitable charac-ter from the various plays I had seen. It was a shame I had stopped going to the theatre after I broke up with Mia. That was back when I was a student. But now I couldn’t lay it on too thick. I had to be especi-ally careful about giving my own opinions – telling

»Kaj pa imaš s temi gle-

dališčniki?« je vprašala

kljub začetnemu molku

med odsotnim strmenjem

vstran od mene.

»Ja, saj veš, da sem precej

let redno obiskoval gledali-

ške predstave.« Nasmehnil

sem se ji. Res sem jih nekaj

časa celo redno obiskoval,

to mi je ostalo še živo v spo-

minu. Zato mi je tudi tako

hitro prišlo z jezika. Dobro

sem začel. Še o tistem žen-

skem liku bi moral kaj

spregovoriti. Se pravi, gre

za lik malo prifliknjene

avše. Da. Smehljal sem se

pa seveda še naprej, čeprav

mi v spomin ni hotelo priti

nič ustreznega iz vide-

nih gledaliških iger. Res

škoda, da sem po razhodu

z Mojco prenehal hoditi v

gledališče. Takrat so bila

pač študentska leta. Zdaj

pa tudi ne smem preveč

nakladati. Še posebej s

temi svojimi mnenji ali,

bolje rečeno, s tem govor-

238

her that the part was made for her. Although there must be a play somewhere with a character like that, and it wouldn’t be hard for the Sensins to stage it if necessary. I though about this for a bit. They could do her this little favour in exchange for her coopera-tion. Yes, and something else too…“It’s nice here, isn’t it? It’s so peaceful.” I decided to change the subject.“And what excited you most about this female character?” asked Zaza, who apparently hadn’t heard my last words.“Ah, that female character, yes.” I racked my brains but I simply couldn’t think of a crazy enough female character. Something similar would have to do. But I couldn’t think of any similar roles either. And I wasn’t going to. It was too much for me, suddenly having to try and think of crazy female characters.

jenjem o vlogi, pisani na

njeno kožo, moram biti

previden. Čeprav neka gle-

dališka igra s takim likom

že mora biti nekje in Čuti-

nom tudi ne bo težko pri-

praviti predstave. Če bo

treba. Nekoliko sem pre-

mislil vse skupaj. Za sode-

lovanje ji že lahko naredijo

to manjšo uslugo. Hja, in

še kaj zraven…

»Sicer je pa lepo tukaj,

kajne? Tak mir je,« sem

prešel na drugo temo.

»In kaj te je pri tistem žen-

skem liku najbolj vznemi-

rilo?« je vprašala Gigi, ki

je očitno preslišala moje

zadnje besede.

»Hja, tisti ženski lik, ja,«

sem napel možgane. Tako

prifliknjenega ženskega

lika se nikakor nisem

mogel domisliti. Sicer bi

zadostovalo kaj podob-

nega. Pa tudi česa takega

se nisem mogel spomniti.

In se tudi ne bom spo-

mnil. Kar naenkrat tako

povpraševanje po prifli-

knjenih ženskih likih. Že

239

Zaza was already a big enough problem. Not just difficult: too difficult. And suddenly I needed to find a suitably crazy female role for her. No, I would stick to her. Let the Sensins write a part for her. That would be the best thing. With all their abilities, let them write it! When I came to think about it, the testing at the seventy-seven doors was also theatrical in a way. They mimicked eve-rything. Live. But now they had that hologram film in which I had to play my own role. And this crazy girl here had to play her role. And now she wanted to know what kind of crazy character there was in this play that I had had to go and men-tion to her. All right: I would describe it to her. The more comments she makes, the better for her. “I can give you a basic outline of the character.” I looked around me to find

Gigi je bila zame več kot

dovolj težak problem. Ne

le težak, ampak že pre-

težak. In nenadoma bi

potreboval še en prifli-

knjen ženski lik. Ne, kar

pri njej bom ostal. Pa naj

Čutini napišejo gledališko

vlogo za tak tip igralke, kot

je ona. Da, to bo še najbo-

lje. Pri vseh teh njihovih

sposobnostih naj jo kar

napišejo! Sicer pa je tisto

preverjanje pri 77 vratih

postavljeno tudi na pod-

lagi neke vrste gledališke

igre. Saj so vse posneli.

Resda v živo. Ampak zdaj

imajo ta hologramski

film, v katerem moram jaz

odigrati svojo vlogo. Ta

avša tukaj pa svojo. Zdaj

pa jo zanima, kakšen tip

prifliknjene avše je v oni

gledališki igri, ki sem ji jo

moral navreči. Prav, pa ji

ga bo opisal. Več pripomb

bo dala, bolje zanjo.

»Nekaj osnovnih značaj-

skih obrisov pa ti res lahko

nakažem.«

Pogledal sem okoli sebe in

240

somewhere more comfor-table to sit and then turned back to Zaza: “Some deta-ils are quite funny. In one scene she’s dancing with one guy and flirting with another, and in another scene she’s dancing with the second guy and flirting with a third, or something like that.” I laughed, and Zaza smiled for the first time. “Do you remember?” she asked quietly.“What?”“That evening, at the party.”“Oh, sure.”“I thought so. That’s why you immediately thought of me, when you saw this scene?”“Do you think so?”Zaza laughed. “Absolutely. It came from your subcon-scious.”“From my subconsci-ous? Hmm. Maybe you’re right.”“Yes. Let’s go over here.” Zaza stepped back to a place more suitable for

nazaj po bolj udobni name-

stitvi ter se spet obrnil

h Gigi: »Nekaj detajlov je

prav zabavnih. V nekem

prizoru pleše z enim

tipom in hofira z drugim, v

drugem pa pleše z drugim

in hofira s tretjim, ali nekaj

takega.«

Zasmejal sem se in tudi

Gigi se je prvič nasmeh-

nila.

»Se še spomniš?« je mirno

vprašala.

»Česa?«

»Tistega večera, ko smo

žurirali.«

»Aja, seveda, ja, tudi.«

»Se mi je zdelo. Zato si se

takoj spomnil name, ko si

videl to sceno.«

»Misliš?«

Gigi se je zasmejala. »Prav

gotovo. Iz podzavesti ti je

prišlo.«

»Iz podzavesti? Hm. Morda

pa res.«

»Da. Greva sem.« Gigi je

stopila nazaj do mesta, bolj

primernega za sproščen

241

a relaxed conversation. There was some grass and a slight mound, and even a piece of rock to lean aga-inst.“I remember how you smiled,” I went on. “How did you do that?” “You mean flirting with you when I was dancing with Matt?” “Yes.”“Like this.” In an instant, Zaza chan-ged utterly. Her whole face became animated and roguish. Playful too. Yes, that’s exactly how it was. I remembered.“And you know what I did after he dragged me away from you?”“What?”“I was surprised. I didn’t like him. And then I looked at you. Like this, look.”“Wow, you really do remember everything. That’s exactly how it was.”“And then I went into the kitchen.” Zaza was becoming ani-

pogovor. Nekaj trave pa še

nekaj grbine in še del skale

za naslon je bil tam.

»Spomnim tvojega smeha,«

sem nadaljeval. »Kako si že

naredila tisto?«

»Misliš spogledovanje s

tabo med plesom z Mate-

vžem?«

»Da.«

»Takole.« Gigi se je v tre-

nutku povsem spremenila.

Ves njen obraza je postal

živahno nagajiv. Tudi igriv.

Da, prav tak je bil tedaj,

sem se spomnil.

»In veš, kaj sem naredila

potem, ko me je povlekel

stran od tebe?«

»Kaj?«

»Presenečena sem bila. Ni

mi bil všeč. In potem sem

pogledala tebe. Takole,

glej, kajne?«

»Hm, pa se res še vsega

spominjaš. Natanko tako

je bilo.«

»Potem sem pa šla v kuhi-

njo.« Gigi se je razživela.

242

mated. She was beginning to relive the whole expe-rience. She remembered every detail and matched it so faithfully to the cor-responding facial expres-sion that I found myself nodding in agreement. This was more than I had expected. I had got what I wanted, and so quickly that I was bubbling with ent-husiasm. This was exactly what I needed. I tried to commit to memory every nuance of her expressions. And after each scene that she re-enacted, I looked her with such unfeigned enthusiasm that this undo-ubtedly made her even keener to relive every last detail of the events at the party. I was the audience that Zaza had always dre-amed of. Every detail that she acted out interested me, and I followed even the slightest grimace and contortion of her face with such genuine enthusiasm that she was soon thoroug-hly absorbed in her perfor-

Pravzaprav je začela vse

skupaj podoživljati. Spo-

mnila se je vsake podrob-

nosti in jo tako zvesto

pospremila z ustreznim

izrazom na obrazu, da sem

ji priznavajoče prikimaval.

To je bilo več, kot sem bil

pričakoval. Tako hitro sem

dobil želeno, da mi je nav-

dušenje kar samo od sebe

privrelo na površje. Prav

to sem potreboval. Vsak

odtenek izraza na njenem

obrazu sem si sproti vti-

snil v spomin. In po vsaki

njeni odigrani sceni sem

jo pogledal s takim prav

nič igranim navdušenjem,

da ji je najbrž že to izvabilo

še večjo željo po oživlja-

nju majhnih zapletov na

tistem žuru. Vsekakor sem

bil občinstvo, kot si ga je

Gigi lahko le želela. Vsaka

podrobnost njene igre me

je zanimala in skoraj vsako

rahlo nakremženje njenih

ustnic sem pospremil s

toliko navdušenja, in to

brez sprenevedanja, da jo

je igra povsem prevzela. Šla

243

mance. We went through all the details. For the time being at least, I was unable to think of anything else that we might have forgot-ten. I needed to go over it all again in case I had overlo-oked something: accuracy was essential, since even a trifling error could be disa-strous. The sort of detail that hadn’t even occurred to me could be enough to ruin everything. Irrevoca-bly. I pondered everything once again and then shru-gged and gave a cheer-ful laugh. Wow! I really hadn’t expected it to go smoothly. That was it: we had reached the end. We lay back, on our elbows, staring at the sky. We had earned a little break.Then Zaza, suddenly serious again, pulled her knees up to her chin, wrapped her arms round her legs and sat there in

sva skozi vse podrobnosti.

Vsaj za zdaj se nisem spo-

mnil nobene pozabljene

podrobnosti. Presneto.

Potem bo sicer treba

še vse skupaj premisliti

zaradi morebitnega spre-

gleda kakšne pomembne

podrobnosti in zaradi

nujne natančnosti, ker

so tudi malenkosti lahko

usodne. Take, na kakršne

niti ne pomisliš, potem

pa je lahko vse narobe.

Usodno narobe. Še enkrat

sem vse pretuhtal in nato

zmignil z glavo ter se že

kar prešerno zasmejal. Ti,

hudir, ti! Še zdaleč nisem

pričakoval, da mi bo šlo

tako gladko od rok. Da, vse

do konca sva prišla. Potem

sva se naslonila nazaj, na

komolce, s pogledom, pri-

vzdignjenim v nebo. Za

majhen predah.

Gigi pa si je nenadoma,

ponovno zresnjena, pote-

gnila kolena nazaj pod

brado ter se oklenila skrče-

nih nog. In potem je umol-

244

silence. My thoughts kept going back to that party and to the details that I still had to consider while Zaza was still available to me. After that I would be left to my own devices. But I already knew what to do and how, although I still needed to ponder the whole thing a little longer. I looked at Zaza. She was staring in front of her with an absent expression. A closer look showed that tears were sliding slowly down her face.“You’re not crying, are you?” I asked her. “Why on earth?” Then I remembered her rapid changes of mood, and also her reason for coming to this place – in all likeli-hood – and I forced myself to try and find the most suitable words to cheer her up again. “What’s the matter?” I began in a more com-forting tone. I sincerely

knila, meni pa so se misli

še kar naprej vračale na

tisto žurko in na podrob-

nosti, ki sem jih moral pre-

misliti, dokler mi je Gigi

še dosegljiva. Potem bom

prepuščen sam sebi. Toda

zdaj sem že vedel, kaj in

kako, pa čeprav bom moral

vse skupaj še nekoliko pre-

tuhtati. Ozrl sem se v Gigi.

Zamaknjeno je zrla predse

in ko sem jo še natančneje

pogledal, sem lahko opazil

počasno drsenje solz po

njenem obrazu.

»Mar jokaš?« sem jo vpra-

šal. »Zakaj pa?« Potem pa

sem se le spomnil njene

sposobnosti hitrega spre-

minjanja razpoloženja in

nato še na razlog njenega

prihoda na ta kraj, vsaj

po vsej verjetnosti, tako

da sem se še sam zresnil

v iskanju najprimernejših

besed za ponovno vzposta-

vitev malo bolj živahnega

vzdušja.

»Kaj je narobe?« sem začel z

bolj tolažilnim tonom. ker

sem ji iskreno želel poma-

245

wanted to help her. I had to do something for her.“Nothing.”“I mean, it’s nice here, isn’t it?”But Zaza carried on sta-ring in front of her, altho-ugh the vicinity of my face bent towards her was stopping her from sinking into absent isolation.“What you’re saying is all rubbish. It’s just words. You haven’t got a clue about theatre.”“Why are you saying this now? How have you sud-denly come to that conclu-sion? Just like that…”“It’s all just a waste of time.”“What do you mean, a waste of time? Why should everything be a waste of time?”“The truth is something completely different.”“And what is this truth?”“Nothing.” Zaza wiped the tears from her cheeks. “I am so insignificant.”“What? Insignificant? What are you saying?”

gati. Moral sem narediti

nekaj zanjo.

»Nič.«

»Saj je kar prijetno tukaj,

ali ne?«

Toda Gigi je še naprej

zrla predse, čeprav ji bli-

žina mojega primaknje-

nega obraza ni dopuščala

pogrezanja v odsotno osa-

mljenost.

»Nič ni s tem, kar govo-

riš. Zgolj lepe besede, da.

O gledališču pa nimaš

pojma.«

»Zakaj pa zdaj to? Kako

nenadoma prideš do take

ugotovitve? In to kar tako,

mimogrede…«

»Vse skupaj je brez zveze.«

»Kako brez zveze? Zakaj pa

naj bi bilo vse skupaj brez

zveze?«

»Resnica je nekaj čisto dru-

gega.«

»In kaj je ta resnica?«

»Nič.« Gigi si je obrisala

solze z lic. »Tako nepo-

membna sem.«

»Kako? Nepomembna? Kaj

pa govoriš?«

246

“If I were to die now, no-one would even notice.”“Are you crazy? Of course they’d notice. And not just one person.”“You’re just saying that! I know it.”“You can’t even imagine how many of them there are.” I spread my arms expansively. “And you are incredibly important!”Zaza sniffed, wiped her tears again while glancing over at me, and then once again buried her chin in her knees.I remained motionless. Despite my recent out-break of happiness at my successful progress, I felt as though I had hit a wall. This was too much! After everything that had happe-ned…Zaza slowly turned towards me and raised her head until we were loo-king directly at each other. She shook her head doub-tfully. Then she lowered

»Če zdaj umrem, ne bo

tega nihče niti opazil.«

»Se ti meša? Še kako bi opa-

zili. Pa ne le eden.«

»Ti kar govori! Jaz že dobro

vem.«

»Še sanja se ti ne, koliko

jih je.« Prostodušno sem

razširil roke. »Pa še kako si

pomembna!«

Gigi je narahlo posmrkala,

si med bežnim pogledova-

njem prek mojega obraza

še enkrat obrisala solze

ter se znova zarila z brado

med primaknjena kolena.

Ostal sem negiben. V

meni je vse zastalo kljub

pravkaršnjim izbruhom

veselja do življenja zaradi

uspešnega napredovanja

k zastavljenemu cilju. Ta je

pa debela! Po vsem, kar se

je zgodilo…

Gigi je počasi obrnila

pogled nazaj k meni in

nato začudeno privzdi-

gnila glavo, dokler si nisva

zrla iz oči v oči, in neje-

verno je odkimala. Potem

247

her eyes again. I watched her anxiously.“You know, Peter, I have a feeling for people.” Her voice was calm again.“Oh yes?” That didn’t sound very understanding so I immediately rectified: “I mean: of course you have.”“You’re a strange person, Peter.”“Ha!” I laughed cheerfully. I wasn’t even sure myself whether my cheerfulness was real or pretend.“With you it’s hard to tell when you’re bluffing and when you’re being seri-ous. It’s strange.” Zaza shook her head at what she seemed to think was a puz-zling contradiction. “How can you get so enthusiastic all of a sudden? I’ve never seen someone get so exci-ted about stirring up a few old memories as you did just now.”

je spet odmaknila pogled

in se znova zazrla vame,

jaz pa sem jo gledal močno

vznemirjen in najbrž z

začudenjem na obrazu,

čeprav bolj instinktivno in

le za nekaj hipov.

»Veš, Peter, imam občutek

za ljudi,« je spet z bolj umir-

jenim glasom dejala Gigi.

»Aja!« mi je sprva ušlo nič

kaj razumevajoče, tako da

sem se takoj popravil: »To

pa vsekakor.«

»Čuden človek si, Peter.«

»Hah!« sem se zasmejal s

poudarjenim veseljem.

Sicer bolj zaigrano, ali

pa tudi ne, še sam nisem

vedel natanko.

»To, kdaj blefiraš in kdaj

ne, je pri tebi tako čudno.«

Gigi je odkimavala v pou-

darjenem nerazumevanju

neskladja, ugotovljenega

po njenem mnenju. »Kako

se lahko kar naenkrat tako

navdušiš? Da bi se kdo

tako razživel ob obujanju

spominov, kot si se malo

prej ti, zlepa še nisem doži-

vela.«

248

“What about you? Didn’t you get excited?” I replied defensively. When did she have the chance to observe me? She’d been busy acting all the time. But Zaza shook her head: “That’s not it.”Zaza’s reasoning, though perhaps mistaken, was nevertheless perfectly rational in its own way. Her expression had chan-ged considerably too. As though she were studying me. Me? I smiled.“But shouting out that you’re insignificant, that’s just ridiculous.” I grinned at her as we exchanged glances. “Perhaps I’m a little crazy too. I don’t see why I wouldn’t be.”Zaza laughed.“Do you want me to tell you how important you are?” I asked her. I was starting to feel more con-fident again.“Yes.” Zaza was looking at me wide-eyed, like a child.

»Kaj pa ti? Ali ti se nisi

razživela?« sem se nehote

postavil v obrambni polo-

žaj. Kdaj pa me je sploh

opazovala? Saj je kar naprej

samo igrala.

Toda Gigi je odkimavala:

»To ni to.«

Kakor koli, to Gigino raz-

mišljanje je bilo kljub rela-

tivni napačnosti vendarle

po svoje trezno. Tudi njen

pogled je bil precej spre-

menjen. Kot da me pre-

učuje. Mene? Nasmehnil

sem se.

»Ampak ta tvoja izjava, da

si nepomembna, je pa le

debela neumnost.« Zasme-

jal sem se med izmenjavo

najinih pogledov. »Morda

sem pa tudi jaz malo pri-

fliknjen. Ne vem, zakaj ne

bi bil.«

Gigi se je nasmehnila.

»Ali hočeš, da ti povem,

kako pomembna si?« sem

vprašal z znova rastočo

samozavestjo.

»Da.« Gigi me je pogledala

s prav otroško razširjenimi

očmi.

249

“Ha.” The funny side of the situation was beginning to strike me: if I were really to tell her how important she was, she certainly wouldn’t believe me. She wouldn’t believe the real story, which meant that I had to invent something simpler. Perhaps some-thing about the strong impression her acting had made on me and a predic-tion of a successful career for her.I propped myself up on my elbow as comfortably as I could and looked up at sky, where my new fri-ends were waiting for me. I turned to Zaza again. She was looking at me curiously with a mixture of playfulness and expec-tancy.“Yes,” I began, and sto-pped.“Yes?” repeated Zaza.The words wouldn’t come. In the face of such eager anticipation, I had to say something more... I shook my head, then nodded and

»Heh.« Zabavne misli so

me začele obletavati, kajti

če bi ji po resnici povedal,

kako pomembna je, mi

prav gotovo ne bi verjela.

Ničesar od tega, kar je res,

mi ne bi verjela, tako da

sem si moral izmisliti kaj

bolj preprostega. Morda

kaj o močnem vtisu njene

igre name in o mojem zau-

panju v uspešnost njene

kariere.

Naslonil sem se na komo-

lec v čim bolj udoben

položaj, nato pa obrnil

pogled navzgor, kjer so

tisti moji novi prijatelji

čakali name, ter ga spu-

stil nazaj na Gigi. Prav

radovedno me je gledala

z neko mešanico neresne

igrivosti in pričakovanja.

»Da,« sem začel in zastal v

premišljujočem premoru.

»Da?« je ponovila Gigi.

Besede so mi zastajale

na jeziku. Ob tako izra-

ženem pričakovanju sem

že moral povedati nekaj

bolj… Odkimal sem, pa

250

gestured with my free hand. I still couldn’t find the words. I shrugged my shoulders and frowned, forcing myself to think of something. I just couldn’t come up with a reason why she should be impor-tant, or at least important according to her criteria. I looked into Zaza’s big childlike eyes.“Well, the two greatest civilisations in this part of the universe are on the brink of war. And now everything depends on you.”“Oh. This is even more than I imagined. Are they going to fight over me?“No, but a great deal depends on you.”“Great. Although I’d still rather see them fighting over them.”“Everything depends on how convincingly you act,” I continued calmly.“Oh, that really is an important part! I’ve always wanted to play a really important part.” Zaza

prikimal in narahlo odma-

knil prosto roko ter po

ponovno zastali besedi na

jeziku zmignil z rameni, se

nakremžil v razmišljanju

in ko se še vedno nisem

mogel domisliti, zakaj naj

bi bila pomembna ozi-

roma po njenih merilih

pomembna, sem pogledal

v Gigine otroško razprte

oči.

»Veš, dve največji civiliza-

ciji v tem delu vesolja sta

na pragu vojne. In zdaj je

vse odvisno od tebe.«

»Oh. To je pa celo več, kot

sem pričakovala. Se bodo

stepli zame?«

»Ne, ampak marsikaj odlo-

čilnega je odvisno od

tebe.«

»Krasno. Tudi prav, a bi

vseeno raje videla, da bi se

stepli zame.«

»Vse je odvisno od prepri-

čljivosti tvoje igre,« sem

mirno nadaljeval.

»O, to je pa res pomembna

vloga! Vedno sem si želela

igrati v odzivni vlogi.«

251

giggled. “I would have been happy even with a slightly smaller part.”“And then all eyes rested on you…”“And I stepped onto the stage…” “No, no, before that…” “Before? Before, I… hmm, what did I do before that? Peter, you began so well! I’ve always been a good judge of character. But I didn’t think you were so romantic. And on a day like today, when there aren’t even any stars in the sky.”I acknowledged the com-pliment with a slightly ambiguous smile: “Should I carry on?”“Yes.”“Even before that, you car-ried in yourself an emo-tional charge. Actually a great number of emotional charges.”“That’s it: go on, go on! You talk wonderfully, Peter. It’s been a long time since anyone laid it on so thick with me.”

Gigi se je zahihitala. »Tudi

s kakšno manjšo vlogo bi

bila zadovoljna.«

»In potem so se vse oči

uprle vate…«

»Jaz pa sem stopila na oder.

. .«

»Ne, ne, že prej. . .«

»A prej? Prej sem pa. . .

hm, kaj sem že prej? Peter,

kako lepo si začel! Vedno

sem zaupala v svojo spo-

sobnost poznavanja ljudi.

Ampak da si ti tako roman-

tičen, si pa nisem mislila.

In to danes, ko sploh ni

zvezd na nebu.«

Vrnil sem ji priznanje z

rahlo dvoumnim nasme-

hom: »No, naj nadaljujem.«

»Da.«

»Že prej si nosila v sebi

čustveni naboj. Pravza-

prav celo množico čustve-

nih nabojev.«

»O, to pa to. Lepo govoriš,

Peter. Tako mi že dolgo

nihče ni nakladal.«

252

Hmm. Well it was a com-pliment of sorts. Perhaps not the words themselves, but Zaza had said them with such cheerfulness that my confidence conti-nued to grow. “And when you stepped onto the stage, all these emotional charges of yours came out of you through your performance and revealed the incredi-bly variegated world of human experience.”“Human experience? Where do you get these words?”“Yes, you are very impor-tant for them.”“And then I saved the day?”“Not exactly. You won’t be saving anything. It won’t be necessary. You are important because without you we simply can’t go on.”“You can’t go on?”“That’s right. You’re terri-bly important!”“Oh yes? You certainly know how to talk. You’re really convincing. You

Hm. Vseeno je bila to

pohvala. Morda ne besede

same, ampak Gigi jih je

povedala s tako razposa-

jenim veseljem, da se mi

je samozavest še okrepila:

»In ko si stopila na oder,

so vsi tvoji čustveni naboji

prihajali iz tebe skozi igro

ter razkrivali neverjetno

pisan svet človeškega doži-

vljanja.«

»Človeškega doživljanja?

Kje si pa dobil te besede?«

»Da, zelo pomembna si

zanje, da.«

»In potem sem jaz vse

rešila?«

»Ne to. Ti ne boš niče-

sar rešila. Ker to niti ni

potrebno. Ti si pomembna

zato, ker brez tebe prepro-

sto ne moremo naprej.«

»Ne morete naprej?«

»Da, hudičevo si

pomembna!«

»Aja? Ampak govoriti pa

znaš. Nastop pa res imaš.

Ti bi moral biti igralec.

253

should be an actor. There’s so much suggestion in your voice that I almost want to believe you.”I waved my hand noncha-lantly: “I have no ambiti-ons in that direction.”“But that mixture of the earnest and the romantic – you did it so well.” I had to repeat her “oh yes?”, but then I looked at her: “Really?”“Yes.”“You are important Zaza. Too important for a stupid suicide.” I looked at her seriously. Her weakness infuriated me, and I snapped at her almost angrily: “You are important. Remember that!”Zaza back slightly. My confident persuasiveness and, even more than that, the firmness of my manner, which left no room for doubt or contradiction, was probably causing her to doubt my sanity.

Toliko sugestivnosti je v

tvojem glasu, da bi ti kar

najraje verjela.«

Nemarno sem zamahnil

z roko: »Nimam teh ambi-

cij.«

»Pa tako lepo si zmešal

prepričljivo govorjenje z

romantičnim.«

Moral sem ponoviti njen

‘aja’, potem pa sem se zazrl

vanjo: »Ali res?«

»Da,« je pritrdila.

»Pomembna si. Preveč

pomembna za kak neumen

samomor.« Gledal sem jo

zresnjen in tudi besen

zaradi njene nemoči ozi-

roma ker tako ni smelo

biti, in kar gnev je udaril

iz mene, ko sem jo nadrl:

»Pomembna si, zapomni si

to!«

Gigi se je rahlo umaknila.

Sicer je najbrž podvomila

o moji prištevnosti zaradi

samozavestne prepričlji-

vosti, s katero sem nasto-

pil, in še bolj zaradi moje

odločnosti, ki ni dopuščala

ne dvoma ne oporekanja.

254

“I’m not planning to commit suicide!”“Good.” I flashed her an appraising glance. “What about before?”“Before?” Zaza looked at me apprehensively. “How serious you’ve become all of a sudden!” But when our eyes met again she turned away and hung her head slightly before raising it again and replying: “I don’t know.” She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly: “I don’t know. I don’t want to think about it.”“Are you okay?”Zaza looked at me from under lowered lashes: “It may be that I’m a little strange, but you aren’t exactly the most normal guy yourself. These things you’ve been saying – you start off by teasing me and then your voice suddenly changes and you become so severe…”I could feel the conversa-tion taking an unneces-sarily serious turn. That

»Saj ne mislim delati samo-

mora!«

»Lepo.« Ocenjujoče sem jo

ošvrknil s ogledom. »Kaj

pa prej?«

»Prej?« Gigi me je boječe

pogledala: »Kako si se zre-

snil!« Toda po ponovnem

srečanju najinih pogledov

se je obrnila stran, narahlo

sklonila glavo ter jo spet

privzdignila: »Ne vem.«

Globoko je zajela sapo in

počasi izdihnila: »Ne vem,

o tem nočem razmišljati.«

»Si v redu?«

Gigi me je pogledala izpod

oči: »Že mogoče, da sem

malo čudna, ampak ti si

tudi tak tip, da ga zlepa ni

najti. Vse to tvoje govorje-

nje, ko se nekaj časa zafrka-

vaš, potem pa nenadoma

spremeniš ton v tako stro-

gega. . .«

Začutil sem prehajanje v

nepotrebno resen pogo-

vor. To bi bilo samo v

255

would only ruin things. “I feel like a beer. Earlier I was in that bar, where some of your friends were. Shall we go there?”Zaza nodded: “Okay.” Evi-dently she longer had the will to resist. If nothing else, my behaviour had confused her a little. And angered her too. She was probably already wonde-ring whether she hadn’t given in too quickly. But then she shrugged her sho-ulders as if to show that she accepted the situation. She suddenly became anima-ted again and, shaking her head, repeated my words, more to herself than to me, and barely audibly: “But without you we can’t go on…”Hmm, perhaps I shouldn’t have told her that.

* * *

škodo. »Jaz bi šel na pivo.

Prej sem bil v tistem bifeju,

kjer je kar nekaj tvojih pri-

jateljev. Greva tja?«

Gigi je prikimala: »Prav.«

Očitno ni imela več

nobene volje upirati se.

Če ne drugega, jo je moje

obnašanje vseeno malo

zbegalo. Pa tudi razjezilo.

Najbrž je nekaj trenutkov

celo razmišljala, ali se ni

malo prehitro vdala. Toda

potem je skomignila z

rameni v smislu spreje-

manja nastalih dejstev.

Kar nenadoma je spet oži-

vela, ko je med odkimava-

njem ponovila tiste moje

besede, sicer bolj zase,

komaj slišno: »Ampak brez

tebe ne moremo naprej…«

Hm, morda ji tega ne bi bil

smel reči.

* * *

256

Once we were in the pub, Zaza started smiling more and more frequen-tly, regardless of whether anyone said anything funny. The cheerful atmo-sphere was enough for her, and perhaps also my happy mood, which came from my feeling that our mission was making pro-gress. I no longer had any doubts about Zaza’s states of mind, even though she was able to move so easily from one extreme to the other, or about distingu-ishing her acting from her genuine mood. I was confident that I would be able to relate them to that party, enough for me not to be thrown by some-thing unexpected. At least not like during the last test. I watched her surrep-titiously as I chatted with the others. Now and then I turned to Zaza and joined in her conversations. Yes, she was starting to get under my skin, or rather

V Naminem pabu se je

Gigi vse pogosteje sme-

jala, ne glede na duho-

vitost pripomb. Že splo-

šno veselo vzdušje ji je

povsem zadoščalo, delno

pa tudi zaradi mojega

živahnega razpoloženja,

ki mu je botroval občutek

uspešnega napredovanja

naše misije. Nič več nisem

dvomil o ustreznosti Gigi-

nih razpoloženjskih stanj,

v katerih je tako zlahka

prehajala iz ene skrajno-

sti v drugo, za ločevanje

njene igre od njenega

resničnega razpoloženja.

Vsaj toliko, da jih bom

lahko navezal na tisto

žurko, in dovolj, da me

ne bo moglo več zmesti

nič nepričakovanega.Vsaj

ne tako kot takrat, med

tistim preverjanjem. Neo-

pazno sem jo motril, se

medtem pogovarjal zdaj

z enim, zdaj z drugim,

se občasno obrnil k Gigi

in se vključeval v njene

pogovore. Da, vse bolj in

bolj mi je lezla pod kožo

257

I was getting under her skin, with the result that it was getting easier and easier for me to compare her current feelings with those at the party. They were different, certainly. But with her beside me it was not hard to remember her earlier moods. Follo-wing my failure in the test, I was glad I had suggested the need for better prepa-ration before making a fresh attempt. It was pro-bably here that the balance between spontaneity and accuracy in achieving identical results in the test inclined towards the latter. This was the part that was most difficult for an outside observer to put together. The key was therefore hidden in her emotions and in mine, in the emotional charge that rebounded from her to me and back again, changing all the while, in all extre-mes, in one direction and the other, with a logic that was based on Zaza’s mixed

oziroma jaz njej, tako da

sem lahko vse bolj poglo-

bljeno primerjal svoje tre-

nutne občutke s tistimi

med nekdanjo žurko. Bili

so drugačni, da. Ampak

ob njej se mi ni bilo tako

težko spomniti tedanjih.

Dobro, da sem po tistem

ponesrečenem prehodu

navrgel nujnost boljše pri-

pravljenosti za ponovno

preizkušnjo. Ohlapnost

in strogost doseganja

enakih odzivov pri testu

sta se verjetno prav v

tem delu prevesili v sle-

dnje. Ker prav ta del je

bilo za stranskega opazo-

valca najtežje sestaviti.

Ključ je bil torej skrit v

njenih in mojih čustvih,

v čustvenem naboju, ki se

je odbijal od nje k meni

in nazaj ter se ob tem

neprestano spreminjal, v

vseh skrajnostih, tako v

eno kot v drugo smer, z

logiko, ki je temeljila na

Gigini zmešani naravi.

258

up nature. They had certa-inly found a good partner for me. I looked at Benesens and the unfamiliar Sensin next to him. He was probably a member of our mis-sion. Using the holo-equi-pped mobile phone they had given me – outwar-dly identical to a normal phone but with many more features – I told him about the successful start and probable imminent conclusion of my mission. Only a few details remai-ned to clear up, I told him. But Benesens advised me to think about potenti-ally important details that might conceal the most dangerous pitfalls. This was where the key would lie, as I had already pre-dicted. Despite my new self-confidence, I was still happy to have some more help in checking whether I had overlooked anything

Presneto ‘dobro’ partne-

rico so mi našli.

Zagledal sem Dobročuta

v spremstvu meni nezna-

nega Čutina. Verjetno je

bil član naše misije. Po

njihovem mobilniku s

hologramskim prikazo-

valnikom, s katerim so

me opremili in ki je bil po

zunanjosti podoben obi-

čajnim mobijem, čeprav

z daleč večjimi zmoglji-

vostmi, sem mu povedal

o uspešnem začetku in

dokaj verjetnem skoraj-

šnjem zaključku misije.

Le malenkosti so še

ostale, sem mu navrgel.

Toda Dobročut mi je sve-

toval, naj raje razmišljam

o morebitnih pomemb-

nih podrobnostih, v kate-

rih so verjetno skrite naj-

nevarnejše pasti. Prav v

njih naj bi bil ključ, kot

sem tudi sam že predvi-

del. Kljub znova prido-

bljeni samozavesti pa sem

vseeno raje videl še nekaj

pomoči pri preverjanju

morebitnega spregleda

259

important. And so they came and joined me. “Sit down. We’re a frien-dly crowd here.” I indica-ted the empty spaces next to me. “Hey, Peter!”“Yes!” I looked at Mike, who must have come in while I was talking to Benesens. “Where have you come from?”“John told me you were here. He said he’d seen you down here with some friends, so I thought I’d drop by for a beer.” “A friend of yours?” asked Benesens, who had rapidly adopted the happy mood of our company. The whole thing was getting quite funny. Now he nodded at Mike and smiled.“Yes, we come here for a coffee or a beer, and to chat, of course,” I explai-ned with a smile as Mike came over to our table. “About sport and the uni-verse.” At the last word Benesens’s lips curved into a knowing smile.

česa pomembnega. Zato

je tudi prišel. »Prisedita.

Zabavna družba smo

tukaj,« sem ju pozval med

kazanjem na nekaj pro-

stora ob meni.

»Hej, Peter!«

»Da!« Zagledal sem Mira,

ki je moral vstopiti med

mojim pogovorom z

Dobročutom. »Od kod pa

ti?«

»Janko mi je povedal zate.

Tu spodaj naj bi te videl

z neko družbico, pa sem

vstopil na pivo.«

»Tvoj prijatelj?« je vprašal

Dobročut s hitro privzetim

veselim razpoloženjem

naše družbe. Prav zabavno

je postalo vse skupaj. Zdaj

je smeje se prikimaval

Miru.

»Da, sem prihajamo na

kavo ali pivo in na pogo-

vor, seveda,« sem mu z

nasmehom pojasnil po

Mirovem pristopu k mizi,

»o športu in vesolju.« Ob

slednji besedi so se Dobro-

čutu ustnice zakrivile v

pomenljiv nasmeh.

260

Mike was listening too. “About what? The uni-verse?” he asked, laughing. In view of the atmosphere, even a chat about the uni-verse would be acceptable, especially over the glass of beer that he immediately ordered. “I have to admit we’ve rather neglected that topic recently. And what aspect of it are you working on?”“Oh, nothing,” I replied with a stifled laugh. I pointed at Benesens: “He has some very interesting views on certain aspects of the universe, although we haven’t had time to discuss them thoroughly. But there is one topic that we are taking quite serio-usly.” I looked at Benesens: “Isn’t that right?” “Absolutely. And I think we can say that we are doing quite well.” Benesens’s enthusiastic reply showed his unconcealed happiness about this theme, both as

Tudi Miro je prisluhnil. »O

čem? O vesolju?« je vprašal

veselo. Glede na vzdušje bi

bil sprejemljiv tudi pogo-

vor o vesolju, še posebej

ob steklenici piva, ki jo je

takoj naročil. »To tematiko

smo zadnje čase malo zane-

marili, moram priznati. In

kaj obdelujete?«

»Ah, nič,« sem odvrnil z

zadrževanim smehom ter

namignil na Dobročuta.

»Prav zanimive poglede

ima na nekatera vpraša-

nja o vesolju, čeprav še

nisva imela dovolj časa za

temeljit pogovor. Toda eno

tematiko kar resno obdelu-

jeva.« Pogledal sem Dobro-

čuta: »Kajne?«

»Da, vsekakor. In celo

uspešna sva pri tem, kot

vse kaže.« Dobročutov

živahni odgovor je kazal

neprikrito veselje do te

tematike, tako v celoti kot

261

a whole and because such conversations were enter-taining.We moved round to make room for another chair, and Mike sat down, cle-arly in the mood for che-erful company. “Yesterday,” he explained, “I went to a funeral, and at the wake afterwards we ended up talking about ‘up there’, about purgatory, and about where heaven is, although for an old sinner like me hell is pro-bably more to the point… anyway, after a conversa-tion like that my brain is certainly up to a conver-sation about the universe, however you get there, ha ha.”“And whose funeral was it?” asked the Sensin next to Benesens, as if to suggest that he may have known the deceased. The expression on has face gave that impression. In a calm and perfectly serious tone of voice, he went on: “You say the wake was only yesterday?”

zaradi zabavnosti tovr-

stnih pogovorov.

Z nekaj premiki smo spro-

stili dovolj prostora za še en

stol, na katerem se je Miro

udobno namestil, očitno

prav primerne volje za

živahno družbo, in mimo-

grede pojasnil: »Včeraj, po

pogrebu mojega znanca,

smo se na sedmini pogo-

varjali o odhajanju ‘tja gor’,

najprej o Vicah, pa kje naj

bi bila Nebesa, zame gre-

šnika sicer pride v poštev

samo Pekel, no, kakor koli,

možgani so se mi po teh

pogovorih razmigali tudi

za pogovor o vesolju, ne

glede na pristop. Hah.«

»Kdo pa je bil ta vaš

znanec?« se je pozanimal

Čutin ob Dobročutu, kot da

bi ga morda lahko poznal.

Izraz njegovega obraza je

že dajal tak vtis. Nato pa je

mirno in v povsem resnem

tonu dejal: »Šele včeraj ste

imeli sedmino, pravite?«

262

“Yes.” Mike looked at him curiously, as though there were something not quite right about this, or something in that last comment that didn’t quite make sense. Then, after a sudden, lucky inspira-tion – even he didn’t know where it came from or how he managed to guess that the Sensin had made a mental leap, because he was certainly thinking about knowing someone in the ordinary sense – he said that perhaps he had met him in purgatory. It was really funny. Between chuckles he said: “He won’t be in purgatory for long enough for you to meet him there.” And he burst out laughing at what was – judging from the reactions – an extraor-dinarily witty comment. Everyone though it was funny. I laughed too and turned to Benesens. But

»Da.« Miro ga je pogledal

izpod čela, ker se mu pri

vsem skupaj nekaj ni uje-

malo oziroma nekaj na

pravkaršnji pripombi ni

bilo povsem v skladu s

celotno zadevo, nato pa,

po nenadnem, na trapast

način posrečenem pre-

blisku, še sam ni vedel,

od kod se mu je vzel ozi-

roma kako je uganil, da je

nastal pri njegovem sogo-

vorniku preskok misli,

ker je prav gotovo mislil

na običajno poznanstvo,

rekel pa je tako, kot da

bi ga morda spoznal v

Vicah. Prav zabavno. Ni

se mogel zadržati. Že

zaradi drezanja v živahno

razpoloženje družbe je

med smehom navrgel:.

»Premalo časa je še v

Vicah, da bi ga lahko vi

tam spoznali.« In pri tem

se je zarežal svoji, glede

na odzive omizja, izje-

mno posrečeni domislici.

Vsem se je zdela zabavna.

Še sam sem se med

smehom obrnil k Dobro-

263

when our eyes met he merely smirked slightly, as though concealing some-thing yet to be revealed, and I gave an involuntary start. After all I still didn’t know much about their civilisation. But surely it wasn’t possible that con-cepts such as purgatory could have anything to do with them. I looked at Benesens again, and then at his friend and at Mike, who was still laughing. Quite a variety of reacti-ons to a silly comment. So different that it made me stop and think. “Don’t bother yourself with trying to search for all the possible connecti-ons between our two civi-lisations,” said Benesens. “They are not a cause for any bad feelings. It is just that in several spheres we are more closely con-nected than you probably imagine, but in terms of the importance of our mis-sion this is of negligible importance. We are all in the same boat.”

čutu. Toda ta se je ob sre-

čanju najinih pogledov

le nekoliko namuznil v

nakazanem prikrivanju še

nerazkritega ozadja, tako

da sem se nehote zdrznil.

Saj vendar nisem vedel

kaj dosti o njihovi civili-

zaciji. Da bi se lahko kar

koli pri njih nanašalo na

take pojme, kot so Vice,

pa vseeno najbrž ni bilo

mogoče. Ponovno sem se

zazrl v Dobročuta, nato

pa še v njegovega prijate-

lja in smejočega se Mira.

Precej različno odzivanje

na trapasto pripombo.

Celo tako različno, da sem

se skoraj resno zamislil.

»Nikar se ne obremenjujte

z iskanjem vseh možnih

relacij med našima civi-

lizacijama,« mi je dejal

Dobročut. »Nobenega

slabega razpoloženja ni

treba zaradi njih. Le na

več področjih smo tesneje

povezani, kot si verjetno

lahko predstavljate, to pa

je glede na pomen naše

misije zanemarljivo. Vseka-

kor smo v istem čolnu.«

264

I could sense the benevo-lence in his voice. That wasn’t something that could be easily faked. I could hear it in the way he pronounced the word “Earthman”. The must be something more to it than the simple benevolence of a highly developed civili-sation towards beings at a much lower point on the evolutionary spiral.I moved closer to Bene-sens: “I can remember almost everything about the events at that party. That evening we also danced. Perhaps it would be a good idea to invite Zaza to dance. Then I will probably be ready for the test, which would mean that we can start back tomorrow morning.” “Good. You have mana-ged it quite quickly. Even by our standards. When matters charged with emo-tions are involved, we too are slow.”“You too?” I laughed. “Really?”

Začutil sem neko naklo-

njenost v njegovem glasu.

Težko, da bi bila zlagana.

Lahko sem jo zaznal ob

njegovi izgovorjavi besede

Zemljan. Zadaj je moralo

biti več kot le gola naklo-

njenost višje razvite civili-

zacije do bitij na daleč nižji

stopnji razvojne spirale.

Primaknil sem se k Dobro-

čutu: »Že skoraj v celoti

sem si obudil v spominu

vse dogajanje s tistega

večera. Takrat smo tudi

plesali. Morda bi bilo smi-

selno, da povabim Gigi na

ples. Potem bom pa najbrž

že pripravljen za tisto pre-

verjanje, tako da bi jutri zju-

traj lahko odrinili nazaj.«

»Prav. Precej hitro si to

opravil. Celo za naše pojme

hitro. Ko gre za dogajanja,

nabita s čustvi, smo tudi

mi počasni.«

»Tudi vi?« sem se zasmejal.

»Ali res?«

265

“Yes. All emotions have their own birth, their own life. Using logic to try and rush them would destroy them, it would kill them.” Benesens gave me a mischievous look: “All pleasant things are over too soon, aren’t they? Then when we reflect on our life we realise how little there has been of that which made it worth living. And if we were to replace even this with logical under-standing? What would be left? Even less.”“Yes, yes,” I smiled, sho-wing that I agreed. It seemed that these Sensins were capable of abando-ning their cold calcula-ting nature very quickly and become surprisingly human.

The rest of the evening went according to plan. I danced with Zaza for almost two hours. Then Zaza danced with some-one else while I watched her. She kept looking over

»Da. Vsa čustva imajo svoje

rojstvo, svoje življenje.

Prehitevanje z logiko bi jih

izničilo, ubilo.« Dobročut

me je pogledal s šegavim

pogledom: »Vse prijetno

običajno prehitro mine,

kajne? Potem pa med raz-

mišljanjem o svojem življe-

nju ugotavljamo, kako

malo je bilo takega, zaradi

česar je bilo vredno živeti.

In če bi še to nadomestili

zgolj z logičnim razumeva-

njem? Kaj bi nam ostalo?

Še manj.«

»Da, da,« sem se nasmehnil

v znamenje strinjanja. Zelo

hitro so znali tile Čutini

opustiti hladno preračun-

ljivost in postati nenava-

dno človeški.

Ostali del večera je potekel

po načrtu. Z Gigi sva ple-

sala skoraj dve uri. Potem

je Gigi plesala z drugim in

jaz sem jo medtem opazo-

val, pa tudi ona je pogle-

dovala proti meni. Sicer

266

at me. Not like that other time, because the atmo-sphere was very different, but for a few brief instants she became animated like at that party – only fleetin-gly but enough to spark a memory of those moments that I wanted to recall. This was exactly what I needed. Just like the close contact a little earlier, when she snuggled up to me and I felt like I had done back then. The close pressure of her warm body brought back to me those last for-gotten moments, in every detail, including the thou-ghts that had gone through my head at the time. Yes, quite a number of con-tradictory thoughts had raced through my brain. And then, obviously, I had forgotten them. Discarded them. After we quarrelled of course. Whatever. I had got everything I needed for a fresh attempt at that test. There was nothing left. The whole of that eve-ning was once again vivi-

ne tako kot takrat, ker je

bilo vzdušje vendarle dru-

gačno, toda za nekaj trenut-

kov se je razživela kakor

na tisti žurki, čeprav le

bežno, a dovolj za preskok

iskrice v tiste trenutke, ki

sem jih želel obuditi. In

prav to sem potreboval.

Kakor malo prej tesen stik

v objemu, v katerem se

je privila k meni, da sem

občutil tako kot takrat.

In šele tesno prižemanje

toplote njenega telesa mi

je povrnilo še zadnje poza-

bljene trenutke, in to zelo

natančno, skupaj z mislimi,

ki so mi šle tedaj po glavi.

Da, kar precej misli mi je

tedaj begalo sem ter tja.

Potem sem jih, jasno, poza-

bil. Zavrgel. Seveda, ko pa

sva se skregala. Kakor koli.

Dobil sem vse potrebno

za ponovni poskus pre-

hoda skozi tisto preverja-

nje. Nič več ni ostalo. Ves

tisti večer je bil ponovno,

267

dly and fully present in my memory. Fully? There was still a tiny doubt as I walked back from the dance floor. I sat down next to Mike. “I’ve danced enough for today.”Mike merely nodded absently and continued to stare in front of him, sha-king his head slightly. He seemed different some-how. Not dramatically different, but different. I looked at him more clo-sely. Was he meditating or what? He hadn’t had much to drink yet.“What are you thinking about?” I asked him kindly.“Nothing. Those new fri-ends of yours, or acquain-tances, or whatever they are supposed to be, are a bit odd.”“Oh yes?” Naturally this statement wasn’t particu-larly surprising, but how had Mike come to this conclusion? The Sensins hadn’t drawn attention to themselves in any way.

v celoti obujen v mojem

spominu. V celoti? Le še

malce dvoma je ostalo ob

vračanju s plesišča.

Prisedel sem k Miru.

»Danes sem se pa naple-

sal.«

Miro je v odgovor odso-

tno prikimal, zamišljeno

strmeč predse, in nekaj

odkimaval. Vsaj meni se

je zdel spremenjen. Sicer

ne pretirano, a vseeno. Še

enkrat sem ga natančno

pogledal. Nekaj je medi-

tiral ali kaj, čeprav se ga

sploh še ni nalezel.

»Kaj premlevaš?« sem

dobronamerno podrezal.

»Nič. Tile tvoji novi prija-

telji ali znanci ali kar koli

naj bi bili, so vseeno malo

čudni.«

»Hja?« Taka ugotovitev

seveda ni bila posebno pre-

senetljiva, ampak kako je

Miro prišel do nje? Čutini

niso v ničemer izstopali.

268

Especially as they didn’t want to. “What’s bothe-ring you?”“I don’t really know how to put it. We kept talking about purgatory.”“You were discussing pur-gatory?” I laughed. “So you moved onto religious issues?”“No, actually. We were talking about the universe. More in the sense of dif-ferent views of the uni-verse, from the Ancient Egyptians onwards. They did make some interesting comments about various religious explanations of the universe, but for the most part they stuck to their scientific basis. At least as far as I was able to judge. But even so they seemed to steer the con-versation to the subject of purgatory rather too frequently.”I frowned as I tried to make sense of this. “How do you mean, ‘too frequently’?”“Actually I wouldn’t have even noticed.”

Še posebej, če niso hoteli.

»Kaj te je zmotilo?«

»Ne vem, kako naj povem.

Kar nekajkrat smo se pogo-

varjali o Vicah.«

»Tudi Vice ste obdelali?«

Prešerno sem se zasmejal.

»Ali ste prešli na verska

vprašanja?«

»Pravzaprav ne. Pogovar-

jali smo se o vesolju. Bolj

v smislu raznih pogledov

na vesolje, vse od starih

Egipčanov naprej. Tudi

nekaj zanimivih pripomb

o raznih verskih razla-

gah vesolja so dali, čeprav

večinoma na znanstvenih

osnovah. Vsaj kolikor mi

moje znanje dopušča take

presoje, bi tako rekel. Toda

ti njihovi zasuki na pogo-

vor o Vicah so bili vseeno

malo preveč pogosti.«

Nagubal sem čelo v nemoč-

nem razmišljanju: »Kako

misliš - preveč pogosti?«

»Pravzaprav tega niti ne bi

opazil.«

269

“What?”“That they did it too frequently. If it hadn’t been for the strange behaviour of that guy.” Mike gestu-red towards Benesens’s friend.“Strange behaviour?” Completely serious now, I looked at Mike. I hadn’t noticed any unusual beha-viour.“You know my father died a year ago?” Mike went on. “That acquaintance of yours, with his gestures, his responses, his whole behaviour, is sometimes so like him that it is hard to believe.”“Like who? Your father?”“Yes. My father was a bit of a one-off – as the saying goes.”“I know, I remember him.”“Of course you remember him. Now look at that guy! The way he talks, the way he laughs – look at him!”I looked over at Benesens’s companion. It was true that there was some simi-

»Česa?«

»To, da so preveč pogosti.

Če ne bi bilo tako čudnega

obnašanja tega tvojega

znanca.« Miro je narahlo

pomignil na Dobročuto-

vega prijatelja.

»Čudnega obnašanja?« Že

povsem zresnjen sem zrl

v Mira. Nobenega poseb-

nega obnašanja nisem

opazil.

»Veš, da mi je pred letom

umrl oče?« je z mirno odso-

tnostjo nadaljeval Miro.

»Ta tvoj znanec pa mu je s

svojimi gibi, odzivi, z vsem

svojim obnašanjem na tre-

nutke tako podoben, da je

že kar neverjetno.«

»Komu? Tvojemu očetu?«

»Da. Moj oče je bil po

svoje prava pojava – kot se

reče.«

»Vem, ja, saj se ga spo-

mnim.«

»Seveda se ga moraš spo-

mniti. Zdaj pa še tega

poglej! Kako govori, kako

se smeje - pa povej!«

Ozrl sem se v Dobročuto-

vega spremljevalca. Res

sem lahko zaznal soro-

270

larity in some of his gestu-res. Then he laughed. Yes, his laugh. It was strangely similar to Mike’s father’s laugh. But then the Sen-sins could easily arrange something like that without there being any connection with purgatory. Judging from what I had been able to learn out about them so far, that wouldn’t cause them many problems. But what did purgatory have to do with anything? I pon-dered this. Could the Sen-sins really have some con-nection with purgatory? purgatory? In what sense? The religious sense? Or in some figurative sense? It could be something they have constructed them-selves, and they are now trying to establish whe-ther anything like that – something similar at least – already exists in human consciousness… Hmm. They would certainly be capable of that. No doubt about it.

dnost nekaterih gibov,

tedaj pa se je Dobročutov

spremljevalec zasmejal.

Da, njegov smeh. Nenava-

dno je bil podoben smehu

Mirovega očeta. Toda saj

kaj takega lahko Čutini

mirno namestijo tudi

brez kakršne koli pove-

zave z Vicami. To jim, vsaj

po tem, kar sem doslej že

lahko izvedel o njih, ne bi

moglo delati večjih težav.

Toda zakaj so v vse skupaj

vpletli Vice? Zastal sem v

pomislekih. Ali bi Čutini

res lahko bili v kakšnih

povezavah z Vicami? Vice?

V kakšnem smislu le? V

verskem? Ali v prenese-

nem pomenu? Nekaj, kar

so sami zgradili, zdaj pa

ugotavljajo, ali je kaj takega

ali vsaj podobnega že v člo-

veški zavesti. Hm. Tega bi

bili prav gotovo zmožni.

Presneto, da bi.

271

I sat there in silence con-sidering the various possi-bilities. There were certa-inly plenty of them! As I wrestled with the problem I noticed that someone was trying to attract my attention: “Hey, Peter!” A familiar face was smi-ling at me. It was a friend of mine, a director – or at least that was what had studied to be, as far as I could remember. What he did nowadays I didn’t know. He might even be director. “Hey, Sebastian!” I retur-ned his greeting and he gestured towards the bar, although he was still loo-king at me and at our motley company.“Hey, Sebastian!” Bene-sens repeated my greeting with a hearty exuberance that surprised even me, and waved his hand at the full bottles on the table in front of him: “Help your-self, Peter’s buying!”

S pogledom, zamaknjenim

predse, sem razmišljal o

različnih možnostih. Huh!

Kar nekaj jih je bilo! In pri

tem so se mi pomisleki

zvrstili s hitrostjo, večjo od

moje sposobnosti prever-

janja. Zaznal sem privzdi-

gnjeno roko in pozdrav:

»Hej, Peter!«. Znan obraz

me je zdramil s svojim

vztrajnim smehljanjem. Bil

je moj prijatelj, režiser, vsaj

diplomiral je iz režije, koli-

kor sem se še spominjal.

Toda kaj dela trenutno,

nisem vedel, morda celo

režira. »Hej, Boštjan!« sem

mu odzdravil ter v odgovor

dobil nakazan gib v smeri

šanka, proti kateremu se je

Boštjan že nameril, čeprav

se je še vedno oziral vame

in v našo pisano druščino.

»Hej, Boštjan!« je Dobro-

čut s tako poudarjeno raz-

posajenostjo ponovil moj

pozdrav, da je še mene

presenetil, ter nadaljeval

z namigom roke na polne

buteljke pred sabo: »Kar

postrezi si, Peter plača!«

272

“Oh yes?” I said. What was he doing now? Did Benesens want to meet this friend of mine? In view of the atmosphere that might not be so unusual, but it disturbed me slightly: he was usually so calculating. What could be behind this open-handed invitation? Well, all right then. “Grab yourself a chair!” I called to Sebastian, indicating a free chair at the next table. “Hey, Sebastian, hi there!” called a suddenly cheer-ful Zaza. “Come and sit down, and you can tell them something about the actors we’ve got for the comic parts. These friends of ours are crazy about them.”Sebastian sat down. He nodded in greeting at eve-ryone round the table and allowed Benesens to pour him a glass. “Yes, we were actually tal-king about actors who are

»Aja?« mi je ušlo. Zakaj

pa zdaj to? Kaj Dobročut

želi spoznati tega mojega

znanca? Glede na vzdušje

to morda niti ni bilo tako

nenavadno, čeprav so se

mi že kar moteče rojevali

pomisleki na sicer obi-

čajno preračunljivo poče-

tje Dobročuta oziroma na

vprašanje, kaj bi lahko bilo

v ozadju njegovega spro-

ščenega povabila. No, ja.

Prav. »Kar prisedi!« sem

zaklical Boštjanu z nami-

gom, naj primakne prost

stol od sosednje mize.

»Hej, Boštjan, hej!« ga je z

vzklikom opozorila nase

nenadoma razživela Gigi.

»Pridi, boš še ti kaj povedal

o naših igralcih za komične

like. Prav nori so nanje tile

naši prijatelji.«

Boštjan je prisedel, z

rahlim nagibom glave poz-

dravil vsakega posebej ter

prikimal na Dobročutov

namig, ali naj mu natoči

čašo.

»Da, res smo se pogovarjali

o igralcih s sposobnostjo

273

able to make people laugh merely through their appe-arance,” said Benesens, picking up where Zaza had left off. “They want to overcome some constant conflict in themselves, but everything turns into impotent rage and resigna-tion to their fate, which are then the origin of their rebellious rage with con-trasting, more combative anger.”Sebastian shook his head and laughed: “Whoa, slow down. What are you saying?” He considered the sense of Benesens’s words he sipped slowly from his glass.“Yeeees, bravo! You put it beautifully!” Zaza star-ted clapping her hands. “That’s what happens to me too: this incredibly aggressive anger that bub-bles up out of a total resi-gnation to my fate.”Zaza laughed enthusiasti-cally at this discovery and looked at me so eagerly that I immediately nodded,

izvabljanja smeha že zgolj s

svojim videzom,« je Dobro-

čut nadaljeval Gigino

pobudo. »Neko stalno

nasprotje v sebi želijo pre-

seči, pa se jim vse skupaj

sprevrača v nemočen gnev

in vdanost v usodo, ki sta

potem izvor njihove upor-

niške jeze z nasprotnim,

bolj bojevitim gnevom.«

Boštjan je med smehom

stresel z glavo: »Čakajte,

malo bolj počasi, kaj ste mi

že povedali?« Nato je med

razmišljanjem o smislu

Dobročutovih besed

počasi srknil iz napolnjene

čaše.

»Jaaa, bravo! To ste lepo

povedali!« Gigi je zaplo-

skala. »Tudi meni privre

na dan neverjetno bojevit

gnev iz popolne vdanosti v

usodo, kajne?«

Gigi se je navdušeno

zasmejala temu odkritju

ter tako živo pogledala

vame, da sem ji takoj pri-

kimal, čeprav se mi je pri

274

although I couldn’t help remembering the expres-sion on her face at our first meeting above that preci-pice. But if she had a new opinion of herself, than that was all right. I looked searchingly at her. She no longer showed any signs of depression. She had really come to life. “Yes, I’ve noticed that too,” said Benesens, enco-uraging Zaza in her new conviction. “It’s really sur-prising how easily you can release from yourself such a powerful life impulse.”Yes, Zaza, whatever she had been before, had disa-ppeared, and now she was now whatever what she was in this moment, beca-use the past, when once you cast if off, disappe-ars and no longer exists. At least that was the con-clusion I came to when I looked at Zaza. And the more I looked at her, the more I could see how in

tem bolj vsiljeval izraz na

njenem obrazu ob najinem

srečanju nad tistim prepa-

dom. Toda če ima o sebi

novo mnenje, tudi prav.

Preletel sem jo z ocenjujo-

čim pogledom. Nič depre-

sivnega ni bilo več na njej.

Prav zares se je razživela.

»Da, to sem tudi jaz opazil,«

je Gigi v njenem novem

prepričanju spodbudil še

Dobročut. »Prav presene-

tljivo, kako zlahka spro-

žite iz sebe tako močan

življenjski impulz.«

Da, Gigi, kar koli že je bila

prej, je izginila, in zdaj je

bila natanko to, kar je bila

v tistem trenutku, ker pre-

teklost, ko jo enkrat odvr-

žeš, izgine in je ni več. Vsaj

ob pogledu na Gigi sem

prišel do take ugotovitve.

In bolj ko sem jo gledal,

bolj sem lahko ugotavljal,

275

her this was something she experienced at a parti-cularly fundamental level. Or something like that: but it struck me that I shouldn’t get too involved in her problems, or else I might quickly find myself in a situation where nothing was clear any more. “I would also like to say this,” said Benesens. “A number of acquaintances have already mentioned your acting to me. They have told me about your extraordinary ability, and how you can draw in an audience more than anyone else.”“They noticed? Really?” Zaza forgot to act for a moment. Actually Benesens’s words surpri-sed her slightly, but thanks to the persuasive expres-sion on his face she accep-ted them anyway. Initially slightly hesitantly, but immediately afterwards with genuine enthusiasm. “Yes, she’s really famous for that,” agreed Sebastian

kako je to pri njej še pose-

bej temeljito doživeto. Ali

nekaj podobnega, saj so

me obhajale misli, naj se

nič kaj preveč ne pogla-

bljam v to njeno problema-

tiko, ker bom sicer lahko

prav kmalu na tem, da mi

nič več ne bo jasno.

»To bi še rad povedal,« je

spet povzel Dobročut. »Že

več znancev mi je ome-

njalo vašo igro. Povedali

so mi za vašo izjemno spo-

sobnost, da bolj kot kdor

koli drug znate pritegniti

občinstvo.«

»A so opazili? A res?« Gigi je

za trenutek pozabila igrati.

Pravzaprav so jo Dobroču-

tove besede malo čudile,

pa jih je potem ob pre-

pričljivem izrazu njego-

vega obraza vseeno spre-

jela. Sprva sicer nekoliko

obotavljivo, vendar takoj

zatem že kar s pravim nav-

dušenjem.

»Da, po tem je res znana,«

se je po kratkem tuhtanju

276

after a brief reflection. “That humorous element in an actor is an attribute that is usually very popu-lar with audiences. Yes. In fact I was already thinking of her for that part. I was even planning to call her.”“Yes, we should sign her up for the part.” Benesens was once again using his extraordinary powers of suggestion, which made Sebastian consider his reasons for abandoning his own original intention, although at first he was not even sure whether he had even had that intention. But then, more in order to bring the matter to a speedy close, he threw out: “Money is the pro-blem. it ran out, and that is why everything is still up in the air.” Benesens shook his head: “You artists have no sense for money matters. For a comedy, a good comedy, it really isn’t that hard to get some financial support from backers.”

strinjal tudi Boštjan. »Taka

humorna lastnost igralcev

je pri občinstvu običajno

lepo sprejeta. Hja. Saj sem

tudi jaz že pomislil nanjo

pri tisti vlogi. Celo pokli-

cati sem jo že nameraval.«

»Da, njo bi morali angaži-

rati za tisto vlogo.« Dobro-

čut je spet uporabil svojo

izjemno sugestivnost, ki

je Boštjanu vsilila razmi-

šljanje o vzrokih za opusti-

tev lastne namere, čeprav

sprva niti ni bil prepričan,

ali jo je sploh res imel.

Zato je potem kar navrgel,

bolj z namenom hitrejšega

zaključka obravnavane

tematike: »Z denarjem je

problem. Zmanjkalo ga

je, tako da je še zdaj vse v

zraku.«

Toda Dobročut je odkimal:

»Vi umetniki nimate smisla

za denarne zadeve. Za

komedijo, dobro komedijo

pa res ni tako težko dobiti

nekaj finančne pomoči od

podpornikov.«

277

At these words Seba-stian was suddenly him-self again: “What do you mean it’s not hard? It’s a real problem! For example I still haven’t managed to obtain funding.”“Really? Is that difficult for you? Such a trifle… How much do you actu-ally need for this project of yours?”Sebastian considered. “Are you saying you’d like to provide financial bac-king?”“Sure, why not? I’d be happy to.”Sebastian looked at Bene-sens doubtfully. It was true that he did seem to be enthusiastic about the pro-ject, which in itself was a little strange, or at least hard to understand, but anyway… Then he thou-ght about the suitability of the expression “project” and how all of a sudden it was there in front of him. But if things were really as they seemed, then… He glanced in my direc-

Toda ob teh njegovih bese-

dah se je Boštjan takoj

spet zbral: »Kako, da ni?

Pa še kakšen problem je

to! Meni na primer še ni

uspelo zagotoviti finanč-

nih sredstev.«

»Res? Ali je to za vas težko?

Taka malenkost… Koliko

pa pravzaprav potrebujete

za ta vaš projekt?«

Boštjan je začel razmišljati.

Najprej seveda o sogovor-

niku. »Se želite udeležiti s

finančno podporo?«

»Seveda, zakaj pa ne? Z

veseljem.«

Boštjan je nejeverno opa-

zoval Dobročuta. Res je

bilo v njem čutiti neko

navdušenje nad tem pro-

jektom, kar je bilo sicer po

svoje malo nenavadno ali

vsaj težje razumljivo, pa

vendar. . . Nato je še malo

premislil o ustreznosti

izraza »projekt« in kako je

kar naenkrat pred njim.

Toda če je zadeva taka, kot

je videti, potem. . . Pogled

name mu je razkrival

278

tion and caught my enco-uraging nod. That meant that I also believed that he was in a position to make an interesting move.“Wow!” Sebastian began doing calculations. Benesens winked at me, leaned over and whispe-red: “Will it be all right? Seeing how well things have gone, we might reward her a little.”“By all means. If you can. How much support can you give to this thing?” I asked, although the amount of support shouldn’t be important, in my view at least.“Hmm!” Benesens smiled and went on, in my ear: “We have quite a number of these gold spheres like your planet Earth. Bigger ones too.” “I see, erm…” That was possible, and even though I had no way of knowing what the real situation was, or even how big these “gold spheres” really were,

vzpodbudno prikimava-

nje, to je torej pomenilo, da

bi tudi po mojem mnenju

lahko naredil zanimivo

potezo.

»Hja!« Boštjan je začel pre-

računavati, Dobročut pa

mi je pomežiknil, se mi

primaknil in šepnil: »Ali

bo v redu? Glede na dober

potek dogajanja jo lahko

malo nagradimo.«

»To pa vsekakor. Če le

morete. Koliko pa lahko

podprete to zadevo?«

sem še vprašal, čeprav

višina podpore ne bi smela

biti pomembna, vsaj

po moji presoji ne.

»Hm!« Dobročut je smeje

se nadaljeval, še vedno pri-

maknjen k mojemu ušesu:

»Kar nekaj takih zlatih

kroglic, kot je vaš planet

Zemlja, imamo. Pa tudi

večje. . .«

»Aja… Ahm…« To je bilo

možno, in čeprav je bilo

vse skupaj zunaj dosega

moje presoje dejanskega

stanja, tudi glede velikosti

»zlatih kroglic«, sem iz nje-

279

his words told me that he was serious about helping Zaza, who had in any case earned our help. “Well then, I actually made a withdrawal from the bank today, which means that we can move on to more concrete discussi-ons, don’t you think?” Benesens reached into the leather bag by his side. Sebastian and Zaza stared at it too. Its leather strap had been hanging across his shoulder the whole time, but in fact they only noticed it now. Benesens opened the bag slowly, pulled out a neatly wrapped bundle of ban-knotes, still fresh from the bank, and placed it on the table.Sebastian and Zaza stared at the numbers on the top banknote and muttered, almost in unison: “A hun-dred dollars!” How many hundreds must there be in the bundle? Sebastian and Zaza looked at each other. They were clearly

govih besed razbral resno

namero, da podpre Gigi, ki

si je našo pomoč vsekakor

zaslužila.

»No, ja, sicer pa sem ravno

danes dvignil nekaj denarja

z banke, tako da lahko pre-

idemo na bolj konkretne

pogovore, kajne?« Nato je

Dobročut segel v usnjeno

torbico ob sebi. Tudi

Boštjan in Gigi sta se ozrla

vanjo. Njen usnjeni jermen

mu je že ves čas visel čez

ramo, toda opazila sta jo

pravzaprav šele zdaj.

Dobročut je počasi odprl

torbo, potegnil iz nje lepo

zložen zavojček bankov-

cev, še sveže pakiranih iz

banke, ter ga položil na

mizo.

Boštjan in Gigi sta se zazrla

v številke na zgornjem,

vrhnjem bankovcu ter

skoraj v duetu zamrmrala:

»Sto dolarjev!« Kakšnih sto

takih je moralo biti v šopu.

Boštjan in Gigi sta se spo-

gledala v očitno skladnem

280

thinking the same thing, despite their uncertainty. Sebastian slowly reached for the bundle of paper, flexed it expertly and then let it go with a slow “pff-frrrr” sound, revealing the interior of the bundle. Then he turned the bundle over and repeated the “pff-frrr” and slowly placed the money back on the table.“Cash.”“Yes, cash,” nodded Bene-sens, reaching into his bag again and placing three similar bundles on the table. Sebastian and Zaza nodded, and Benesens kept the bag in his hands.Sebastian picked up the bundles, one after the other, and rapidly checked them with his shuffle technique. “It’s all cash.” Meanwhile Zaza was fol-lowing Benesens’s hand, which was once again rea-ching into the opened bag, and she caught a glimpse of even more paper. “Wow! You’ve got loads of the stuff! He probably

razumevanju, kljub neka-

terim nejasnostim, tako da

je Boštjan počasi segel po

tem šopu papirja, ga stro-

kovno upognil ter nato

spustil v počasnem »pfrr-

rrk. . .«, ki je razkril očem

še notranjost. Potem je šop

obrnil, ponovil tisti »pfr-

rrrk. . .«, in denar počasi

položil nazaj na mizo.

»Keš.«

»Da, keš,« je prikimal

Dobročut, ponovno segel

v torbo, položil na mizo še

tri podobne zavojčke ter

med Boštjanovim in Gigi-

nim prikimavanjem zadr-

žal torbo v rokah.

Boštjan je zavojčke spet

jemal v roke, enega za

drugim, ter jih hitro pre-

veril s svojo »pfrrrrk teh-

niko« in enako kot prvič

tudi sedaj ugotovil: »Vse je

keš.« Gigi pa je medtem že

sledila Dobročutovi roki,

kako spet sega v razprto

torbo, in pri tem je lahko

zaznala še več papirja.

»Uvaaa! Tega pa imate kar

nekaj! Kak šop manj se vam

281

wouldn’t even notice a bundle more or less!” she said in surprise, almost as though to encourage him.Benesens nodded: “Certa-inly. A few of these bun-dles wouldn’t mean much to us.” “Oh my goodness!” Zaza almost shouted. “Did you hear him, Sebastian? How funny! You said it in such an amusing tone of voice that…”Zaza searched ner-vously for the right word, but apparently she couldn’t find it: “Well, Sebastian, what do you say?”“This is…” In contrast to Zaza, Sebastian remained cool and the expression on his face had not chan-ged: “…this is a concrete business proposition,” he finished, with the calm reflection of the experien-ced man of business.“Wow,” gasped Zaza, and then perked up again, even louder than before: “Yes, that’s it, a concrete busi-ness proposition!”“In cash,” commented

najbrž sploh ne pozna!« je

navrgla v rahlo spodbuja-

jočem presenečenju.

Dobročut je prikimal:

»Seveda. Nekaj teh šopov

za nas ne pomeni kaj

dosti.«

»Hohoooj!« Geni je kar

zavriskala v nenadnem

izbruhu življenja iz njene

notranjosti. »Si slišal

Boštjan? Kako duhovito!

To ste pa povedali v tako

zabavnem tonu, da . . .« Gigi

je nervozno iskala pravo

besedo, ki pa je očitno

ni zmogla najti:»Kajne,

Boštjan, kaj ti praviš?«

»To je…« Boštjan je naspro-

tno kot Gigi ostal hladno-

krven z nespremenjenim

izrazom na obrazu: »To

je konkretna poslovna

poteza,« je dodal z mirnim

premislekom izkušenega

poslovneža.

»Aaa,« je rahlo zategnila

Gigi, potem pa se ponovno

razveselila, še glasneje

kot prej: »Da, tako je, kon-

kretna poslovna poteza!«

»V kešu,« je pripomnil

282

Sebastian solemnly, as though underlining the importance of the transac-tion, or his acceptance of this business proposition.I had to intervene: “Zaza, put that stuff in your bag. We don’t want to attract unnecessary attention.” I nodded at the unusual pile of paper on the table.“Oh yes, sure.” Zaza quic-kly looked round to see if anyone was watching and giggled when she reali-sed that the bottles on the table were still blocking the view of the banknotes. She stuffed the notes into her bag, looking round a couple of times as she did so. “Well, here’s some more…” continued Bene-sens, pulling another three bundles from his bag. This time, however, it was clear that these were different banknotes. Sebastian and Zaza reached the same conclusion almost simul-taneously: “ T h o u -

Boštjan, kot bi poudaril

pomen resnega delovanja

oziroma svojega sprejetja

te poslovne poteze.

Moral sem se vmešati:

»Gigi, tole raje pospravi

v torbico, če ne bomo

po nepotrebnem začeli

vzbujati pozornost,« sem

ji namignil na nenavadni

kup papirja na mizi.

»Ah, ja, seveda.« Gigi se

je hitro ozrla naokoli po

morebitnih opazovalcih

ter se veselo zahihitala ob

ugotovitvi, da so steklenice

za zdaj še uspešno zakri-

vale pogled na bankovce,

ki jih je potem brž spravila

v torbo, hkrati pa je še par-

krat pogledala naokrog.

»No, tule so še . . .« je nada-

ljeval Dobročut, medtem

ko je vlekel iz torbe nadalj-

nje tri šope, v katerih pa

so bili, kot je bilo takoj

opazno, povsem drugačni

bankovci. Boštjan in Gigi

sta se spogledala s skoraj

sočasno ugotovitvijo: »Po

283

sands!” Then Zaza added: “In dollars.”“Yes, in cash!” agreed Sebastian. “One bundle – a hundred thousand dol-lars.” “Well, I only have two lots of ten bundles of these notes,” said Benesens modestly.“Only two lots of ten bundles…” was all Zaza managed to say.“That’s right. Here they are.” Benesens placed two piles of ten bundles in front of Zaza.Now it was Zaza’s turn to shuffle her way through the first bundle, then the second, and then all the others. Actually there were too many for an accurate examination. “They’re all thousand dollar bills,” she said at last.“That’s right. A thousand dollars each,” confirmed Sebastian, who was gro-wing increasingly serious. “This is an advance,” said Benesens.

tisoč!« Nakar je Gigi še

dodala: »V dolarjih.«

»Da, v kešu!« ji je pritrdil

Boštjan. »En šop – sto tisoč

dolarjev.«

»No, teh bankovcev imam

samo dvakrat po deset

šopov,« je z zadržano skro-

mnostjo pripomnil Dobro-

čut.

»Samo dvakrat po deset

šopov…« je bilo to pot vse,

kar je Gigi spravila iz sebe.

»Tako je. Tu so.« Dobročut

je potisnil pred Gigi dva

kupčka po deset šopov.

Zdaj je Gigi nejeverno raz-

prla najprej en šop, potem

drugega in še nekaj nasle-

dnjih. Pravzaprav jih je

bilo preveč za natančno

preverjanje. »Vsi so po

tisoč dolarjev,« je napo-

sled ugotovila.

»Tako je. Po tisoč dolarjev,«

ji je potrdil vse bolj zre-

snjeni Boštjan.

»To je predplačilo,« je navr-

gel Dobročut.

284

“This is an advance,” repe-ated Sebastian.“For this wonderful film starring Zaza,” continued Benesens.“For this wonderful film starring Zaza,” repeated Sebastian.“For a film?” asked Zaza, surprised. “I thought we were talking about a play.”“That was a slip of the tongue,” replied Sebastian, with a nonchalant wave of the hand as though to suggest that this was a trifling detail. “We’re tal-king about a film. Under-stand?”“Yes, of course.” Zaza was practically bouncing up and down on her chair. “I knew all along that we were talking about a film…”“Yes. We are talking about a film,” confirmed Seba-stian in businesslike tone. “And I shall write you a cheque for your ongoing costs.” Benesens conti-nued to develop the pro-ject.

»To je predplačilo,« je pono-

vil Boštjan.

»Za ta čudoviti film z Gigi v

glavni vlogi,« je nadaljeval

Dobročut.

»Za ta čudoviti film z Gigi v

glavni vlogi,« je spet pono-

vil Boštjan.

»A za film?« se je začudila

Gigi. »Mislila sem, da se

pogovarjamo o gledališki

igri.«

»To je bil lapsus,« jo je

zavrnil Boštjan ter ji z

malomarnim zamahom

roke dal vedeti, da gre za

nepomembno malenkost.

»Pogovarjamo se filmu.

Razumeš?«

»Aja, seveda.« Gigi je kar

poskočila na sedežu. »Saj

se mi je že ves čas zdelo, da

se pogovarjamo o filmu…«

»Da. Pogovarjamo se o

filmu,« je spet v poslovnem

tonu potrdil Boštjan.

»Za sprotne stroške pa vam

bom napisal ček,» je Dobro-

čut še kar naprej razvijal

zastavljeni projekt.

285

“Right. For ongoing costs,” repeated Zaza and looked at Sebastian, who was gazing mutely in front of him. Then he and Zaza watched calmly as Bene-sens wrote a cheque.“Four, five, six zeroes,” counted Benesens, leaning towards me and whispe-ring: “How many zeroes should I write?”I give a slight frown and after a brief pause replied: “That will be plenty. Any more and she might go crazy again.”“Seven zeroes.” Bene-sens looked at Zaza, who was staring now at him and now at the zeroes. He couldn’t refuse her: “Eight zeroes.”“In US dollars?” asked Zaza.“Certainly. Or perhaps you would prefer some other currency? If it’s a problem…” “No, no, it’s no problem at all,” said Zaza, drawing back slightly apologeti-

»Tako. Za sprotne stro-

ške,« je ponovila Gigi in

pogledala Boštjana, ki pa

je samo molče zrl predse,

nato pa skupaj z Gigi

mirno opazoval, kako

Dobročut izpolnjuje ček.

»Štiri, pet, šest ničel,« je štel

Dobročut, se primaknil k

meni in mi šepnil: »Koliko

pa naj jih napišem?«

Rahlo sem nagubal čelo

ter mu po kratkem premi-

sleku odvrnil: »Saj bo kar

dosti. Če ne, se ji bo spet

utrgalo.«

»Sedem ničel.« Dobročut

je pogledal Gigi, ki je zrla

zdaj vanj, zdaj v ničle. Ni

ji mogel odreči: »Osem

ničel.«

»V ameriških dolarjih?« je

vprašala Gigi.

»Seveda. Ali morda želite v

kakšni drugi valuti? Če vas

moti. . .?«

»Ne, ne, sploh me ne moti,«

se je že kar malo opravi-

čujoče se izmikala Gigi.

286

cally. “In dollars. That’s fine isn’t it, Sebastian?”“Perfectly fine,” came the confirmation, once again in a serious businesslike voice.“Right, and now we have to go,” said Benesens, concluding this mutually satisfactory business agre-ement and beckoning to me: “Let’s go.”I got up from the table and waved goodbye to the group. They returned my farewell in different ways: respectfully, cordially and even formally, as befitted a business meeting. Zaza stood up too and rushed over to me, bending towards my ear. “Peter!” She squeezed herself close to me. “I don’t know who everyone is in this team that you referred to at the beginning as ‘us’, but I have to say that you are amazing.”“Oh yes?” I smiled. “Unfor-tunately not everything is that rosy. The question is: will we succeed?”

»V dolarjih. Saj je v redu,

kajne, Boštjan?«

»Povsem v redu,« ji je ta

potrdil v še naprej zresnje-

nem poslovnem tonu.

»Tako, zdaj pa moramo

iti,« je Dobročut sklenil ta

za vse uspešni poslovni

dogovor ter mi pomignil:

»Gremo.«

Stopil sem od mize in

pomahal družbi, iz katere

so mi posamezniki odzdra-

vljali zelo spoštljivo, tudi

prisrčno in celo s poslovno

korektnostjo. Tudi Gigi

je vstala, se mi naglo pri-

bližala in se primaknila k

mojemu ušesu.

»Peter!« Gigi se je stisnila

k meni. »Ne vem sicer, kdo

vse je v tistem timu, ki si ga

na začetku omenil kot - mi-

, toda moram reči, da ste

bomba.«

»Aja?« sem zategnil z

nasmehom. »Pa ni vse tako

rožnato. Vprašanje je, ali

nam bo uspelo.«

287

“Do you doubt it?”“I don’t know.”“I am with you a hundred percent. You can count on me. We’re all one team, there’s no doubt about it.”I gave her a friendly nod.“Peter!”“Yes?”Zaza suddenly looked almost worried. “Look after yourself, Peter. For a moment, all of this seems terribly serious. At least that is the sensation I have.”“Well, it is serious. That’s why we’ve taken care of you at least, no?”“You certainly have. Extremely well – all of you. I would also like to take care of you, if only I knew how.”“Oh, you already have, better than you think.”Zaza looked at me que-stioningly: “You know Peter, I’m sorry about that time, that evening. I shouldn’t have been like that. But I liked you. And then I found out that you

»Dvomiš?«

»Ne vem.«

»Jaz sem stoodstotno z

vami. Mene lahko šte-

jete za svojo. Vsi smo en

tim, o tem prav gotovo ni

dvoma.«

Prijateljsko sem ji priki-

mal.

»Peter!«

»Da?«

Gigi me je nenadoma gle-

dala že kar zaskrbljeno.

»Pazi nase, Peter. Za

kakšen trenutek se mi vse

to zdi presneto resno. Vsaj

občutke imam take.«

»Hja, saj tudi je resno. Zato

pa smo vsaj za vas poskr-

beli, kajne?«

»To pa. Presneto dobro

si poskrbel - oziroma ste

poskrbeli. Tudi jaz bi zate

poskrbela, če bi vedela,

kako.«

»Oh, saj si že, in to bolje,

kot si misliš.«

Gigi me je še nekaj časa

vprašujoče gledala: »Veš,

Peter, za takrat, za tisti

večer mi je kar malo žal. Ne

bi smela biti taka. Toda bil

si mi všeč. Pa sem potem

288

didn’t feel the same way about me. I would only have been a way to pass the time. And so I started overdoing it.”“Overdoing it?” I repea-ted slowly. “Well that’s an interesting word for your behaviour at that party.” I looked back over eve-rything she had done. “And you overdid things a little today too, didn’t you?”Zaza laughed. Softly at first, but then more freely, even happily, but it was clear that she still felt a little guilty. “I won’t do it again. I promise.”

ugotovila, da ti ni nič do

mene. Le za lajšanje dol-

gočasja bi ti bila. Pa sem

začela pretiravati.«

»Pretiravati?« sem počasi

ponovil. »Pa si res našla

zanimivo besedo za tvoje

obnašanje na tisti žurki.«

Še nekoliko sem se zami-

slil nad vsem njenim poče-

tjem. »In tudi danes si pre-

tiravala, kajne?«

Gigi se je nasmehnila. Naj-

prej malo zadržano, nato

na hitro prav živo, skoraj

veselo, vendar z nekaj

neprikritega občutka

krivde. »Ne bom več. Oblju-

bim.«

289

Chapter X

On our return to the sta-tion we gathered round the holo-display for the latest reports on the nego-tiations between the two sides. There had been no progress. If anything, the opposite was true, altho-ugh the Sensins, at least as far as I could understand, had been quite concilia-tory, or at any rate that was how they presented them-selves in their reports. But judging from the faces around me – I scrutinised them quite frequently as we listened to the reports – everything we heard was probably expected, and the news was received with something approa-ching indifference. I rea-lised that these reports were simply a matter of form, nothing more, and I was therefore easier in my mind as I followed the subsequent reports.

X. poglavje

Ko smo se vračali na

postajo, smo poslušali,

zbrani ob holiju, poročila

o pogajanjih med spr-

tima stranema. Nobenega

napredka ni bilo. Celo

prav nasprotno, čeprav

naj bi bili, vsaj sklepajoč

po tem, kolikor sem lahko

vse skupaj razumel, Čutini

precej spravljivi oziroma

so se kot taki predsta-

vljali v svojih poročilih.

Toda po obrazih okoli

mene sodeč, kar nekajkrat

sem jih namreč preletel

s pogledom, je bilo vse

povedano najbrž pričako-

vano, predvsem pa spre-

jeto brez večjega odziva.

Le na znanje so vse skupaj

vzeli, nič več, tako da sem

še sam spremljal nadaljnja

poročila z večjo lagodno-

stjo.

290

“This is nothing.” The commander’s voice cut the sleepy atmosphere. “The Acutins are not standing still. I don’t trust them. Computer: establish a con-nection with headquar-ters! We will no longer be able to break through the asteroid belts without an escort.”After a brief pause a woman’s face appeared in the holo-display. I assu-med she was an officer from headquarters. “Stand by, please. I am putting you through to headquar-ters,” she said in a official tone of voice. Then a man appeared in the display. He was dressed in the same overalls as the Sensins from our mission, but with slightly different markings in the form of coloured geometrical figures linked by lines across his chest and shoulders. He greeted us and explained his pre-sence. He had been deta-iled to look after us, he explained, before conduc-

»To ni nič.« je poveljnik pre-

sekal uspavano vzdušje.

»Ostrini ne mirujejo. Jaz

jim ne verjamem. Holi,

vzpostavi zvezo s povelj-

stvom! Brez spremstva se

ne bomo več mogli prebiti

skozi asteroidne pasove.«

V holiju se je po krajšem

čakanju prikazal obraz

ženske, najbrž častnice z

našega poveljstva. »Prosim,

počakajte, takoj vas bom

povezala s poveljstvom,«

je dejala z uradno prija-

znostjo. Kmalu zatem se

je v holiju pokazal možak

v enakem kombinezonu

kot Čutini iz naše misije,

imel je le nekoliko dru-

gačne oznake z različnimi

barvnimi geometrijskimi

liki, povezanimi s črtami

po prsih in ramenih, nas

na kratko pozdravil in

nam razložil svojo pristoj-

nost. Prav za nas naj bi bil

zadolžen, je pojasnil in se

291

ting a brief conversation with our commander. He gave us information about the current situation – information that was quite different from that con-tained in the reports. The situation had apparently worsened considerably. After we had broken thro-ugh the asteroid belt, both sides began joining their asteroids together to form impassable groups based on their previous confi-guration. This meant that neither side had gained a significant advantage in controlling the area within the asteroid belts, but it had become considerably more difficult to pass thro-ugh them. “The barrier will soon be complete,” concluded the Sensin from headquar-ters. At that moment it appeared that our chances of brea-king through the asteroid belt were getting smaller.Captain Harstan walked to the opposite side of the

spustil v kratek pogovor

z našim kapitanom. Podal

nam je informacije o tre-

nutnem stanju, ki pa so

bile precej drugačne od

tistih v poročilih. Položaj

naj bi bil znatno bolj zao-

stren. Po našem preboju

skozi asteroidni pas je tako

ena kot druga stran začela

povezovati svoje asteroide

v neprehodne grupe na

podlagi predhodne razvr-

stitve. Tako sicer nihče ni

pridobil pomembne pred-

nosti pri obvladovanju

celotnega prostora znotraj

asteroidnih pasov, toda

prehodnost skoznje se je

bistveno zmanjšala.

»Zapora bo kmalu

popolna,« je na koncu

strnil njun pogovor Čutin

s poveljstva; v tistem tre-

nutku je tako kazalo na

vse manjšo možnost za naš

preboj skozi asteroidni

pas.

Kapitan Harstan je stopil k

nasprotnemu delu holija,

292

holo-display, which was now showing the asteroid belt. Bending towards it, he studied the entire aste-roid field once again and then turned back to us with his arm raised. “Your attention, please,” he said in a calm but decisive, commanding voice, and indicated the sector that he had just been observing. “Things are a lot quieter in this sector.”We all looked at the area he was indicating. It was quiet and lay outside the area where asteroids were visibly uniting to form impassable layers, at least judging from the display. One after the other the Sensins around me nodded without com-ment. I nodded too: my views were increasingly frequently taken into con-sideration, and this fact, and the common search for solutions of which I was part, had awakened a feeling of belonging that

zdaj je bil v njem prikazan

asteroidni pas, se sklonil k

holiju ter se po ponovnem

pregledu celotnega aste-

roidnega polja s privzdi-

gnjeno roko počasi obrnil

k nam. »Malo pozornosti,

prosim,« nas je opozoril z

mirnim, toda odločnim,

že skoraj ukazovalnim

glasom ter pokazal proti

tistemu delu, ki ga je bil

ravnokar opazoval: »Tu

je še precej mirno, brez

združevanja ostrinovskih

asteroidov v neprehodne

ploskovne pasove.«

Vsi pogledi so se usme-

rili v nakazani predel. Bil

je miren, zunaj vidnega

združevanja asteroidov v

neprehodne plasti. Vsaj po

prikazanem je bilo tako

videti. Drug za drugim

so Čutini okoli mene pri-

kimavali brez pripomb.

Prikimal sem še jaz, ker

mi je vse pogostejše upo-

števanje mojega mnenja

in skupno iskanje posa-

meznih rešitev vzbudilo

občutek pripadnosti s

293

made me more relaxed about expressing my opi-nion. “Everyone to their stati-ons! There is still a likeli-hood that we will have to evade pursuing ships. Col-lisions with them can also be expected, as we learnt during our previous flight, although we shall try to avoid them.” The commander turned to the navigation com-puter and ordered it to engage full thrust and steer towards the calm section of the asteroid belt. The order was immedi-ately obeyed. But barely had our ship settled on its course and reached full speed when we noticed an increase in movement in the previously calm area. We maintained our course: we were going to attempt a breakthrough. That was clear. Whatever route we choose, it would be the same story. We had no chance of finding a more reliably quiet route through the belt. We alre-

sproščenim izražanjem

lastnega mnenja.

»Vsi na svoja mesta! Nuj-

nost izmikanja zasledoval-

nim letalom je kljub vsemu

verjetna. Tudi trčenja z

njimi lahko pričakujemo,

kot smo že spoznali med

prejšnjim poletom, čeprav

se jim bomo poskusili izo-

gniti.« Nato se je obrnil k

računalniškemu naviga-

torju z ukazom, naj nas s

polno hitrostjo usmeri v

ta mirujoči predel astero-

idnega pasu, in to je bilo

tudi takoj izvršeno. Toda

komaj se je naša ladja

dobro ustalila v želeni

smeri in pridobila polno

hitrost, že smo lahko na

dotlej mirnem predelu

asteroidnega pasu zaznali

živahnejše premikanje.

Vendar leta nismo preki-

nili. Šli bomo v preboj. To

je bilo jasno. Kajti ne glede

na izbiro, kamor koli bi šli,

ne bi bilo nič drugače. Za

odkrivanje bolj zanesljivo

mirnega prehoda nismo

imeli možnosti.

294

ady knew that the Acu-tins attached considerable importance to us, but it was unlikely that they would attack us with all their forces. They would certainly send power-ful units, however, and the question once again was whether these forces would be more powerful than the support of our own forces. Yes, that con-stant uncertainty as to the importance that the Acu-tins would place on our intention to fly through the asteroid belt. If it was still merely a question of the Acutins’ assumptions about our importance, without knowing its true cause, the main thrust of their strategy would surely not envisage the total support of all their avai-lable forces in this part of the asteroid belt. In that case their local responses would not cover the whole of it and a passage through the belt would be possible, since the Acutin blockade would not be sufficiently broad.

Da nam Ostrini dajejo

močan pomen, smo že

lahko spoznali, to vseka-

kor, ampak v napad na nas

z vsemi silami najbrž le ne

bodo šli. Prav gotovo pa

bodo poslali močne enote.

Vendar bo tu spet vpraša-

nje, ali bodo te sile moč-

nejše od podpore naših,

sem ugibal. Hja, to stalno

prisotno vprašanje, kakšen

pomen bodo dali Ostrini

naši nameri o preletu skozi

asteroidni pas. Če je ostalo

le na domnevah Ostrinov

o naši pomembnosti, brez

poznavanja njenega pra-

vega vzroka, v osrednjem

delu vodene strategije ne

bodo načrtovali popolne

podpore vseh njihovih raz-

položljivih sil v tem astero-

idnem pasu. Potem njihovi

lokalni odzivi ne bodo

zajeli celote in prehod

bo možen, ker ostrino-

vska blokada ne bo dovolj

široko zastavljena.

295

We all stared at the aste-roids in our flight path. A kind of flickering move-ment, an indistinct image, and then several consecu-tive mergings of the Acu-tins’ asteroids came into focus. Fortunately the Sen-sins were able to prevent the construction of barri-ers by assembling asteroid layers of their own.Before entering the aste-roid belt, like the rest of the crew I tried to estimate our chances from a close observation of the holo-di-splay.“Navigation computer!” called the commander.“Sir?” responded the com-puter with military bri-skness. “Take us towards the boun-dary between the calm section and the area where the asteroids are being formed into impenetrable barriers. Then turn sligh-tly towards the calm zone. Everything should be as though we still trusted in

Vsi smo zrli proti asteroi-

dom v smeri našega leta.

Nekakšno migljanje, pre-

mikanje, nejasen prikaz,

in že se nam je izostrilo

več zapovrstnih ploskov-

nih združitev ostrinovskih

asteroidov. Na srečo jih je

s strani Čutinov ustavljalo

takojšnje sestavljanje plasti

asteroidov za onemogo-

čanje izgradnje zapornih

plasti.

Pred vstopanjem v astero-

idni pas sem po zavzetem

opazovanju, enakem kot

pri vsej posadki, tudi sam

iz prikaza v holiju posku-

šal oceniti naše možnosti

za prehod.

»Navigacijski računalnik!«

je poklical kapitan.

»Da, kapitan,« se je po voja-

ško glasil odziv.

»Zapelji proti meji med

mirujočimi predeli in

močnejšim združevanjem

asteroidov v neprehodne

zapore! Potem narahlo

zavij proti mirujočemu

delu! Naj vse poteka z

nakazanim zaupanjem

296

the normal passability of the asteroid belt. Avoid the first barriers without making any sudden mano-euvres and continue trac-king all possible routes!” Captain Harstan turned to us: “It is quite likely that the majority of the currently free routes will close rapidly. Be ready for a bumpy ride!” He returned to his seat and pressed a button to inflate protective cushions around his body and automatically tighten his safety harness. This offered the maximum protection possible in the case of a collision. As we proceeded to do the same, the commander concen-trated even more closely on the holo-display and continued issuing orders:“Navcom!”“Sir?”“Use code POT7911/X313 to establish a connection for data transfer!”“Yes sir! A connection via code POT7911/X313 will

v normalno prehodnost

asteroidnega pasu. Brez

sunkovitih zavojev se

izmakni prvim zaporam in

nadaljuj ob stalnemu sle-

denju vseh možnih poti!«

Kapitan Harstan se je zrav-

nan obrnil k nam. »Zaradi

dokaj verjetnega hitrega

zapiranja večine sedaj

prostih poti se pripravite

na bolj ostro vožnjo!« je

dejal ter se podal do svo-

jega sedeža in takoj po

namestitvi s pritiskom na

gumb sprožil napihovanje

varnostnih blazin okoli

svojega telesa in zateza-

nje varnostnih pasov. To

je bila maksimalna možna

zaščita v primeru trčenj.

Ostali smo ga posnemali,

kapitan pa je med vse bolj

osredotočenim spremlja-

njem holijevega prikaza

nadaljeval s povelji:

»R. N.!«

»Da, kapitan!«

»S šifrirno kodo POT7911/

X313 vzpostavi zvezo za

prenos podatkov!«

»Da, kapitan! Zveza prek

kode POT7911/X313 bo

297

be established at the pre-scribed intervals.”“Good.” The comman-der cast an eye over the expectant faces around him. “We shall receive constantly updated images of possible routes on the basis of the predicted ori-entations of our asteroids into anti-grouping barri-ers to oppose the Acutins’ attempts to build asteroid barriers. In this way we will know about the clu-stering of our own astero-ids before it even happens. This will help us avoid quite a number of blind alleys and cul-de-sacs. We will also be able to predict the alignment of our aste-roids to ensure our passage through the asteroid belt.”“And what happens if despite everything they prevent us from getting us through?” interrupted a Sensin from somewhere behind us.Captain Harstan did not reply immediately: he was mentally estimating the

vzpostavljena po predpisa-

nih časovnih zaporedjih.«

»Tako.« Kapitan je s pogle-

dom preletel prek bližnjih

obrazov. »Dobili bomo

sprotne prikaze možnih

prehodov na podlagi

predvidenih usmeritev

naših asteroidov za proti-

grupacijske zapore proti

ostrinovskim gradnjam

asteroidnih pasov. Tako

bomo izvedeli za potek

zbiranj naših asteroidov,

še preden bo do njih

prišlo. Precej slepih letov v

zaprte žepe si bomo s tem

prihranili. Ob tem lahko

predvidevamo še stalno

naravnanost naših astero-

idov v premike za zagoto-

vitev našega prehoda skozi

asteroidni pas.«

»In če nam bodo kljub

vsemu onemogočili

prehod?« je vpadel Čutin iz

ozadja.

Kapitan Harstan se je

zazrl predse v miselnem

ocenjevanju verjetnosti

298

probability of our mission failing and all the compli-cations that would ensue. He then looked back at the three-dimensional holo-gram display of the aste-roid belt. “We will succeed. We have to!”Strapped into my fully reclined seat, I absorbed myself in the display of our approach to the aste-roid belt, until at last we drew near to the entry point. Yes, it was here that activity was greatest. The asteroids approached each other and then slowly merged to form longitudi-nal layers. It was difficult to imagine the Acutins triggering such large-scale accumulations for the sake of blocking our flight unless they knew the importance of our mis-sion.“We are entering the aste-roid belt,” announced the navigation computer.The holo-display showed our entry point. The flat concentrations of astero-

neuspeha naše misije in

vseh posledičnih zaple-

tov ter se nato ponovno

zagledal v holijev tridi-

menzionalni prikaz aste-

roidnega pasu. »Uspeli

bomo. Moramo!« je še

dejal.

Zleknjen na nazaj poma-

knjenem naslonjalu svo-

jega sedeža, sem se zatopil

v prikaz našega približeva-

nja asteroidnemu pasu, vse

dokler se nismo začeli pri-

bliževati območju vstopa

vanj. Da, prav v tem delu je

bilo dogajanje najbolj živo.

Asteroidi so se približevali

drug drugemu in se nato

počasi združevali v vzdol-

žne plasti. Prav težko si je

bilo predstavljati sprožanja

tako obsežnih kopičenj za

blokado našega leta brez

poznavanja pomena naše

misije.

»Vstopamo v asteroidni

pas,« je sporočil R. N.

V holiju se je prikazalo

območje našega vstopa.

Ploščate zgostitve aste-

299

ids, all in constant move-ment, some slow and some fast, and simultaneously rotating around axes orien-ted in all directions, began to come to a halt. Now, like detached sections of asteroid layers a thousand times larger, they merged together to form barri-ers of giant proportions. The first asteroid barrier formed right across our flight path. And not only that. I looked at the holo-display in surprise. The relief image of some kind of castle or walled town, with giant gates, was appearing with increasing clarity on the plane of this barrier. Yes, and there was also a kind of path leading to the gates, in the very direction that we were flying. The path ended at the colossal gates, which were closed, set in corre-spondingly colossal walls. I looked at Benesens. He

roidov v stalnem, ene

v počasnem in druge v

hitrejšem premikanju s

sočasnim vrtenjem okoli

vsevprek usmerjenih osi,

so se začele ustavljati, in

kot da bi bile le iztrgani

deli tisočkrat obsežnej-

ših plasti asteroidov, so

se sedaj zlivale v zapore

orjaških dimenzij. In prav

v smeri našega leta se je

najprej izoblikovala taka

asteroidna zapora. Pa ne

le to. Presenečeno sem

gledal v holijev prikaz.

Na tej zaporni ploskvi se

je vse bolj kazal reliefni

prikaz nekakšnega gradu

ali z obzidjem obdanega

mesta z velikimi, glede

na vse dimenzije pa že

kar neverjetno orjaškimi

vrati. Da, prikazala se je

tudi nekakšna pot, ki je

vodila do mestnih vrat

prav v smeri našega leta

in se končala pred temi

orjaškimi zaprtimi vrati v

še bolj orjaškem obzidju.

Ozrl sem se v Dobročuta.

300

was also watching the formation of this relief image. “This message is inten-ded for us,” he said with a slight grimace.“Message?” The idea of messages communica-ted through relief images was a new concept for me. “Are they communicating to us that there is a barrier obstructing our flight, is that it?” I asked. “A barrier, yes, a barrier. But what kind? There are several levels of barriers present in the asteroid belt. This image is telling us that our flight is prohi-bited. This message bears the stamp of the Acutins’ asteroid belt command. There is a likelihood that all their forces across the entire asteroid belt will be engaged.”“And what can we do?” “Whatever happens, we will attempt to break thro-ugh: we have no other choice. Then our fleets from the other side of

Tudi on je zavzeto opazo-

val izoblikovanje tega reli-

efnega prikaza. »Nam je

namenjeno to sporočilo,«

je ugotovil med rahlim

kremženjem ustnic.

»Sporočilo?« Da nam skozi

reliefni prikaz posredujejo

sporočilo, je bila novost

za moje razumevanje

položaja. »Sporočajo nam

zaporo našega leta, kajne?«

sem vprašal.

»Zapora, da, zapora. Samo

kakšna? Več stopenj zapor

je prisotnih na asteroi-

dnem pasu. S tem relief-

nim prikazom nam spo-

ročajo prepoved leta, to

je sporočilo s pečatom

poveljstva Ostrinov za

asteroidni pas. Prisotna je

verjetnost vključitve vseh

njihovih sil prek celotnega

asteroidnega pasu.«

»In kaj lahko naredimo

mi?«

»V vsakem primeru bomo

šli v preboj, saj nam dru-

gega niti ne preostane.

Potem nam bodo lahko

priskočila na pomoč naša

301

the asteroid belt will be able to come to our assis-tance. They are capable of making a deep incursion. But we will have to break through at least three quar-ters of the asteroid belt by ourselves.”“What about their fleets? Can they attack us?”“Yes, they can. But then our fleets will attack theirs.” Benesens once again absorbed himself in the holo-display. “That would mean the start of combat operations on an enormous scale.”“So we can forget about trusting in the ability of our ship’s hull to withstand various impacts?” I tried to be light-hearted, altho-ugh I didn’t feel much like laughing.“In theory they aren’t allowed to attack us until we are halfway through the asteroid belt. But this relief display tells us quite clearly that different rules

ladjevja z nasprotne strani

asteroidnega pasu. Lahko

naredijo globinski vsek.

Toda vsaj skozi tri četrtine

obsega asteroidnega pasu

bi se morali sami prebiti.«

»Kaj pa njihova ladjevja?

Nas lahko napadejo?«

»Da, lahko. Toda potem

bodo naša ladjevja napa-

dla njihova.« Dobročut se

je spet zatopil v holijev

prikaz. »To bi pomenilo

začetek vojnih operacij

izjemnega obsega.«

»Na zaupanje v vzdržljivost

sten naše ladje ob raznih

zaletih vanje pa lahko kar

pozabimo?« sem posku-

šal biti duhovit, čeprav

mi ni bilo nič kaj dosti do

smeha.

»Vsaj do polovice aste-

roidnega pasu nas že ne

smejo uničiti. Da pa za

nas veljajo drugačna pra-

vila kot za vse ostale, je po

tem reliefnem prikazu že

dovolj jasno povedano,«

je Dobročut nadaljeval z

302

apply in our case. At the local level we are already in a state of war. Or we will be at any moment.” Catching sight of my seri-ous expression, he laughed reassuringly: “They’re not going to destroy us!”“Check your safety har-nesses!” The commander’s voice interrupted our con-versation, as a violent change of direction pushed us into our seats with ter-rifying force. The holo-display showed our course: apparently we were headed for the edge of the blockade. The turn lasted all the way to the visible surface of the gro-uped asteroids. We flew over them, towards the edge, and then immedi-ately changed direction again. We all stared at the holo-display. We appeared to be heading towards the area in which we expec-ted our asteroids to col-lect. That was what was supposed to happen, assu-ming that our flight was

razmišljanjem. »Na lokalni

ravni smo v vojnem stanju,

da. Oziroma bomo vsak

čas.« Potem pa se je ob

pogledu na moj zresnjeni

obraz zelo samozavestno

zasmejal: »Ne bodo nas

uničili, ne!«

»Preverite varnostne

pasove na sedežih!« je pre-

kinil pogovore kapitan in

že nas je ostra sprememba

smeri s strahovito silo pri-

tisnila na sedeže.

V holiju se je zarisala

naša pot: na rob zaporne

plošče naj bi prišli. Zavoj

je trajal vse do vidne povr-

šine zbranih asteroidov,

nad katerimi smo potem

zleteli naprej, proti robu,

takoj nato pa smo spet

spremenili smer. Vsi smo

zrli v holi. Ta let naj bi bil

naravnan proti predvide-

nemu območju zbiranja

naših asteroidov.

To bi se moralo zgoditi.

Vsaj če so naravnani

na usklajenost našega

leta s strateško vode-

nim kopičenjem naših

303

coordinated with the stra-tegically managed accu-mulation of our asteroids, which we were expecting to see in the holo-display at any moment. But for the time being we could see nothing of the sort. We had almost reached the edge, but still nothing. The con-centration of Acutin aste-roids was getting nearer. We held our course. Despite our tense expec-tancy, nothing happened. All that we could see on the display was an image of our ship flying about the relentless accumula-tion of Acutin asteroids. We had already covered a distance that was twice the original breadth of the accumulation of Acutin asteroids beneath us, yet we still continued on. The accumulation of astero-ids was proceeding at the same speed as our flight. Flying round it was the-refore not going to work. I began glancing increa-singly frequently at Bene-

asteroidov, kar bi vsak

čas moralo biti vidno v

holijevem prikazu. A za

zdaj še nismo zaznali nič

takega. Skoraj tik ob rob

smo prišli, pa še vedno

nič. Le plasti ostrino-

vskih asteroidov so se

zgoščevale v naši smeri.

Leteli smo naprej. A kljub

napetemu pričakova-

nju se ni zgodilo nič, in

vse, kar smo lahko spre-

mljali, je bil samo prikaz

naše ladje nad vztrajnim

zbiranjem ostrinovskih

asteroidov. Prešli smo že

dvakratno razdaljo prvo-

tne širine nakopičenega

dela ostrinovskih astero-

idov pod nami, a je let še

kar naprej trajal in trajal.

Kopičenje asteroidov

je potekalo s hitrostjo

našega leta. Tako nam

obhod že ne more uspeti.

Vse pogosteje sem pogle-

doval proti Dobročutu,

304

sens, who was following events in the holo-display.“They’ll soon be coming to our aid,” he said calmly by way of response. “In any case we cannot break through on our own. The forces the Acutins have thrown into this bloc-kade of our flight are too great.” He suddenly raised his head: “Yes, there they are!” The sound of cries spread throughout the command bridge. The agglomeration of our asteroids had taken on the outlines of an Ame-rican football player – a quarterback – complete with helmet and shoulder pads, charging at the point where the Acutins’ astero-ids were assembling.“He will make space for us! Hurrah!” A cheerful shout drowned out the other sounds.“Yes, we will dive into the interior of the asteroid belt right next to the quarter-back,” explained Captain Harstan.

ki je zavzeto opazoval

dogajanje v holiju.

“Nam bodo že priskočili

na pomoč,” je mirno odvr-

nil na moj pogled. “Sicer

pa se sami tako ali tako ne

moremo prebiti. Preveč

množične sile so Ostrini

vrgli v blokado našega

leta.” Nato je nenadoma

privzdignil glavo: “Da, tu

so!” Skozi ves prostor je

zavel šum vzklikov. Zdru-

ževanje naših asteroidov

je dobilo obrise orjaškega

igralca ragbija s čelado

na glavi in z oklopljenimi

rameni, zagnanega v smeri

zbiranja ostrinovskih aste-

roidov.

“Prostor nam bo naredil!

Huraaa!” je radosten klic

preglasil šum v prostoru.

„Da, tik ob tem ‘igralcu

ragbija’ se bomo spustili

v notranjost asteroidnega

pasu,“ je pojasnil kapitan

Harstan.

305

Meanwhile the quarter-back was already approa-ching the point where the blockade was spreading fastest – represented on the display as a stampe-ding herd of giant buffalo which the Acutins had formed in response to the Sensins’ quarterback. The first collisions were alre-ady taking place between the asteroids of the two sides, which were rapidly multiplying into an ever more awe-inspiring spec-tacle: as the million-strong herd of buffalo continued to advance, the power-ful quarterback used his armoured shoulders to drive the whole attacking wave before him, the force of the impact sending the buffalo flying in all directi-ons. And just like the slow eddy that forms behind a great rock in a rushing stream, a calm area free of colliding asteroids formed behind the quarterback. That was where we could break through! The ship’s

Medtem se je ‘igralec

ragbija’ že približal naj-

hitrejšemu širjenju blo-

kadne plošče, prikazane

z dirom nepregledne

črede orjaških bizonov,

ki so jo Ostrini izobliko-

vali v odgovor na ragbista

Čutinov. Že so se začeli

tudi prvi trki asteroidov z

obeh strani, hitro namno-

ženih v vse bolj veliča-

stnem prizoru, v katerem

je med prodiranjem mili-

jonglave črede bizonov

silni ragbist s svojimi

mogočnimi oklopljenimi

rameni odrival pred sabo

ves napadajoči val, da so

se prikazi bizonov razle-

tavali po trčenjih. In tako

kot tik za mogočno skalo

v deroči vodi nastane

upočasnjeni vrtinec, ki

nima moči odnašanja

česarkoli v smeri dero-

čega toka, je tik za ragbi-

stom nastal mirujoči

predel brez trkov ali zbi-

ranj asteroidov. Tam skozi

se lahko prebijemo! In že

nas je hiter zavoj naše

306

rapid banking manoeuvre threw me against the straps of my harness with such force that the breath was forced out of my lungs. We were flying along the armoured shoulders of the charging quarterback through the zone where the asteroids were colli-ding with the greatest vio-lence, in the very thick of the action. For as far as we could see through the great window of the command bridge, the sky glowed red with the powerful explosi-ons that followed the col-lisions. There were thou-sands of them. Millions. Viewed from a distance, all that could be seen was the quarterback’s progress through the stampeding herd of buffalo, and the buffalo colliding with his helmet and somersaulting over his padded shoulders. From close up, through the command bridge window, it was possible to see the violent collisions of the asteroids. Some asteroids

ladje dvignil v zategnjene

pasove, da mi je zmanjko-

valo sape. Zleteli smo ob

oklopljenih ramenih pro-

dirajočega ragbista prav v

pasu najsilovitejših zale-

tavanj asteroidov, v nji-

hovem najgostejšem pre-

delu, in to z obeh strani.

Vse tja, do koder smo

lahko vdeli skozi veliko


stora, je žarelo od silnih

eksplozijskih razpadanj

ob trčenjih. Bilo jih je na

tisoče. Na milijone. Ob

pogledu na celoto pa je

bilo videti le prebijanje

ragbista skozi dirjajočo

čredo bizonov, zaletava-

nje bizonov v njegovo

čelado in njihovo prevra-

čanje prek njegovih oklo-

pljenih ramen. Bolj natan-

čen pogled iz bližine,

kar skozi veliko okno

komandnega prostora,

pa je lahko uzrl ta silovita

trčenja asteroidov nepo-

sredno. V skoraj mimo-

307

simply grazed the astero-ids opposite them, sending up great showers of sparks; others crashed together causing great sections of the rocky surface to break off. The biggest explosions came when asteroids colli-ded head-on. These would explode in their entirety. Some of the biggest explo-sions were probably due to the energy stores in the interior of the asteroids or accumulations of energy bolts and explosive bombs. At any rate the explosions that followed these collisi-ons were more powerful than one would expect from the mere collision of two giant rocks. We were now flying direc-tly into the interior of the asteroid belt. Deep into the interior, and towards the middle our way appe-ared to be clear. Even the pressure produced by our rapid manoeuvring soon subsided, allowing us to breathe normally and then finally even to talk, altho-

bežnem letu so se naj-

prej z robovi obrusili ob

nasproten asteroid, udar-

jali so drug v drugega v

silovitem iskrenju, drugi

so se zadevali v mečkanju

velikih površinskih delov,

najbolj pa so se zableščali

ob čelnem trku z vso

močjo. Tedaj jih je v celoti

razneslo, nekatere najbolj

bleščeče verjetno zaradi

skladišč energije v nji-

hovi notranjosti ali zaradi

nakopičenih energetskih

izstrelkov z eksploziv-

nimi bombami. Vsekakor

je svetloba eksplozije ob

trkih presegala pričako-

vano iskrenje ob trčenjih

kamnitih asteroidov.

Potem smo zleteli narav-

nost v notranjost astero-

idnega pasu. Da, kar glo-

boko, in proti sredini se

nam je kazala odprta pot.

Tudi pritisk zaradi zavija-

nja je kmalu popustil, osla-

bel do najprej ponovno

omogočenega normalnega

dihanja ter nato končno še

do govorjenja, pa čeprav je

308

ugh some effort was still required to get the words out, because the course we were following still con-tained several twists and turns.“These relief images…” I began, but it was hard to find the right word for these strange goings-on.“Yes, our side responded correctly,” said Benesens, who clearly understood my astonishment at the explo-sive collisions of the giant bands of asteroids from which the relief images appeared, in places taking on sculpture-like forms and coming together to produce complete images like our “quarterback”.

“We usually operate at many levels, with the constant presence of the intellect or at least through associations. The quarter-back with his protective armour represents plea-sure in a game that is hard but fair. In our case this enables the inclusion of a

bilo potrebno za posame-

zne izrečene besede kar

malo napora, ker je krivu-

lja leta občasno še vedno

zavijugala.

“Ti reliefni prikazi. . .” sem

začel ter zastal v iskanju

prave besede za vso to

zame nenavadno oziroma

težje razumljivo dogaja-

nje.

“Da, naša stran se je pra-

vilno odzvala,” je rekel

Dobročut z razumeva-

njem mojega čudenja nad

eksplozivnimi trčenji orja-

ških plasti asteroidov, iz

katerih so bili reliefni pri-

kazi, ki so mestoma dobi-

vali skulpturne oblike vse

do zaključene celote, kot

je bil ‘igralec ragbija’.

“Običajno delujemo več-

plastno, s stalno priso-

tnostjo intelekta ali vsaj z

nakazanimi asociacijami.

Oklopljeni ragbist pomeni

veselje do igre v trdem

spopadu, to nam v našem

primeru omogoča vklju-

čitev veliko naših sil ob

309

considerable part of our forces while at the same time clearly showing our attitude towards events in this sphere as a whole. Despite the hard fighting, all of this is merely a game for us. That is our mes-sage.”“But that can’t be true!” I gasped.“Of course not. But in view of the extent of enga-gement of our forces, we shall merely talk about our readiness to play hard.”“And if they respond the same way?”“They will. They will respond very sharply. But as a last resort we will still have the possibility of striking first, so that at least it is we who begin the war. This could also lead to a re-establishing of the balance of power, altho-ugh at a cost. In my opi-nion this will not be neces-sary, since we can already count with considerable certainty on passing thro-ugh the seventy-fifth door.

sočasnem jasno pokaza-

nem odnosu do celotnega

dogajanja na tem podro-

čju. Kljub trdemu boju je

vse to za nas le igra. To je

naše sporočilo.”

“Saj to vendar ne more biti

res!” mi je ušlo.

“Seveda ne. Toda ne glede

na obseg vključitve naših

sil bomo mi govorili zgolj

o naši pripravljenosti na

trdo igro.”

“In če bodo oni odgovorili

enako?”

“Saj bodo. Zelo ostro bodo

odgovorili. Toda nam bo v

skrajnem primeru ostala

možnost prvega napada,

da namreč vsaj prvi zač-

nemo vojno. Tudi tako

bi se lahko vzpostavilo

ponovno ravnovesje sil,

čeprav z žrtvami. Sicer pa

po moje to ne bo potrebno,

ker zdaj že lahko s precej-

šnjo gotovostjo računamo

na prehod skozi 75. vrata.

310

It will not go wrong either for you or for us.”“And if after evaluating the intensity of this game, or whatever you want to call it, the Acutins give the order to destroy us using all their forces?”

Benesens made a wry face and moved his head from side to side as he consi-dered his answer: “Our forces must not allow them to do this.” But I got the impression that he was telling me what he hoped was going to happen rather than expressing an opinion born out of solid conviction. It was going to be dangerous – that’s what my feelings were telling me.

“Initiating spiral flight” announced the navigation computer. The safety harnesses tigh-tened once again. I gri-pped the armrests, rested my head against the hea-drest and took some deep

Ne tebi ne nam ne bo spo-

dletelo.”

“In če bodo po presoji

intenzivnosti te igre ali

kakor koli jo že imenujete

Ostrini dali povelje za naše

uničenje vsem svojim obo-

roženim silam?”

Dobročut se je rahlo

nakremžil med zmajeva-

njem z glavo, nakazujoč

težji razmislek: “Tega jim

pač naše sile ne smejo

dovoliti.” Toda jaz sem

dobil vtis, da mi govori bolj

svoje želje kot iz nekega

bolj trdnega prepričanja.

Nevarno bo, mi je že kar

do neprijetnosti govoril

občutek.

“Prehajamo v spiralni let!”

se je oglasil računalniški

upravljalec, R-Navigator.

Varnostni pasovi so se

ponovno močno zategnili,

oprijel sem se naslonjala za

roke, pomaknil glavo nazaj

na vzglavnik in nekajkrat

311

breaths. I already knew how quickly one could find oneself gasping for breath during these spiral flights, although perhaps it wasn’t always just the tremendous pressure of the violent turns that took my breath away… Out of the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of the holo-display. Our projec-ted flight path was full of twists and sharp spiralling turns…I stared in incom-prehension. Our route appeared to turn comple-tely to one side, below the compressed layers of the enemy asteroids, through the sculpture-like clusters of our asteroids and then once again beneath the Acutin layers to the left in a long turn. Yes, the whole asteroid belt would soon be in play, I concluded. “A well-conceived plan,” I thought to myself. “At least let’s hope so.” Then our ship rotated around its longitudinal axis in the direction of our

globoko vdihnil. Zdaj sem

že vedel, kako hitro lahko

pri teh njihovih spiralnih

letih ostaneš brez sape, pa

čeprav morda nisem ostal

brez nje vedno samo zaradi

strahovitih pritiskov ob

ostrih zavojih. S kotičkom

očesa sem še bežno pogle-

dal v holijev prikaz. Črta

našega predvidenega leta

je postala zelo vijugasta z

ostrimi spiralnimi zavoji,

usmerjenimi . . . Pogled mi

je zastal v nerazumevanju.

Povsem je zavila vstran, tja

pod strnjene plasti naspro-

tnikovih asteroidov, skozi

skulpturno oblikovane

gruče naših asteroidov, in

potem spet pod temi ostri-

novskimi plastmi na levo

v dolg zavoj. Da, ves aste-

roidni pas bo kmalu v igri,

sem lahko sklepal iz pri-

kaza. “Dobro zastavljeno,”

sem ugotavljal sam zase.

“Vsaj upajmo.”

Tedaj se je naša ladja zavr-

tela okrog svoje vzdolžne

osi v smeri našega leta, in

312

flight and we were already flying in steep banking turns through the clusters of our asteroids, shaped into sculptures suggesting human figures. It was wild and tiring, but as safe as if we were in a sheltered zone. Our asteroids gave way to us or allowed us to pass through secret entrances that opened at our approach, and on through their empty inte-rior. It was becoming increasingly evident that all this had already been calculated and prepared in advance. The only pro-blem was that the violence of the turns continued to throw us from one side to the other. I maintained my firm grip on my chair’s armrests. We were really being tossed about, and just when I had got used to it enough to breathe more or less normally, another line appeared across our trajectory in the holo-dis-play. A moving sphere was clearly visible on this line.

že smo v ostrih vijugah

leteli skozi naše gruče aste-

roidov, oblikovane v skulp-

ture z nakazanimi člove-

škimi liki. Divje, naporno,

toda varno kot v zavetrju,

v katerem so se nam naši

asteroidi umikali ali pa nas

kar spuščali skozi svoje, tik

pred nami razpirajoče se

skrivne vhode in naprej

skozi prazno notranjost.

Točno tako, kot je bilo

vse bolj očitno, da je to že

prej preračunano in pri-

pravljeno. Le zaradi ostrih

zavojev nas je premetavalo

zdaj sem, zdaj tja. Sam sem

se ves čas trdno oklepal

naslonjala za roke. Pošteno

nas je premetavalo, to že,

in ravno ko sem se dovolj

prilagodil za kolikor toliko

normalno dihanje, se je

ob črti našega leta v holiju

prikazala še ena črta leta

z opazno gibajočo se kro-

313

I looked at Benesens, who answered curtly without taking his eyes off the holo-display: “They mean to cut us off.”“How?”“Look more closely at that moving sphere!”I could make out outlines. Another bison or buffalo. All the Sensins around me were staring at the dis-play too. Then the image began to grow larger and we began to see it closer up with increasing clarity, until at last we could cle-arly see a snorting buffalo with its horns lowered for the charge. The holo-display zoomed in even closer to show the layers of asteroids that formed the buffalo’s exterior and hide, and then a presen-tation of the individual strata. The buffalo’s giant head was composed of tightly packed asteroids. There must have been tho-usands of them – millions of them, of different sizes and shapes.

glico na njej. Pogledal sem

Dobročuta, ta pa je samo

na kratko pojasnil, ne da

bi umaknil pogled s holija:

“Pot nam nameravajo pre-

sekati.”

“Kako?”

“Poglejte natančneje tisto

premikajočo se kroglo!”

Lahko sem razbral obrise.

Spet nekakšen bivol ali

bizon. Tudi vsi Čutini

okoli mene so zrli v holijev

prikaz. Tedaj se je začel ta

prikaz večati, pogled nanj

je bil vse bližji, vse razloč-

nejši, dokler nismo jasno

razbrali puhajočega bivola

z rogovi, usmerjenimi v

napad. Holijev prikaz pa je

prinašal še vse močnejšo

povečavo z bolj vidnimi

sloji asteroidov, ki so tvo-

rili nekakšno bizonovo

zunanjost s kožuhom, ter

nato še predstavitev posa-

meznih plasti. Vsa orjaška

bivolja glava je bila sesta-

vljena iz tesno zgoščenih

asteroidov. Na tisoče, na

milijone jih je moralo biti,

raznih velikosti in oblik.

314

“They have accumulated quite a considerable mass here,” I commented, half to myself. “It won’t be easy to stop it, will it?”Benesens did not reply. He continued to monitor the holo-display’s images of the individual sectors around our ship. We all waited expectantly. Our side had surely already prepared its response: we were convinced of it. The thin hull of our ship would not survive a collision with such an enormous mass, and yet there was less and less space for our ship to fly in. We would soon have no room left to manoeuvre. A collision with such masses would pulverise us. Even so, around the holo-display all was calm and silence. And expectancy. This was as it should be. The real question was whether our response would be power-ful enough. This was not so easy to believe, altho-ugh there was a strong

“Tu pa so nakopičili kar

precej mase,” sem navr-

gel napol zase, napol kot

komentar. “Zlepa je ne bo

možno ustaviti, kajne?”

Dobročut ni odgovoril. Še

naprej je pazljivo spremljal

holijeve prikaze posame-

znih predelov okoli naše

ladje. Vsi smo zrli tja v pri-

čakovanju. Odgovor naših

je moral biti že pripra-

vljen, kot smo bili vsi pre-

pričani. S to tanko lupino

naše ladje se že nismo

mogli zaletavati v tako

orjaške mase. Pa tudi pro-

stor leta naše ladje se je vse

bolj ožil. Nobena možnost

manevriranja nam ne bo

ostala. Nalet takih mas bi

nas potem zmlel. Vendar

sta bila v vsem prostoru ob

holiju le mir in tišina. Sicer

pričakujoča. Pa vendar.

Saj tako mora biti. Bolj je

bilo vprašanje, ali bo naš

odgovor dovolj močan,

česar pa ni bilo tako lahko

verjeti, čeprav je bilo med

posadko prisotno zelo

315

sense of hope among the crew. At least that is what the expressions on their faces led me to believe. I too was waiting for a response from our side – a response that would be tri-ggered from the Sensins’ central command for the asteroid belt.

Suddenly I heard a murmur of voices. The Sensins sti-rred excitedly. Everyone was gazing at the holo-di-splay. A kind of glimmer appeared but I couldn’t make out anything else. Nothing more definite. “Where? What?” I asked Benesens. “The individual clusters of our asteroids are com-bining; a new quarterback is on its way,” he replied.I still couldn’t make it out. All I could see were the movements of our aste-roids. Then I spotted the

močno upanje. Vsaj izrazi

obrazov so mi vsiljevali

take pomisleke z ugibanji.

Da, prav vsiljevale so se

mi take misli. Še sam sem

obstal v pričakovanju odgo-

vora naše strani, ki naj bi

bil sprožen iz osrednjega

čutinovskega poveljstva za

asteroidni pas.

Tedaj je zašumelo, vse več

glasov in pritajenih vzkli-

kov se je zaslišalo med

živahnim premikanjem

Čutinov. Vsi so zrli v holi.

Prikazalo se je neko svetli-

kanje. Več pa nisem mogel

razbrati. Ničesar bolj dolo-

čenega ni bilo videti. “Kje?

Kaj?” sem vprašal Dobro-

čuta.

“Posamezne že oblikovane

gruče naših asteroidov se

združujejo, naš novi ‘igra-

lec ragbija’ prihaja,” mi je

odvrnil.

Še vedno nisem mogel

razbrati nobenega ‘igralca

ragbija’. Le premikanje

naših asteroidov sem lahko

zaznal. Potem pa se mi je le

316

outline of a helmet, part of an arm, and then the contours of padded sho-ulders. At last I could see it. Our trajectory appeared on the display. We were moving directly towards the approaching herd of buffalo. The holo-display now showed all three lines of movement: the quarter-back, the herd of buffalo and us, all at the predicted intervals. The noisy cries died down. We would all come together at the same time. If our ship found itself between the quar-terback and the buffalo at the moment of impact, nothing would be left of us. Thousands if not mil-lions of asteroids would be utterly crushed. And some of them had a diameter of several kilometres. The layers of these asteroids, at least on the heads of the buffalo, were so dense that nothing could survive a collision. Or, even worse, the collision of two of these massive clusters.

pokazal obris čelade, del

roke, in tudi obrise oklo-

pljenih ramen sem lahko

prepoznal. Da, končno

sem lahko videl. Prikazala

se je črta naše smeri giba-

nja. Naravnost proti priha-

jajoči čredi bizonov je bila

usmerjena. V holiju so se

pokazale vse tri črte giba-

nja: igralca ragbija, pot

bizonove črede in naša,

vse s predvidenimi časov-

nimi premiki. Po glasnih

vzklikih je spet vse utih-

nilo. Vsi bomo na kupu. Če

se naša ladja znajde med

‘igralcem ragbija’ in ‘bizo-

novo čredo’, tik preden se

bosta zaletela drug v dru-

gega, v središču trčenja ne

bo ostalo od nas nič. Na

tisoče, na milijone astero-

idov bo popolnoma zdro-

bljenih. Pa imajo nekateri

kar več kilometrov pre-

mera. Plasti teh asteroidov,

vsaj na bizonovih glavah,

pa so bile tako zgoščene,

da nič ne bi moglo preži-

veti ob njihovem naletu.

Oziroma, kar je še huje, ob

trčenju dveh tako masiv-

nih gruč.

317

“Navcom, what will the passability of this sector be after a collision?” Something about the tone of the commander’s voice attracted our attention.“The analysis from hea-dquarters gives a negli-gible possibility of a bre-akthrough following a collision of the two sides. We have to overtake them. Headquarters recom-mends overtaking them by firing the emergency booster rockets. In all the simulations they have car-ried out, the interior of the asteroids remains an unknown factor, especi-ally as regards the quantity of explosive substances in the individual asteroids. And since we don’t know how the energy stores and energy bombs are distri-buted among them, we cannot predict the density or trajectory of the explo-ded fragments of aste-roid.”

“So our chances cannot

“R-Navigator, kakšna bo

prehodnost tega področja

po trčenju?” Kapitanov

glas je s svojim privzdi-

gnjenim tonom pritegnil

našo pozornost.

“Analize poveljstva dajejo

našemu prehodu po trče-

nju obeh strani zanemar-

ljivo majhne možnosti pre-

boja. Prehiteti jih moramo.

Tudi priporočilo povelj-

stva nam svetuje prehi-

tevanje z vžigom kratko-

trajnih rezervnih motor-

jev za izjemne pospeške.

Neznanka v opravljenih

simulacijah pa je notra-

njost asteroidov, predvsem

količina eksplozivne snovi

po posameznih asteroidih.

In ker ne vemo, kako so v

njih razporejene energet-

ske cisterne in energetske

bombe, ne moremo pred-

videti ne gostote ne smeri

leta razstreljenih delov

asteroidov.”

“Torej iz holijevega pri-

318

be seen from the holo-di-splay,” continued Captain Harstan. The navigation computer then showed the probable chronological sequence of our positions with regard to the collision between the opposing sides. It now became apparent that the success or failure of our flight depended more on the possibility of unfo-reseen delays caused by unexpected obstacles. Otherwise a breakthrough should be possible, or even fairly certain. Captain Harstan spread his arms helplessly. “Without eventual obstacles… What kind of reasoning is that?”“I have just received an updated recommenda-tion,” continued the navi-gation computer calmly. “Even in the case of a minor obstacle slowing us down, a breakthrough is possible. Our units will help us by firing rockets at smaller groups of astero-ids.”

kaza naše možnosti niso

razvidne,” je nadaljeval

posvetovanje kapitan

Harstan, R-Navigator pa

je nato še predstavil ver-

jetno časovno zaporedje

naših položajev glede na

nalet obeh strani, in pri

tem se nam je neuspeh

našega pravočasnega pre-

leta kazal bolj v odvisnosti

od morebitnih nepredvi-

denih, zaradi nenadnih

ovir povzročenih zastojev.

Sicer naj bi bil možen, celo

dovolj zanesljiv.

Kapitan Harstan je

nemočno razširil roke.

“Brez morebitnih ovir…

Kakšno razmišljanje pa je

zdaj to?”

“Pravkar sem dobil dopol-

njeno priporočilo,” je

povsem mirno nadaljeval

R.N. “Tudi v primeru upo-

časnitve zaradi manjše

ovire je naš prelet možen.

V pomoč nam bodo od

strani raketirali manjše

skupine asteroidov.”

319

“Very well,” agreed the commander. “Did they give at least an approxi-mate estimate of the quan-tity of explosives in the Acutins’ asteroids?”“No.”“Hmm.” The commander considered for a moment. Powerful explosions of asteroids could be fatal, although we would still have some possibility of manoeuvre. “All right, Navcom. Full speed ahead! Find me the optimum eva-sive manoeuvres!”The lines of possible flight paths appeared on the dis-play. They appeared to be sufficiently passable, with enough open space for manoeuvring and the chance to take evasive action in the case of col-lision with a single aste-roid.“Navcom, are those moving dots an asteroid shower?” asked the com-mander without taking his eyes off the display. “The Acutins are direc-

“Prav,” se je strinjal kapi-

tan. “Ali so navedli vsaj

približne ocene količine

eksplozivnih snovi v ostri-

novskih asteroidih?”

“Ne.”

“Hm.” Kapitan je še malo

pomišljal. Prav močne

eksplozije asteroidov bi

lahko bile usodne, čeprav

bi nam nekaj možnosti

manevriranja vseeno še

ostalo. “Prav, R-Navigator.

S polno hitrostjo naprej!

Poišči optimalne izmike!”

V holiju so se zarisovale

možne poti leta. Tudi

dovolj prehodne so bile

videti, s kar dovolj odpr-

tega prostora za manevri-

ranje in z dokaj pogosto

možnostjo izmikanja ob

naletu posameznega aste-

roida.

“R-Navigator, ali so te pre-

mikajoče se pikice asteroi-

dni dež?” je brez umikanja

pogleda s holija vprašal

kapitan.

“Ostrini usmerjajo te aste-

320

ting these asteroids into our path,” explained the navigation computer, sho-wing the objectives of these hostile asteroids and the probable movements of the Sensins’ asteroids to protect us. “The majority of them are only inten-ded to clear the way for their individual asteroids, which should come within range of us. Most probably at the passages between the individual sculptu-re-like formations of our asteroids. That is where the layers of our asteroids are weakest.”Our flight through the per-meable Sensin asteroids, within individual clusters resembling geometric figures, proceeded smo-othly and without hold-up despite the sharp twists and turns, although tension mounted as we awaited the arrival of the asteroid shower or the breakthro-ugh asteroid predicted by the simulation – the one for which the others were

roide na našo pot,” je poja-

snil R-Navigator med prika-

zovanjem ciljne usmeritve

teh, nam sovražnih aste-

roidov ter verjetnih pre-

mikov asteroidnih plasti

Čutinov v našo zaščito.

“Večina je namenjena le

za utiranje poti njihovim

posameznim asteroidom,

ki naj bi se nam približali

na strelno razdaljo. Najver-

jetneje na prehodih med

posameznimi skulpturno

oblikovanimi združenji

naših asteroidov. Tam so

plasti naših asteroidov naj-

šibkejše.”

Let skozi za nas prepu-

stne čutinovske astero-

ide znotraj posameznih

gruč z videzom geometrij-

skih likov je sprva kljub

ostremu vijuganju pote-

kal mirno, brez zastojev,

seveda ob vse bolj napetem

pričakovanju asteroidnega

dežja oziroma simulacijske

napovedi za prebojni aste-

roid, namreč za tistega, ki

naj bi mu ostali le krčili

321

merely clearing a path and piercing our protective layers. It was probable that the Acutins had already selected it or – even more likely – that they had selec-ted a number of asteroids, at least one of which was then expected to strike our ship or at least fire an energy rocket at us. In the holo-display the explosi-ons of the enemy astero-ids as they crashed into our protective layers were becoming ever denser. Suddenly the showers of sparks in the impact area closer to us spread rapidly and intensified over the entire section of the route into which we had just turned. “Prepare for eva-sive action!” came the commander’s order, altho-ugh the threat was alre-ady clearly visible from the holo-display. After a few tense moments a con-centrated series of enemy asteroids approached the same section of our aste-

pot in zanj prebijali naše

zaščitne plasti. Najbrž so

ga Ostrini že vnaprej dolo-

čili ali so jih, verjetneje,

določili le nekaj, od katerih

naj bi potem vsaj enemu

uspelo treščiti v našo ladjo

ali pa vsaj izstreliti v nas

energetsko raketo. In v

holiju so se že začele kazati

vse gostejše razstrelitve

nasprotnih asteroidov ob

trkih z našimi zaščitnimi

plastmi. Nenadoma pa se

je na najbližjem delu aste-

roidnih trkov iskrenje raz-

širilo in se okrepilo nad

celotnim predelom poti,

na katero smo pravkar

zavili.

“Pripravite se na sunko-

vito izmikanje!” se je zasli-

šalo kapitanovo povelje,

čeprav je bila grožnja že iz

holijevega prikaza dovolj

jasno razvidna. Po nekaj

napetih trenutkih je osre-

dotočen niz nasprotnih

asteroidov z zaporednimi

zaleti v isti predel naših

322

roid layers in parallel and struck the defensive bar-rier across our path, crea-ting an opening. “Three asteroids!” anno-unced the navigation computer. “At our pre-sent speed, impact in 28 seconds. Am reducing speed. Our asteroid will come from our left, from behind, just above us.” And after a few moments of deceleration which would have thrown us from our seats were it not for our safety harnesses, the view through the great window of the command bridge revealed an asteroid flying past us and disappearing into the distance. The col-lision would come at any moment now. It would be a violent impact. The only question was: would the fragments of the two asteroids disperse before we reached the point of impact or would we col-lide with some large piece of debris. We didn’t have long to wait. The flash

asteroidnih plasti udaril

v obrambno zaporo prek

črte našega leta, da je nad

nami zazijala odprtina, in

oglasil se je R-Navigator:

“Trije asteroidi! Trčenje ob

naši sedanji hitrosti bi bilo

čez 28 sekund. Zato zmanj-

šujem hitrost. Z naše leve,

od zadaj, bo tik nad nami

zletel naš asteroid.” In po

nekaj trenutkih zaviral-

nega leta, med katerim bi

nas brez varnostnih pasov

že odneslo s sedežev, smo

nad sabo skozi veliko


stora lahko videli mimolet

asteroida s hitrim izginja-

njem v daljo pred nami.

Vsak čas je moralo počiti.

Tresk bo silovit. Vprašanje

je le bilo, ali se bodo delci

obeh asteroidov razleteli

že pred našim prihodom v

točko trčenja ali pa bomo

še naleteli na kak večji

del. Pa nam ni bilo treba

dolgo čakati. Blesk silovite

323

of a powerful explosion was clearly visible from where we were. I instan-tly closed my eyes. When I next looked through the window I saw a section of asteroid measuring several tens of metres hurtle by on our right. The ship whee-led round violently, went into a climb, banked to the left and then spiralled past several other asteroid fragments before levelling out and continuing quietly in a straight line along the planned route. “The second attacking asteroid has also been destroyed,” reported the navigation computer after a brief pause. “Six of our rocket-powered astero-ids are flying to block the third one. It cannot evade them. Our way is clear.” The navigation computer’s report was also visible on the holo-display. It showed all the trajectories: ours, those of our asteroids, those of the Acutins’ aste-roids, and that of the last

eksplozije je segel vse do

nas. V trenutku sem zami-

žal, in ko sem se ponovno

zazrl skozi okno, sem lahko

le negibno opazoval let več

deset metrov velikega dela

asteroida desno od nas.

Ladja se je sunkovito zavr-

tela, zavila navzgor, nato

na levo in v spiralnem letu

mimo še nekaj večjih in

manjših ostankov astero-

idov ter se ponovno zrav-

nala v mirni premočrtni

let po začrtani poti.

“Uničen je tudi drugi napa-

dajoči asteroid,” je kmalu

zatem sporočil R-Naviga-

tor. “Šest naših asteroidov

na raketni pogon pa leti v

zaporo preostalemu. Ne

more se jim izogniti. Pot

je prosta.” R-Navigator je

svoje poročanje sproti

prenašal v holijev prikaz:

vse črte leta, tako naše

ladje kot asteroidov, tako

naših kot ostrinovskih ter

324

of the three attacking aste-roids. The crew gave an enthusiastic cheer despite the approach of the last remaining asteroid. “It’s going to hit one of ours!” I heard as I held my breath and waited for the explosion. An enormous boom resounded through the ship. It was at least ten times more powerful than all the previous explosions put together. The two aste-roids must have been full of explosives. The crew gave vent to their enthusi-asm in a serious of noisy shouts, despite the ship turning steeply to avoid the remains of the astero-ids – which the navigation computer had spotted in good time. We had come through this blockade without losing time. But now the most dangerous part was before us. The frontal collision between the quarterback and the buffalo. The holo-display was already showing a simulation of our ship’s

zadnjega od treh, so kazale

tako. Sledil je navdušen

vzklik kljub približevanju

preostalega asteroida.

“Razletel se bo ob enem od

naših!” sem zaslišal med

zadrževanim dihom pred

bližnjo eksplozijo. Silovito

je odjeknilo. Vsaj desetkrat

močneje je bilo od obeh

predhodnih eksplozij

skupaj. Oba asteroida sta

morala biti napolnjena z

eksplozivom. Navdušenje

se je sprostilo v bučnih

vzklikih kljub ostrim zavo-

jem, s katerimi smo se izo-

gnili preostalim delom, ki

jih je pravočasno zaznal

naš R-Navigator. Prešli

smo to zaporo, in to brez

izgubljenega časa. Toda

zdaj je bil pred njimi še

najnevarnejši del. Čelno

trčenje ‘igralca ragbija’ z

‘bizonom’. V holiju se je

že pokazal simuliran let

naše ladje, začrtan tik ob

325

flight path, along the line of the colliding masses of the gigantic layers of aste-roids of the two sides. But here there were almost no more asteroids to be seen. The images of the quar-terback and the buffalo had become so vivid that I couldn’t help thinking of a clash between living beings. They radiated the impression of a gui-ding intelligence. This intelligence may have been external, since both groups of asteroids were directed by the respective asteroid belt commands, but nevertheless I had the sensation that a part of all this intelligence had been transferred to these two colossal combatants. Then the quarterback stretched out its arm. “Does it want to take the buffalo by the horns?” I wondered aloud, “or will they really clash as though these were their bodies?”Benesens shrugged: “This will be of little importance

naletavanju orjaških plasti

asteroidov z obeh strani,

druge na drugo. Pa astero-

idov v tem prikazu skoraj

ni bilo več videti. Prikaza

‘igralca ragbija’ in ‘bizona’

sta postajala tako živa, da

se nisem mogel ubraniti

občutku spopada živih bitij.

Razum je vel iz njiju. Sicer

je bil ta razum zunanji, obe

poveljstvi asteroidnega

pasu sta namreč usmerjali

tako eno kot drugo skupino

asteroidov, toda imel sem

občutek, kakor da se je del

vsega tega razuma preselil

prav v tadva orjaška borca.

Tedaj je ‘igralec ragbija’

iztegnil roko predse. “Da

bi prijel bizona za roge?”

mi je ušel pomislek. .“Ali se

bosta res spopadla, kot da

so to njuni telesi?”

Dobročut je v odgovor

najprej zmignil z rameni:

326

to us. We must avoid a frontal collision, beca-use if we don’t there will be no breakthrough on our part.” After a brief reflection he shook his head and continued: “The probability shown on the holo-display of our flight between the quarterback and the buffalo does not agree with the recom-mendation from asteroid belt command. We will not outrun this collision, even though headquarters say that our chances are good. The situation shown by the holo-display is not promising. The question is: who to believe? Unless headquarters have some-thing else up their sleeves, which is also possible.” On the display the quarter-back and the buffalo had begun their charge. Each of their movements spoke of a tensing of muscles, powerful momentum, inc-reasing speed and a vio-lent attack. The collision of millions of asteroids

“To bo za nas bolj malo

pomembno. Čelnemu trče-

nju se moramo izogniti,

ker v nasprotnem ne bo

nobenega našega preleta.”

Po krajšem premišljanju

ob rahlem zmajevanju z

glavo pa je še navrgel: “Ta,

v holiju prikazana ver-

jetnost našega leta med

‘igralcem ragbija’ in ‘bizo-

nom’ pa ni najbolj v skladu

s priporočilom našega

poveljstva. Ne bomo pre-

hiteli tega trčenja, čeprav

nam je poveljstvo govorilo

o naših dobrih možnostih.

Holijev prikaz ni obetajoč.

Vprašanje je, komu ver-

jeti. Razen kolikor naše

poveljstvo nima še kakšne

poteze v rezervi, kar je

kljub vsemu tudi možno.”

V holijevem prikazu sta se

‘igralec ragbija’ in ‘bizon’

že zagnala drug proti dru-

gemu. Vsak njun gib je

govoril o napenjanju mišic,

o silovitem zagonu ob

startu ter o večanju hitro-

sti in silovitosti napada.

Trčenje milijonov astero-

idov z medsebojnim zale-

327

crashing into each other. And a tiny bright disc, a barely visible point of light somewhere between the head and shoulders of the quarterback and the fore-head of the buffalo with its lowered horns, represen-ted our ship. Through the window of the command bridge we could observe the approach of these two powerful space warriors with the naked eye – and of course our own progress. As though we wanted these powerful masses to flatten us when they colli-ded. Silence fell once again on the command bridge. Here without assistance even evasive action was impossible. The masses grew closer and closer to each other. We divided our attention between the holo-display and the great front window of our ship, where the “live” image was truly magnificent in its enormous dimensions. Then flashes appeared in the holo-display. Far

tavanjem drug v drugega.

In le majhen svetel krožec,

komaj vidna lučka, tam

nekje med glavo in rameni

‘igralca ragbija’ in bizono-

vim čelom z naprej usmer-

jenimi rogovi, je pred-

stavljal našo ladjo. Skozi

veliko okno poveljniškega

prostora smo s prostim

očesom lahko opazovali

medsebojno približevanje

teh dveh silnih vesoljskih

borcev, pa seveda tudi

naše približevanje. Kakor

da bi si želeli, da nas te

silne mase sploščijo ob

njunem trčenju. Spet je

v poveljniškem prostoru

nastala tišina. Tu nam pa

brez pomoči ne preostane

niti izmikanje. Vse mase so

se bolj in bolj približevale.

Vsi smo pogledovali zdaj

v holi, zdaj skozi veliko

čelno okno naše ladje, kjer

je bil prikaz v živo prav

veličasten zaradi svojih

neznanskih razsežnosti.

Potem se je v holiju začelo

iskrenje. Tam daleč pod

328

below us, the extended arm of the quarterback had struck the buffalo on the muzzle with such force that an entire section of the asteroid belt gave a blin-ding flash. Through the window we could see the approach of the buffalo’s eye and the outlines of its mighty horns, stret-ching from the far behind us where they were only visible in the holo-display, and on beyond the limits of our vision. Immediately below us the armoured shoulder of our quarter-back was already striking the buffalo on the head, just above the nostrils, with a force that bent the buffalo’s head down. The ship turned violently. Now we were between the armoured shoulders and the helmet with its elon-gated faceguard and the buffalo’s forehead. Behind us there was still some room. The question was: would it remain like that long enough for us to fly

nami je iztegnjena roka

‘igralca ragbija’ udarila v

‘bizonov’ gobec s tako silo,

da se je ves predel asteroi-

dnega pasu zableščal v sle-

pilni svetlobi. Prizor skozi

okno pa je kazal približe-

vanje velikega bizonovega

očesa z obrisi mogočnega

rogovja, ki je segalo vse

od nam zakritega ozadja,

vidnega le v holijevem pri-

kazu, pa tja daleč naprej

do izginjanja iz našega

vidnega dosega. Tik pod

nami je oklopljena rama

našega ‘ragbista’ že zadela

‘bizona’ v glavo, tik nad

nozdrvi, s silo, ki je bivoljo

glavo upognila navzdol.

Ladja je silovito zavila,

zdaj je bila med okloplje-

nimi rameni in čelado s

podaljšano zaščito obraza

ter med bizonovim čelom.

Za nas je bilo tam še nekaj

prostora, vprašanje je le

bilo, ali bo ostal dovolj

dolgo za naš prelet sko-

329

through it? Below us we could still see the glow left by the explosions of the energy-filled asteroids. Above us the first collisi-ons and the first explosions could only be moments away. The ship flew thro-ugh the empty space bene-ath the quarterback’s chin, manoeuvred round the other side of its face and was already preparing to swerve away when our path was suddenly closed by the buffalo’s right horn. The buffalo had suddenly turned its head and the tip of the horn had only just missed us. Banking stee-ply, we flew all the way back to the quarterback’s free shoulder and were once again beginning an evasive manoeuvre when another gigantic horn missed us by a whisker. Then flashes began to appear on the other side. I looked at the holo-display. Some new movement was coming from the lower side of the asteroid belt and

zenj. Pod nami je bilo še

vse žareče od eksplozij z

energijo napolnjenih aste-

roidov, nad nami pa je vsak

čas moralo priti do prvih

trkov in seveda tudi prvih

eksplozij. Ladja je zletela

skozi prazen prostor pod

brado ‘ragbista’, zavila na

drugi strani ob njegovem

obrazu, se že nameravala

usmeriti vstran, ko ji je

pot zaprl desni bizonov

rog. Bil je hiter zasuk bizo-

nove glave, ker le za las je

manjkalo, da nas ni snela

konica roga. V ostrem

zavoju smo zleteli nazaj

vse do prostega ramena

‘ragbista’, se ponovno obr-

nili v izogibni let, ko nas

je orjaški rog ponovno

dohitel in nas spet zgrešil

le za las. Tedaj se je začelo

iskriti na povsem naspro-

tni strani. Zazrl sem se v

holi. Iz spodnje strani aste-

roidnega pasu je prihajalo

in zajelo že vso nasprotno

330

had already involved the whole of the opposite side. I looked at the display and then at the Sensins around me. It was clear that they were even more disturbed than I was by these events on the other side of the asteroid belt. “What’s that?” I asked.Benesens started at the display in silence: “I don’t know. Perhaps all-out war has begun with all forces, ours and theirs.”“War?” Benesens’s restra-int and his serious face were very eloquent.“Only the largest space-ships are powerful enough to release such quantities of energy,” he explained.“Message from headquar-ters,” interrupted the navi-gation computer. “Prepare for landing! We are about to go aboard the Conque-ror 949.”I looked at Benesens again: “What now?”“The Conqueror 949 is one of our largest and best armed ship carriers. Ships

stran asteroidnega pasu

nekakšno novo gibanje,

da sem pogledoval zdaj v

holi, zdaj v Čutine okoli

sebe. Očitno jih je to doga-

janje na nasprotnem delu

asteroidnega pasu še bolj

vznemirilo kot mene. “Kaj

je to?” sem vprašal.

Dobročut je tiho zrl v holi:

“Ne vem. Morda se je začela

vojna z vsemi silami, tako

našimi kot njihovimi.”

“Vojna?” Dobročutova

zadržanost in njegov zre-

snjeni obraz sta bila precej

zgovorna.

“Samo največje vesoljske

ladje imajo dovolj sil za

tako sproščanje energije,”

je pojasnil.

“Sporočilo poveljstva,” se

je zaslišal glas R-Naviga-

torja. “Pripravite se na pri-

stanek!. Vkrcali se bomo

na našo vesoljsko ladjo

OSVAJALEC 949.”

Spet sem pogledal Dobro-

čuta: “Kaj pa je zdaj to?”

“Hja, to je ena iz serije

naših največjih in najbolje

oboroženih ladjenosilk.

331

of this class are capable of breaking through to us. It can even clear the other asteroids out of its way. It could break through all the asteroid layers on its own. And it can only be destro-yed in battle with Acutin ship carriers of the same strength.”I looked at the holo-dis-play. The demolishing of the asteroid blockade – of entire layers of asteroids – was followed by the appe-arance of the front section of the Conqueror 949. So these were the Sensins’ “aircraft carriers”, or rather “ship carriers”. They must have been several thou-sand times bigger than the largest aircraft carriers on earth: we could only see the front section, while the rear section and even the middle section were too big to fit in the image shown by the holo-display. The ship would reach us at any moment; all eyes were already gazing at it through the big front

Take se lahko prebijejo do

nas. Tudi ostale asteroide

lahko počisti pred sabo.

Sama se lahko prebije skozi

vse plasti asteroidov. In le

v boju z enako močnimi

ladjenosilkami Ostrinov je

lahko uničena.”

Pogledal sem v holi. Raz-

streljevanju asteroidov,

postavljenih v našo blo-

kado, bolje rečeno kar

celih plasti, je sledil prikaz

sprednjega konca naše

ladje OSVAJALEC 949. To

so bile torej naše “leta-

lonosilke” z zanje bolj

ustreznim imenom “ladje-

nosilke”. Večtisočkrat so

morale biti večje od najve-

čjih zemeljskih letalono-

silk, saj je bil viden le spre-

dnji del, zadnji in najbrž

tudi ne srednji pa sploh

nista bila zajeta v holije-

vem prikazu. Ladja bi nas

morala doseči vsak hip, vsi

pogledi so že upirali skozi

veliko čelno okno proti

332

window. All around, as far as we could see, across the whole of our horizon, light gleamed through the dark clouds consisting of coun-tless asteroids, large and small, moving in all direc-tions as though driven by a colossal storm. “It is a sort of storm, after all,” I murmured to myself. Some of the nearest aste-roids were already being swept past us. Flying fra-gments of the exploded asteroids were beginning to strike our hull. Then the accumulation of aste-roids became even denser, while somehow remain-ing at a slight distance in front of us, since none of the larger pieces came in our direction, only rubble carried by the enormous blast. There was an incre-dible number of these dust particles. Entire layers of asteroids must have been utterly pulverised to cause a dust storm like the one through which we were moving. Then, all of a

njej. Vse naokrog, v dosegu

našega vida, pravzaprav po

vsem našem obzorju, se je

svetlikalo skozi temačne

oblake iz neštetih malih in

velikih asteroidov, pomi-

kajočih se v vse smeri, kot

da bi jih gnal orjaški vihar.

“Saj to tudi je vihar!” sem

zamrmral bolj zase. Neka-

tere, nam bližje asteroide

je celo že odnašalo mimo

nas. Še v nas so začeli udar-

jati odleteli koščki razstre-

ljenih asteroidov. Potem

pa je kopičenje asteroidov

postajalo samo še gostejše

in gostejše, vendar v neka-

kšnem razmikanju pred

nami, ker nobeden od

večjih ni bil usmerjen

naravnost v nas, le drobir

nas je zadeval v orjaškem

pišu. Teh prašnih delcev

je bilo neverjetno veliko.

Cele plasti asteroidov so

morale biti povsem zdro-

bljene za nastanek takih

prašnih viharjev, kot je bil

tale, skozi katerega smo se

pomikali. Tedaj se je nena-

333

sudden, there was calm. The clouds disappeared and the shower of aste-roid fragments ceased to glisten. And our view, up until now limited to the empty spaces between the dust clouds, now wide-ned to reveal the mighty hull of the Conqueror 949, with hundreds of openings from which various ves-sels were flying. This spa-ceship of the Sensins was truly majestic. Mighty columns extending from the hull arched over the ship’s giant sides and bent to form the supports of the landing platforms. The ship must have had seve-ral hundred decks, and its hull was so long that it disappeared into the dis-tance. It occurred to me that we were probably safe now, although according to Benesens enemy ships of the same size could destroy it. Be that as it

doma vse umirilo. Oblaki

so izginili, eksplozijsko

pršenje asteroidov je pre-

nehalo s svojim svetlika-

njem. In razgled, ki se nam

je odpiral le občasno v pra-

znih prostorih med posa-

meznimi prašnimi oblaki,

se je lahko spustil v daljavo,

kjer je zastal na mogoč-

nem trupu OSVAJALCA

949 s stotinami vhodno-iz-

hodnih odprtin, iz katerih

so izletavala razna plovila.

Resnično veličastna je bila

ta vesoljska ladja Čutinov.

Prek njenih velikanskih

sten so se bočili prav tako

mogočni loki stebrov, izvi-

rajoči iz njenega trupa in

upognjeni v nosilce pri-

stajalnih ploščadi. Več sto

nadstropij je moralo biti

v tej ladji, katere podol-

govati trup se je izgubljal

v daljavi. Zdaj smo najbrž

varni, se mi je utrnil pomi-

slek, čeprav naj bi jo po

Dobročutovih besedah

enako velike nasprotni-

kove ladje lahko tudi

uničile. Kakorkoli, veli-

334

may, its enormous dimen-sions exceeded my wildest fantasies about spaceships and their possible dimen-sions.“We are directed to enter through entrance number 37,” announced the navi-gation computer. Then came the voice of Captain Harstan:“In all likelihood this is the end of our ship’s journey, since travel has become too dangerous for small vessels. Meanwhile the results of our negotia-tions with the Acutins do not indicate any reduction in tension. If anything the opposite is true.”

častnost njenih dimenzij

je presegla moje najskraj-

neše predstave o velikosti

vesoljskih ladij. Le v neja-

snih obrisih mojih fantazij

je bilo kaj takega možno.

“Sporočajo nam, naj vsto-

pimo skozi odprti vhod

številka 37,” je sporočil

R-Navigator, takoj zatem

pa se je oglasil še kapitan

Harstan:

“Po vsej verjetnosti bo let

naše ladje s tem zaklju-

čen, ker so za mala plo-

vila postala potovanja

prenevarna. Pa tudi rezul-

tati pogajanj z Ostrini ne

kažejo nobenega zmanj-

šanja napetosti. Kvečjemu

nasprotno.”

335

Chapter XI

The reception aboard the Conqueror 949 proceeded according to protocol. A considerable part of the crew was present and the introductory words of wel-come were spoken by the ship-carrier’s commander Admiral Stratus. “It is an honour,” he began, “for me to have this oppor-tunity to congratulate my friend Captain Harstan, the commander of the special mission, on this successful breakthrough.” The admiral indicated our commander, who accepted the congratulations with a slight bow and expressed his thanks for the admiral’s timely assistance.

“Your customs appear to be quite similar to ours on Earth,” I said to Bene-sens, who merely nodded and said: “Naturally,” as

XI. poglavje

Sprejem na OSVAJALCU

949 je potekal po proto-

kolu, ob navzočnosti pre-

cejšnjega dela posadke in

z uvodnimi pozdravnimi

besedami poveljnika ladje-

nosilke admirala Stratusa.

“Čast mi je,” je rekel med

drugim, “da svojemu prija-

telju, poveljniku posebne

misije kapitanu Harstanu,

ob tej priložnosti izrečem

priznanje za uspešno opra-

vljen preboj.” Admiral je z

roko pokazal na našega

kapitana, ki je sprejel pri-

znanje z rahlim priklonom

glave ter se v nekaj bese-

dah zahvalil za pravočasno

pomoč.

“No, saj imate kar precej

zemeljske navade,” sem

dejal Dobročutu, ta pa je

le prikimal s pripombo:

“Seveda,” kot da je to

336

though this were perfec-tly obvious. I looked at him again, since although his answer was perfec-tly acceptable, and in its own way even pleasing, its obviousness seemed a little harder to understand. Then Admiral Stratus began talking about the intervention of his forces which had liberated the passage for us, and about the blocked routes that had previously been open to everyone but now, owing to the irresponsible actions of the Acutins, were closed or at least less easily pas-sable, as had been the case for our STORMBIRD. “Although as you have proved,” continued Admi-ral Stratus, “ it is still pos-sible to get through.” He then spoke about the course of events, about which I had a slightly diffe-rent opinion, since it appe-ared to me that the com-mander of the ship-carrier underestimated the Acu-tins. In fact our mission,

povsem jasno, tako da sem

znova pogledal vanj, kajti

kljub zame povsem spreje-

mljivemu odgovoru, ki mi

je bil po svoje tudi všeč,

se mi je zdela samoumev-

nost njegovega odgovora

vendarle težje razumljiva.

Potem je poveljnik admi-

ral Stratus spregovoril o

posegu svojih sil, s katerim

so za nas sprostili prehod,

in o blokiranih prehodih,

doslej odprtih za vse, ki

pa so zdaj zaradi neodgo-

vornega početja Ostrinov

zaprti ali vsaj, kot za našega

VIHARNIKA, težje preho-

dni. “Čeprav se,” je pouda-

ril admiral Stratus, “tako

ste vi dokazali, vseeno da

priti skozi.”

Nato je spregovoril še o

poteku dogajanj, o katerem

pa sem imel malo drugačno

mnenje, saj je poveljnik

ladjenosilke preveč podce-

njeval Ostrine, ker je bila,

roko na srce, naša misija,

337

taken as a whole, was con-siderably more risky than might be concluded from his words, even admitting the Sensins’ abilities and the personal qualities of the commander. He could have acknowledged that the abilities of the Acu-tins, if not identical, were at least on approximately the same level. These Sen-sins were probably like us Earthmen in overesti-mating the importance of their own decisions too, I thought. In the past I had known quite a few people with a similar tendency. Interesting. My reflections on the kinship between Sensins and Earthmen began to move away from these amusing details and towards more serious comparisons. When they reacted to various events, the expressions of their faces were very frequently similar to the expressions of Earthmen in similar circumstances. I looked appraisingly at the Sen-

v celoti vzeto, precej bolj

tvegana, kot bi bilo skle-

pati po njegovih besedah,

in to ob vsem priznanju

njihovim, lahko tudi kapi-

tanovim osebnim sposob-

nostim. Ostrinom bi lahko

priznal, če že ne enakih

sposobnosti, pa vsaj pribli-

žno enako raven. Najbrž so

tile Čutini podobni nam

Zemljanom tudi po pre-

cenjevanju pomena svojih

odločitev, sem pomi-

slil, saj sem v preteklosti

imel kar nekaj znancev

s podobnimi nagnjenji.

Prav zanimivo. In moje

razmišljanje o sorodnosti

Čutinov z Zemljani se je

vse bolj selilo od teh nekaj

zabavnih podrobnosti k

bolj celovitim primerja-

vam, kajti tudi ob odzivih

na razna dogajanja so bili

izrazi njihovih obrazov

zelo pogosto podobni izra-

zom Zemljanov ob podob-

nih priložnostih. Ocenju-

joče sem preletel s pogle-

338

sins around me. Some of them were listening with real attention, while others were only pretending to listen and even chatting among themselves. I was able to spot several con-versations taking place, especially when I turned to survey the entire hall. And there she was. Honaja! Our eyes met. There was still something melancholy about her, although she immediately smiled at me. When had she got here? It didn’t matter… I raised my hand in greeting and she immediately waved back, with no hint of restraint. I pointed at myself and then at her. I wanted to tell her to wait for me after the ceremony, that we should meet, but we were too far away from each other. She immediately nodded, and once again smiled happily. She had understood eve-rything. We were going to meet. I smiled back at her, raised my arm again to say “see you later” and despite

dom po sosednjih Čutinih.

Nekateri so res zavzeto

poslušali, drugi pa precej

manj, celo pomenkovali

so se med sabo. Več takih

pogovorov sem lahko

zaznal, še posebej, ko sem

s pogledom obšel vso dvo-

rano. In tam je bila ona,

Honaja! Najina pogleda sta

se ujela. Še vedno je bila

nekam otožna, čeprav se

mi je takoj nasmehnila.

Kdaj je prišla tja? No, saj

je vseeno… Z dvigom roke

sem ji nakazal pozdrav, na

katerega mi je takoj poma-

hala v odgovor, brez zadr-

žanosti. Pokazal sem nase

ter nato nanjo. Hotel sem

ji sporočiti, naj me počaka

po tem ceremonialu, da

se dobiva, tedaj sva si bila

pač predaleč. Takoj mi je

prikimala, pa s prav vese-

lim nasmehom še enkrat.

Vse je razumela. Dobila se

bova. Vrnil sem ji nasmeh, ji

še enkrat z rahlim dvigom

roke poslal začasen poz-

339

everything, at least for the next few words, listened to the speaker, one of the commanders of the space-ship.

* * *

I smiled at Honaja as she came towards me. After we had squeezed wrists in greeting she positioned herself right next to me. “They let us through the asteroid belt in small groups,” she explained. “It was easier that way, apparently. Otherwise I would have been here even sooner.”“It’s nice to see you here,” I replied, showing the same measure of enthu-siasm at our meeting. I really wanted to embrace her, squeeze her, kiss her. Even her eyes told me that this was what I should do. But I had too much respect

drav ter kljub vsemu, vsaj

za nekaj nadaljnjih besed,

prisluhnil govorniku,

enemu iz poveljstva vesolj-

ske ladje.

* * *

Nasmehnil sem se pri-

hajajoči Honaji, ki se je

po stisku najinih zapestij

pomaknila tik obme. “V

manjših skupinah so nas

spustili skozi asteroidni

pas,” je pojasnila, “tako naj

bi bilo lažje. Če ne, bi te že

prej počakala.”

“Lepo te je videti tukaj,”

sem ji v enaki meri vrnil

navdušenje nad najinim

srečanjem. Najraje bi jo

objel, stisnil, poljubil, celo

njene oči so govorile, naj

to naredim. Pa sem kar

malo premočno spoštova-

340

for her. It would be too hasty, too quick. Yes: she was actually in mourning for her husband. I flinched slightly. It was true. That husband of hers. In these first few moments I had almost forgotten about him. Even when our eyes met, between Honaja and me there was only agre-ement, along with a deep inner feeling of belonging to each other, as though after a long acquaintance when there is no longer any doubt. Nevertheless, there was doubt in me. Above all doubt about how this could be real. But her gaze continued to divert me from various doubts of this type. She understood everything immediately, each gesture of mine, along with my thoughts, in the same moment. Then she took a brisk step back-wards and began dragging me in the direction of the park. “We can go to the restau-rant in the garden beneath

nje čutil do nje. Bilo bi pre-

nagljeno, prehitro. Da, saj

je pravzaprav žalovala za

svojim možem. Rahlo sem

se zdrznil. Saj res. Tisti njen

mož. V teh nekaj prvih tre-

nutkih sem skoraj poza-

bil nanj. Tudi ob srečanju

najinih pogledov je bilo

med nama s Honajo le uje-

manje z globokim notra-

njim občutkom vzajemne

pripadnosti, takim kot po

dolgem poznanstvu, ko

ni več nobenega dvoma.

Pa vendar je bil v meni

dvom. Predvsem dvom o

tem, kako je lahko to res.

Toda njen pogled me je

sproti odvračal od raznih

tovrstnih pomislekov. Vse

je takoj razumela, vsak

moj gib, skupaj z mojimi

mislimi, v istem trenutku.

Nato me je, po živahnem

odmiku za korak naprej

proti parku, povlekla za

seboj.

“Lahko stopiva do restavra-

cije na vrtu pod tistimi dre-

341

those trees,” she said, indi-cating some tall trees just under a hundred metres away. “Would you like to eat something?” This was an invitation expressed with an agree-able softness…I wondered slightly at the solicitude I had only just noticed in her voice, while at the same time I sensed a sort of continuation of those moments when her eyes were filled with tears at our first meeting. “Your husband,” I began. It was difficult to talk about him but I had no choice. “That was a painful loss for you. I’m sure he meant a lot to you.” Her silent inner pain was now only evident in occa-sional carefully restrained glances.“Loss.” Honaja repeated my word with a bright gleam in her eyes. “Yes, of course, although I don’t know whether I should see it like that.” I looked at her questio-

vesi,” je dejala z namigom

na velika košata drevesa

slabih sto metrov stran.

“Morda bi kaj prigriznil?”

To je bilo vabilo, izrečeno s

prijetno mehkobo. . . Malo

sem se zamislil ob prav-

kar zaznani skrbnosti v

njenem glasu, obenem pa

sem občutil tudi nekakšno

nadaljevanje tistih trenut-

kov z njenimi orošenimi

očmi ob najinem prvem

srečanju.

“Tvoj mož,” sem spregovo-

ril, čeprav mi ta beseda ni

šla rada iz ust, a sem moral

začeti prav z njo, “to je bila

boleča izguba, gotovo ti

je veliko pomenil.” Tiha

notranja bolečina je zdaj

prihajala iz nje le v obča-

snih, skrbno zadržanih

pogledih.

“Izguba,” je ponovila mojo

besedo Honaja z živim

leskom v očeh. “Seveda,

čeprav ne vem, ali naj vse

to skupaj jemljem tako.”

Ob mojem vprašujočem

342

ningly. It was clear that I didn’t understand. Her answer was a smile that seemed to say that now the two of us were here. “I shouldn’t leave you with these uncertainties. I wouldn’t either, if impor-tant interests of our civili-sation were not constantly present.”“Yes, your civilisation.” I squeezed her wrist lightly. “I still don’t know very much about you. And I have already spent quite a lot of time among you.” “Oh yes?” The melancholy look had utterly disappea-red from Honaja’s face. “There are no more obsta-cles. In view of the current situation, conditions are completely different from those at our first meeting. Now you’re ours, aren’t you?”“What? To be honest…”“I know what you want to say. But now we can talk more openly. Besides,” Honaja smiled teasingly, “…now they’ve left us

pogledu z očitnim nerazu-

mevanjem njenega govor-

jenja pa se mi je nasmeh-

nila v smislu, da sva pač

sedaj midva tukaj. “Ne bi

vas smela puščati v teh

nejasnostih. In vas tudi

ne bi, če ne bi bili doslej

stalno prisotni pomemb-

nejši interesi naše civiliza-

cije.”

“Da, ta vaša civilizacija,”

sem rahlo stisnil njeno

zapestje, “še zdaj ne vem

prav dosti o vas. Pa sem

že kar nekaj časa preživel

med vami.”

“Aja?” S Honajinega obraza

je povsem izginila občasna

otožnost. “Sicer pa ni več

ovir. Glede na nastali polo-

žaj so razmere povsem

drugačne od tistih za naji-

nega prvega srečanja. Zdaj

si naš, kajne?”

“Hm? Po pravici povedano.

. . ”

“Vem, kaj misliš reči.

Toda zdaj se lahko že

bolj odkrito pogovoriva.

“Poleg tega,” Honaja se je

nasmehnila s kančkom

igrive nagajivosti, “sva zdaj

343

alone, and for a good long time too, until conditions calm down enough for your mission to continue, which won’t be any time soon. At least I don’t think it will.”“I see... So a kind of enfor-ced break in your com-pany? Actually that doesn’t seem such a bad idea. A little holiday would suit me. Especially if it is with you.”“We get on well, don’t we?” Honaja’s voice allo-wed no contradiction and the gleam in her eyes renewed the flirtatious atmosphere. “Come on, I will prepare lunch for you. With us that means that I will choose the dishes for you. I’m really curious to see how you like it.” “Great, but hadn’t you already started talking about your civilisation? Despite everything I can’t help being somewhat curi-ous.” Eager to maintain the atmosphere that had been

prepuščena sama sebi, in

to za kar dovolj časa, vse

dokler se ne bodo razmere

dovolj umirile za nadalje-

vanje tvoje misije, to pa ne

bo šlo tako hitro. Vsaj po

mojem mnenju ne.”

“No, hm… Torej nekak

‘zastoj’ v družbi s tabo?

Pravzaprav se mi to niti ne

zdi tako napačno. Vseka-

kor bi se mi malo odmora

tudi sicer prileglo. Še zlasti

skupaj s tabo.”

“Ujemava se, kajne?”

Honajin glas ni dopu-

ščal oporekanja in lesk

v njenih očeh je takoj

obnovil razposajeno poi-

gravanje. “Pridi, ti bom

jaz pripravila kosilo. Ozi-

roma, pri nas to pomeni,

da bom jaz izbrala jedi

zate. Me prav zanima,

kako ti bo všeč.”

“Lepo, toda ali nisi že

začela govoriti o vaši civili-

zaciji? Malce radovednosti

se kljub vsemu ne morem

otresti.”

S poudarjeno željo po

ohranjanju nastalega

344

created, I tried to direct the conversation back to the topic we had started earlier. She agreed with me, but only in principle. “We have to take some time for ourselves. That is important too. There is still much that is unclear between us. Or perhaps not. It would be good to find out,” she said.“Hmm, of course. Altho-ugh I can’t think how we could do that.” I laughed, as though to show how funny this con-versation seemed to me, but her desire for a more intimate conversation once again pushed the topic of their civilisation into the background. After all that Mike had told me about purgatory and Benesens’s friend with the incredible resemblance to his father, and all those repeated explanations about how they had to be careful about how they presented their civilisation to me in case I misunderstood them,

vzdušja sem želel preusme-

riti pogovor na prej začeto

temo. Pa sem naletel zgolj

na načelno strinjanje.

“Nekaj časa si morava vzeti

zase. Tudi to je pomembno.

Saj je še kar nekaj nejasno-

sti med nama. Ali pa tudi

ne. Dobro bi bilo preve-

riti,” je rekla.

“Hm, seveda, čeprav mi

nobeno tovrstno preverja-

nje ne pade na pamet.” Še

sam sem se zasmejal kot v

pojasnilo, kako se mi zdi ta

pogovor predvsem zaba-

ven, čeprav je njena želja

po bolj intimnem pogo-

voru med nama ponovno

odrinila začeto temo o nji-

hovi civilizaciji. Po vsem,

kar mi je Miro omenil o

Vicah in Dobročutovem

prijatelju, ki naj bi ga

neverjetno spominjal na

očeta, in ob vseh teh pona-

vljajočih se obrazložitvah,

da mi kar tako na hitro ne

morejo predstaviti njihove

civilizacije, ker bi lahko

napačno razumel, imam

345

and after what Honaja had just said, when at last their previous hesitations had vanished, I now had to deal with female vanity. I could sense her conviction that everything around us was insignificant. I had already had to deal with similar examples of female vanity of course, so I couldn’t really hold it against Honaja. But even so. On the other hand it would be too rude to insist on the question of their civilisation. There was too much sensuality emana-ting from her to pass to a more serious reflection of the kind that I would pro-bably be unable to avoid during a conversation about their civilisation. Honaja smiled at me with alluring tenderness. It was always pleasant when I was with her. She wants me to devote all my attention to her, I thought, and as I observed her smiling face I realised that I wanted the same thing. How beautiful

zdaj po Honajinih besedah

končno brez njihovih prej-

šnjih pomislekov naenkrat

opravka z žensko nečimr-

nostjo. Prav začutil sem

lahko njeno prepričanje

o nepomembnosti vsega

okrog naju. Sicer sem s

podobnimi nastopi ženske

nečimrnosti že imel opra-

viti, pravzaprav celo toliko,

da Honaji niti nisem mogel

zameriti. Pa vendar. Toda

po drugi strani bi bilo

vztrajanje pri vprašanju

o njihovi civilizaciji pre-

grobo. Preveč čutnosti je

prihajalo iz nje za prehod k

bolj resnemu razmišljanju,

kakršnemu se pri pogo-

voru o njihovi civilizaciji,

vsaj po vsem nakazanem,

najbrž ne bi mogel izogniti.

Honaja se mi je nasmeh-

nila z mikavno mehkobo.

Vedno mi je bilo prijetno z

njo. Želi, naj se ji posvetim,

tega sem si ob opazovanju

njenega smehljajočega

se obraza tudi sam želel.

Kako je bila lepa! Takole

346

she was! Close to her like this, squeezing her wrist, I desired her. I gazed at her face, the delicate swe-etness of her complexion, and ran my eyes down her neck to her breasts. What a beautiful body lay concealed beneath those figure-hugging overalls! Everything about her was perfectly proportioned. At least as far as I was concer-ned. Men must have found Honaja attractive. Most of them, probably, there was no doubt about it.

In the restaurant garden Honaja looked at the bea-utiful arranged tables clo-sest to us and then at those to the side, half hidden in the greenery, in a kind of shrubbery but with artfully arranged branches. One of the tables was almost entirely concealed by the branch of a large, luxuri-ant tree that spread above it. “Let’s go there,” she suggested, walking past a table at which a group of

od blizu, ob stisku njenega

zapestja, sem si jo zaželel.

S pogledom sem zajel njen

obraz, mehkobno milino

na njenih licih, in zdrsnil

po vratu do mikavno raz-

kritih neder. Kako lepo

telo se mi je nakazovalo

skozi njen rahlo oprijeti

kombinezon! Vse na njej

je bilo skladno. Po mojih

merilih. Morala pa je biti

Honaja tudi sicer všeč

moškim. Najbrž večini,

hm, brez dvoma.

Na vrtu gostišča je

Honaja s pogledom pre-

letela lepo razporejene

mize v ospredju ter nato

še stranske, na pol poma-

knjene v zelenje, v neka-

kšno grmičevje, vendar

z lepo razporejenimi

vejami. Ena od miz je bila

skoraj v celoti potisnjena

pod čeznjo segajočo vejo

nekoliko večjega, precej

košatega drevesa. “Greva

tjale,” je predlagala med

stopanjem mimo mize s

347

five Sensins lounged on comfortable wicker chairs. I followed her, looking around me as I walked. The garden was very pleasant, with tall trees and even a little wood behind it. And the ceiling – I looked up, since it was barely visi-ble – arched more than a hundred, perhaps two hundred metres above us. It was made of partially transparent materials that absorbed the gaze, crea-ting a vague sensation of distance. The whole thing could easily be mistaken for a restaurant garden on Earth.“You certainly don’t worry about saving space here,” I commented when we had sat down at our table. “Yes, we have enough of it,” Honaja replied. “Do you like this place?”“Very much.” Once again I looked around curiously.“With us there is no need to be sparing with space,” she explained.

peterico Čutinov, lago-

dno zleknjenih na udob-

nih pletenih sedežih.

Sledil sem ji, pogledujoč

naokrog. Vrt je bil zelo

prijeten, z dokaj velikimi

drevesi in že kar majh-

nim gozdičkom v ozadju.

In strop -pogledal sem

navzgor, saj ga skoraj ni

bilo videti – se je bočil

dobrih sto, morda dvesto

metrov nad nami, narejen

iz najbrž delno presojnih

materialov, v katere se je

pogled pogrezal do neja-

snega občutka za daljavo.

Prav lahko bi vse skupaj

zamenjal za kakšno vrtno

restavracijo na Zemlji.

“S prostorom pa tukaj res

ne varčujete,” sem pri-

pomnil, ko sva sedala za

mizo.

“Da, dovolj ga imamo,” mi

je odvrnila. “Ti je všeč ta

kraj?”

“Zelo.” Še enkrat sem se z

zanimanjem pogledal nao-

krog.

“Pri nas ni potrebe po var-

čevanju s prostorom,” mi

je pojasnila.

348

“I see.” We looked at each other once again. I could see a silent yearning in her eyes, an expectancy. Then her expression changed, and it was as though her eyes were searching for some kind of confirmation in mine. But a confirmation of what? Expectations? What kind? Then she was seized by a gentle melan-choly, or even sorrow. She took a deep breath. “Death is an ugly thing,” she said.“Yes, it certainly is,” I agreed, in the same seri-ous tone. “How many years do you Sensins actu-ally live?” Honaja gave a barely per-ceptible start, nothing more: it was probably simply a memory. “That isn’t the problem For us death is not neces-sarily an evil thing. We have merely opted for a life from which we have not excluded death, altho-ugh we could have done.”

“Vidim.” Spet sva se ujela s

pogledi. Tiho hrepenenje

sem lahko zaznal v njenih

očeh, pričakovanje. Njeni

pogledi so v kakšnem tre-

nutku postali preiskujoči,

z iskanjem neke svoje

potrditve v meni. Kakšne

le? Pričakovanj? Kakšnih?

Potem pa jo je obšla rahla

otožnost, celo ginjenost.

Globoko je zajela sapo.

“Smrt je grda zadeva,” je

dejala.

“Da, seveda,” sem ji pri-

trdil, tudi sam zresnjen.

“Koliko let pa Čutini prav-

zaprav živite?”

Honaja se je komaj

zaznavno zdrznila, pa nič

več, najbrž jo je za nekaj

trenutkov prevzel spomin.

“Saj ni to problem. Smrt za

nas ni nujno zlo. Le opre-

delili smo se za življenje, iz

katerega smrti nismo izlo-

čili, čeprav bi jo lahko.”

349

“We Earthmen would exclude it immediately,” I replied with renewed animation and when she smiled I laughed softly myself in confirmation of my words. Honaja conti-nued to smile. My diffe-rent views on the question of death were evidently sufficiently well known to her. “At our level of develo-pment such a choice is something utterly dif-ferent,” she said. “The uniqueness of life carries in itself a great value. For us even a risk with a fatal outcome is not difficult to avoid. Accidents are actu-ally so rare with us that it is a long time since the last one. At least no-one takes them as something that could mean his death.” “But your husband died…”“That is true. In the case of war or a commando attack the position changes com-pletely. But the uniqueness of life is not an advantage.

“Mi Zemljani bi jo takoj

izločili,” sem ji s ponovno

povrnjeno živahnostjo

navrgel ter se po njenem

nasmehu še sam polglasno

nasmejal v potrditev svojih

besed. Honaja je zadržala

svoj smehljaj. Moje dru-

gačno razmišljanje glede

vprašanja o smrti ji je bilo

očitno dovolj znano.

“Na naši razvojni stopnji

je taka opredelitev nekaj

povsem drugega,” je odvr-

nila. “Enkratnost življe-

nja nosi v sebi veliko vre-

dnost. Pa tudi tveganju s

smrtnim izidom se nam ni

težko izogniti. Pravzaprav

se nezgode pri nas tako

redko dogajajo, da jih že

lep čas ni bilo. Vsaj nihče

jih ne jemlje kot nečesa,

kar bi lahko pomenilo nje-

govo smrt.”

“Toda tvoj mož je umrl…”

“To že. V primeru vojne ali

diverzantskega napada se

položaj v celoti spremeni.

Tedaj enkratnost življenja

ni prednost. Vsaj po mojih

350

At least not in my expe-rience. After what I have been through my opinion on everything has chan-ged completely.”“Yours is an unusual civi-lisation, Honaja,” I said. “It doesn’t make sense to me that you have not retained the possibility of returning life in the case of an acci-dent if, as you say, this is something you are capa-ble of. To renounce such a possibility, and to do so completely, is in my opi-nion foolish.”“Well, a complete renunci-ation... it isn’t exactly like that…”Honaja stopped, as though searching for the right words. “What do you mean it isn’t like that?”“It isn’t so simple. At least not entirely.” This time Honaja gave a slightly mysterious smile, and although I couldn’t tell whether what she was saying applied to me or to her herself, she had given me a premonition

izkušnjah ne. Po tem,

kar sem doživela, imam

povsem drugačno mnenje

o vsem skupaj, kakor sem

ga imela prej.”

“Nenavadna civilizacija

ste, Honaja,” sem dejal.

“Nerazumno je zame, da

si niste ohranili možnosti

vrnitve življenja v primeru

nesreče, če bi si jo lahko,

kot praviš. Kar tako se

odpovedati taki možnosti,

in to v celoti, je po moje

neumno.”

“No, saj to z odpovedjo v

celoti… to ni ravno tako. . .”

Honaja je pomišljala, iščoč

prave besede.

“Kako misliš - ni ravno

tako?”

“Ni tako preprosto. Vsaj

v celoti ne.” To pot se je

Honaja nasmehnila nekako

skrivnostno, in čeprav

nisem mogel ugotoviti, ali

to, kar je rekla, velja meni

ali pa kar njej sami, mi je

vzbudila slutnjo nečesa

351

of something important. Something that had to be in close connection with all our decisions and pro-bably also our emotions and with her feelings for me. Something that was the reason we two were sitting here. How compli-cated it all was!“Peter, look what I have prepared for you!” The food that had just been placed on the table had made Honaja almost as excited as a child. Nothing else any longer had any importance for her. I looked at her for a few moments as I sear-ched for the right words to continue our unfinished conversation, but her eager expression and the fact that she was obviously waiting for my reaction led me to abandon the idea.“Try it! You’ll like it – you’ll see!” she said.I gave up. There was no doubt that it was all very beautifully prepared. And judging by its appearance,

pomembnega. Nečesa, kar

mora biti v tesni zvezi z

vsem najinim odločanjem

in najbrž tudi čutenjem ter

z njenim nagnjenjem do

mene. Nekaj, zaradi česar

midva sediva tukaj. Pre-

sneto.

“Peter, poglej, kaj sem

ti pripravila!” Ob hrani,

pravkar postavljeni na

najino mizo, se je Honaja

skoraj otroško razveselila.

Nič drugega ni bilo več

pomembno zanjo. Še nekaj

trenutkov sem jo gledal z

iskanjem ustreznih besed

za nadaljevanje najinega

nedokončanega pogovora,

toda spričo njenega živah-

nega pogleda in še bolj ob

njenem živem pričakova-

nju mojega odziva sem to

namero opustil.

“Poskusi, všeč ti bo, boš

videl!” je dejala.

Vdal sem se. Seveda je bilo

vse zelo lepo pripravljeno.

In že po videzu sodeč, je

moralo biti okusno, to bi ji

352

it would be tasty too. But I had something other than good food on my mind. I had never been a parti-cularly choosy eater and although I enjoyed eating well, I had never wasted much time over food. Be that as it may, I now had at least ten different types of food on a plate in front of me. “Try it!” said Honaja enco-uragingly. I took some kind of sauce on my fork and tasted it. It was very good. Then I took what appeared to be a piece of roast meat, but Honaja explained that it was actually made of several different kinds of plant and was considerably more appetising than meat, at least for her tastes. And in fact I found that I liked it very much too. Then I tasted the next dish, and because Honaja was loo-king at me as though she wanted to hear my opinion of the other dishes as well, and above all because of

kar verjel. Vendar sem imel

v mislih vse kaj drugega

kot dobro hrano. Preveč

izbirčen jedec nisem bil

nikoli. In čeprav sem rad

tudi kaj dobrega pojedel,

zaradi hrane nisem nikoli

izgubljal dosti časa. No,

kakor koli, zdaj je bilo pred

mano na krožniku najmanj

deset različnih vrst jedi.

“Poskusi!” je vzpodbudno

dejala Honaja.

Z vilicami sem segel po

nekakšni omaki, jo posku-

sil, zelo dobra je bila, nato

sem vzel še kos pečenega

mesa, ob katerem mi je

Honaja pojasnila, da je pol-

peta iz več rastlin, precej

bolj slastnih od mesa, vsaj

po njenem okusu, je rekla,

in res je bil tudi meni ta

okus zelo všeč. Potem sem

poskusil še naslednjo jed,

in ker me je Honaja gledala,

kakor da želi slišati mojo

oceno še za ostale jedi,

predvsem pa zaradi njene

353

her happy concentration on choosing individual morsels for me, I took a bite or two of each. A little of everything. I really did my best with this tasting. “Very good. You prepa-red this for me amazingly well,” I said with satis-faction and indicated her plate with its barely tou-ched food. “You should eat too. It’s really good. Why aren’t you eating?” “I am eating. It’s just I’m a little slower than you.” And she ate a few quick mouthfuls. As I chewed a mouthful of plant kebab, I lay back in my comfortable wicker chair. It occurred to me that there was something unusual about the way Honaja was observing me. How many details attrac-ted her attention as she cle-ared away the dinner! And then suddenly, happily and self-confidently, or at least that was the impression she gave, although I could not understand the reason

vesele zavzetosti pri izbi-

ranju posameznih kosov

zame, sem od vsake vzel

po grižljaj ali dva. Vsega po

malem. Prav potrudil sem

se pri tem pokušanju.

“Zelo dobro. Presneto

dobro si mi to pripravila,”

sem ji zadovoljno izrekel

priznanje ter namignil na

njen krožnik s komaj dota-

knjeno hrano. “Še ti jej. Saj

je res dobro. Zakaj ne ješ?”

“Saj jem. Le malo bolj poča-

sna sem.” Nato pa je le dala

nekaj hitrejših grižljajev v

usta.

Med premlevanjem gri-

žljaja rastlinskega ražnjiča

sem se naslonil na udobno

naslonjalo pletenega stola.

Vseeno je bilo Honajino

opazovanje malo nenava-

dno. Koliko podrobno-

sti med pospravljanjem

večerje je pritegnilo njeno

pozornost! Potem pa je

nenadoma, veselo in samo-

zavestno, vsaj delovalo je

tako, čeprav nisem vedel,

zakaj ta nenadna spre-

354

for this sudden change, she began eating too.“Next time I will invite you to dinner,” I said, “although I will have to leave the choosing to you. I probably wouldn’t know how to choose things that are to your taste.”“It isn’t necessary,” replied Honaja with a certain smu-gness. “I know why you said that. But it isn’t about that.”“And what is it about?”“Forget it. It was nice for me to see how much you liked the food.”I smiled back at her. “You’re keeping some-thing from me, aren’t you?”“Does that annoy you?”“Not at all.”“Good. Come back to my place. After that terrible journey you must be tired. I would like to lie down a little too.”I repeated her “good”, which she had said out of concern for how I felt,

memba, začela še sama

večerjati.

“Drugič bom jaz tebe

povabil na kosilo,” sem

dejal, “vendar bom izbiro

le moral prepustiti tebi.

Najbrž ne bi znal izbrati po

tvojem okusu.”

“Saj tudi ni potrebno,”

mi je s samozadovoljno

nabritostjo, kot sem imel

občutek, odvrnila Honaja.

“Vem, zakaj si to rekel. Pa

ne gre za to.”

“In za kaj gre?”

“Pozabi. Prijetno mi je bilo

videti, kako ti tekne.”

Vrnil sem ji smehljaj.

“Nekaj mi prikrivaš,

kajne?”

“Te jezi?”

“Niti ne.”

“Prav. Pridi k meni. Po tisti

divji vožnji si najbrž utru-

jen. Tudi jaz bi se malo

ulegla.”

Ponovil sem njen “prav,”

ki ga je izrekla s skrbjo

za moje počutje, in to pri

355

while simultaneously invi-ting me to her room. Perhaps with these Sensins this was a perfectly obvi-ous invitation or some-thing and actually didn’t mean anything special. Or did it? As I looked again at her alluring figure, I once again had the desire to touch her, to caress her, her whole body. As our eyes meet it occurred to me that I was staring at her a bit too much. That melancholy and pain in her eyes at our first mee-ting was still imposing a kind of deference on me despite Honaja’s smiles. She was happy. But those melancholy glan-ces of hers had made too powerful an impression. I couldn’t push them away, let alone forget them. She, on the other hand, merely had to laugh, and imme-diately everything was different, and her eyes filled with playfulness.

tem, ko me je hkrati vabila

v svojo sobo.

Mogoče pa je to pri Čuti-

nih povsem samoumevno

povabilo ali kaj takega,

in pravzaprav ne pomeni

nič posebnega. Ali pa? Ob

vnovičnem pogledu na

njeno mikavno postavo so

se mi spet vzbudile želje

po dotiku, po božajočem

prijemanju njenih bokov,

vsega njenega telesa. Kar

malo preveč jo gledam,

me je obšlo ob srečanju z

njenim pogledom. Tista

otožnost z bolečino v

njenih očeh ob najinem

prvem srečanju mi je še

vedno vsiljevala nekakšno

spoštljivost kljub Honaji-

nemu smehljanju. Všeč ji je

bilo. Toda tisti njeni otožni

pogledi so naredili preveč

močan vtis. Niti stran jih

nisem mogel odriniti, kaj

šele, da bi jih pozabil. A se

mi je na vse skupaj samo

zasmejala, potem pa je kar

hitro postajalo vse precej

drugače, s precej več igri-

vosti v njenih pogledih.

356

Well, whatever happens, she had certainly given me plenty to think about, and doubts too. It wasn’t easy for me to connect her previous reactions with her present ones. In fact it was impossible. Although as she continued to smile at me this was becoming less important, and for a moment all my reservati-ons even seemed super-fluous. And yet I couldn’t put them completely aside. That was all. “We get along well, don’t we?” said her lingering gaze. She could sense me with all her being. Even when she looked away she was watching me. From time to time I could feel her respond to my sensa-tions even though I kept them to myself.“We can go across the park, to the wood over there,” she suggested.“Over the grass?” I looked around. I couldn’t see any path. “They take good care of

Hm, naj bo kakor koli, lepo

mi je razburkala misli,

skupaj z dvomi. Povezava

njenega prejšnjega odziva-

nja s sedanjim mi namreč

ni šla najbolje od rok. Ozi-

roma mi sploh nikakor ni

šla. Čeprav mi je ob njenih

vse pogostejših nasme-

hih postajalo to manj

pomembno, celo odveč so

se mi za hip zazdeli vsi moji

zadržki. V celoti odstraniti

pa jih vseeno nisem mogel.

To je bilo vse.

“Ujemava se, kajne?” mi je

dejala s pogledom, ki ga je

zadržala na meni. Z vsem

svojim bitjem me je čutila.

Celo ko je gledala stran,

me je spremljala. Občasno

sem lahko zaznal, kako se

odziva na moje občutke,

pa čeprav sem jih prikril

celo zase.

“Lahko greva čez park, tja

do gozda,” je predlagala.

“Po travi?” Pogledal sem

naokrog. Nobene potke ni

bilo videti.

“Lepo skrbijo za to travo,”

357

this grass,” she explained, smiling, as I looked for the path. “Walking freely across meadows and thro-ugh woods is more plea-sant for us than walking on paths. Come on!” Honaja took a few steps across the grass, waited for me and offered me her hand, squeezing my fin-gers playfully as I took it.I looked at her from the side, running my eyes over her beautiful face and down her graceful neck towards her breasts. I stared hungrily at her allu-ring form before tearing my eyes away and raising them to meet her gaze. She laughed. Her response was full of sensuality. If I had caressed her with my hands rather than merely with a look, she could not have responded more sensually. I put my arm around her shoulders and gently pulled her towards me. I moved my lips over her cheek and neck to her ears, kissing her lightly.

mi je smehljaje se pojasnila

ob mojem iskanju poti.

“Svobodno sprehajanje po

travnikih in gozdovih je za

nas prijetnejše kot hoja po

poteh. Pridi!”

Honaja je stopila nekaj

korakov po travi, počakala

name in mi ponudila roko

v prijem z igrivim stiska-

njem prstov.

S strani sem se zazrl vanjo,

da je šel moj božajoči

pogled po njenem lepem

obrazu in navzdol prek

razkrite miline njenega

vratu, vse do rahlega zdrsa

v nedrje. Mikavno obliko-

vane prsi so mi zadrževale

pasoči se pogled, preden

sem ga odlepil in privzdi-

gnil v srečanje z njenim.

Spet se je zasmejala. Obilo

čutnosti je bilo v njenem

odzivu. Če bi jo božal z

obema rokama in ne le s

pogledom, se ne bi mogla

odzvati bolj čutno. Prijel

sem jo okoli ramen, jo nara-

hlo potegnil k sebi, se z

ustnicami primaknil k nje-

nemu licu ter se z rahlimi

poljubi spustil naprej po

njenem vratu do ušes.

358

“On our first date my hus-band and I went across a park like this to my apart-ment. Back then my apart-ment was right behind a wood.”“Just like now?” I smiled at this interesting coinci-dence. “And as he later admitted, I surprised him by cat-ching him looking at me. Some men think that they can observe women sec-retly, even from close up, without us noticing.”“Can you do that?” “Most women can,” she said, with a lightly con-cealed air of mischievou-sness.“What about Earth-women?”“They probably can too. But there aren’t any of them here, are there?” Honaja laughed again.“Yes, of course,” I said. What a lot of things she was telling me. She could already tell that I liked her, since I was making no effort to hide it. I was

“Tudi z mojim možem

sva šla ob najinem prvem

srečanju po takem parku

do mojega stanovanja.

Tedaj sem ga imela tik za

gozdom.”

“Tako kot sedaj?” Nasmeh-

nil sem se ob zanimivem

naključju.

“In kot mi je pozneje pri-

znal, sem ga presenetila

s svojim opazovanjem

njegovega pogleda. Hm,

nekateri moški mislijo, da

lahko opazujejo ženske

povsem na skrivaj, celo v

taki bližini, ne da bi me to

opazile.”

“Imaš to sposobnost?”

“Večina žensk jo ima,” mi

je dejala v rahlo prikritem

preblisku porednosti.

“Pa Zemljanke?”

“Najbrž tudi. Čeprav jih

tukaj ni, kajne?” Honaja se

je spet zasmejala.

“Da, seveda,” sem dejal.

Kar precej stvari mi je

navrgla. Da mi je všeč, že

lahko ve, saj tega niti ne

skrivam. Celo kažem ji.

Pretiranih čustev pa, hm,

359

even showing her. But in that moment I still wasn’t capable of strong feelings, although she was so incre-dibly beautiful. But what did all this have to do with her husband? There seemed to be certain simi-larities between him and me. Between us? Was it coincidence? Or was there something else involved? From time to time she was seized by memories, then she suddenly shakes them off, and then the process is repeated. She even awa-kened the memory of the first time she met her hus-band. The result was that the figure of her husband was a powerful presence all around us.“Oh, I shouldn’t be bothe-ring you with my memo-ries. Just forget about eve-rything! I feel good with you. Really good.” Honaja pulled me towards her, brushed my mouth with a quick kiss and wrapped her arms round my shoul-ders. “Even better than I had hoped.”

v tistem trenutku še nisem

bil zmožen, čeprav je bila

tako neverjetno lepa,

presneto. Ampak kakšno

zvezo ima vse to z njenim

možem? Nakazoval se mi

je obris neke podobnosti

med njim in mano. Med

nama? Naključna podob-

nost? Razen če je vmes še

kaj drugega? Občasno jo

obhajajo spomini, potem

se jih nenadoma povsem

otrese, nakar se vse

ponovi.

Celo spomin na prvo sre-

čanje z njenim možem je

obudila. Tako da se je ta

lik njenega moža presneto

močno vrtel okoli naju.

“Oh, ne bi te smela moriti

s svojimi spomini. Kar

pozabi na vse! Lepo mi je

v tvoji družbi. Zelo lepo.”

Honaja se mi je privila v

objem, se s hitrim polju-

bom dotaknila mojih ust

in mi ovila roke okoli

ramen. “Celo bolj lepo, kot

sem upala.”

360

“Than you had hoped?” I repeated. This sounded a little odd given what she had been saying before and all her replies so far.“Well, yes…” Honaja sounded confused. She almost grew serious, but then her face spread into a smile once again. “Didn’t you want to get on well with me?” She only wanted ackno-wledgement, nothing more. She was demanding it, though with a smile. “Yes, of course,” I nodded. It felt so good being with her. I bent towards her neck and touched it with my lips. I moved to her mouth, which this time opened hungrily to receive my passionate kiss.

* * *

Stretched out comfortably on the couch in Honaja’s

“Kot si upala?” sem pono-

vil. Te njene besede so se

spet malo bolj nenavadno

ujemale z njenim prej-

šnjim govorjenjem in z

vsem njenim odzivanjem.

“Hja, no.” Tudi Honaji je

zastala beseda na jeziku.

Skoraj zresnila se je, a se ji

je obraz ponovno razlezel

v nasmeh. “Mar si nisi želel

ujemanja z mano?”

Le priznanje je želela, nič

drugega. To je zahtevala,

pa čeprav z nasmehom.

“Da, seveda,” sem priki-

mal. Preveč lepo mi je bilo

z njo. Narahlo sem se sklo-

nil k njenemu vratu, se ga

dotaknil z ustnicami in se

med božajočimi poljubi

pomaknil do njenih ust, ki

so se to pot voljno razširile

za vroč poljub z vse bolj

strastnim oprijemanjem.

* * *

Udobno zleknjen na kavču

Honajine sobe, sem spre-

361

room, I was following the latest reports. “No sign of a diminishing of tension, is there?” said Honaja, sit-ting down next to me. “Neither side wants to give way, or something like that, if I have under-stood correctly. But even now I don’t know what the quarrel is really about. I can’t even judge why one side is more right than the other, although I have to admit that this is begin-ning to interest me more and more.” I looked questioningly at Honaja. Earlier she had said something about con-ditions having changed enough for a more relaxed discussion on this topic. She smiled and snuggled up to me, placed her hand on my shoulder and star-ted caressing my neck, my chin and my cheeks.“When you visit Earth-women in their rooms do you first discuss politics?” she asked.“No.” I couldn’t ignore

mljal zadnja poročila.

“Nič ne kaže na pomirja-

nje napetosti, kajne?” je

med prisedanjem dejala

Honaja.

“Nobena stran noče popu-

stiti ali kaj takega, vsaj

kolikor sem pravilno razu-

mel. Še zdaj pa ne vem, v

čem je bistvo spora. Tudi

presoditi ne znam, zakaj

ima ena stran bolj prav

od druge, čeprav me to,

moram priznati, začenja

vse bolj zanimati.” Vprašu-

joče sem se zazrl v Honajo.

Prej je že omenjala dovolj

spremenjene razmere za

bolj sproščen pogovor na

to temo.

Med nasmihanjem se je pri-

vila k meni v objem, poma-

knila roko na mojo ramo

in me začela ljubkovati po

vratu, bradi in licih.

“Mar se z Zemljankami

v njihovih sobah najprej

pogovarjaš o politiki?” je

vprašala.

“To ne.” Nisem mogel mimo

362

her desire for sensuality. In such intimate moments no-one talks about poli-tics. And yet the whole situation was just a little too complicated, and too intense, for me to simply put everything aside, although this was appa-rently the natural thing to do as far as she was con-cerned.Honaja pressed a button on the armrest and the couch extended to form a double bed. She stretched out on it, gave me a playful look, turned on her side, and then turned again and lay on her back with her arms stretched over her head. “Caress me!”There was nothing for it but to obey. On any other occasion this is all I would have wanted. Everything about her was beautiful. Her mouth, her face, her neck, her alluring breasts and her perfectly formed body with the provoca-tive curves of her hips. I moved my hand beneath

njene želje po čutnosti. V

tako intimnih trenutkih

se nihče ne pogovarja o

politiki. Vendar je bil celo-

ten položaj le malo preveč

zapleten, in tudi prehudo

zaostren, da bi lahko vse

po vrsti odložil na stran,

kot se je njej očitno zdelo

samoumevno.

Honaja je s pritiskom na

gumb ob naslonjalu za

roke sprožila razširitev

kavča v zakonsko posteljo,

se zleknila nanjo, me igrivo

pogledala ter se obrnila na

eno in takoj nato na drugo

stran, potem pa se je umi-

rila na hrbtu z rokami, ste-

gnjenimi nad glavo. “Božaj

me!”

Nič drugega mi ni ostalo

kot to prijetno početje. Ob

vsaki drugi priložnosti bi

si želel samo to. Vse na njej

je bilo lepo. Usta, obraz,

vrat, vabljive prsi na lepo

oblikovanem telesu z izzi-

valno zaokroženimi boki.

Pomaknil sem roko pod

njeno ramo in s prsti zdr-

363

her shoulder and slid my fingers round to the nape of her neck. I drew her closer to me with sensual pleasure and squeezed her tightly until it almost hurt. Then she laughed beca-use she was ticklish. Her laughter was full of sen-suality and an infectious playfulness. She liked it. The caresses of my hands drew from her a slow and then increasingly violent writhing that reached its height when our eyes met. There was so much sen-suality in her eyes that I caught my breath. As our eyes met I took her whole being into myself, my eyes pushing on through her dilated pupils, and her body responded with a spasm. Again and again, my gaze sank in hers. Such a game.“Honaja!” “Yes?”“You’re really hot, Honaja…”“What am I?”I abruptly lifted myself

snil do tilnika, si jo še moč-

neje prižel, jo pomendral

z že prav čutnim užitkom

ter jo stisnil vse do komaj

zaznavne bolečine, ki v

igri izvabi le smeh, ker je

žgečkljiva. Njen smeh je bil

poln čutnosti z nalezljivo

igrivostjo. Všeč ji je bilo.

To gnetenje mojih rok je

iz nje izvabljalo počasno,

potem pa vse bolj sunko-

vito zvijanje z viškom ob

izmenjanih pogledih. Iz

njenih oči je prišlo toliko

čutnosti, da sem zadržal

dih. Ob srečanju najinih

pogledov sem vso njeno bit

zajel vase, ko sem se zari-

val skozi njene razširjene

zenice in se mi je njeno

telo odzivalo s sunkovitim

trzanjem. In spet in znova

se je moj pogled pogreznil

v njenem. Takale igra.

“Honaja!”

“Da?”

“Ti si pa res vroča mačka,

Honaja…”

“Kaj sem?”

Sunkovito sem se vzpel nad

364

above her, lowered my head to her half uncove-red breasts and with pas-sionate kisses worked my way up her body to her neck and ears. “Honaja, my beautiful Honaja…” I whispered. And as my mouth moved back towards her breasts her dress slipped from her shoulder. Under the pres-sure of my hands it slid further, to her waist, reve-aling her slender abdomen. My adoring kisses moved further down her body. I pulled the dress from her. I then removed my own clothes and our eyes met in mutual accord. Our mouths sought each other with hungry, hot kisses as we embraced ever more ardently until we reached a final passionate union.

* * *

njo, spustil glavo k njenim

na pol razgaljenim prsim

ter s strastnimi poljubi šel

prek njih do vratu in ušes.

“Honaja, moja Honaja,

lepa…” sem ji zašepetal. In

ko sem se s poljubi vračal

nazaj proti njenim prsim, ji

je obleka spolzela z ramen,

ob potisku mojih rok je

zdrsnila še naprej, vse

do pasu, in razkrila vitek

trebuh, po katerem sem se

z božajočimi poljubi pomi-

kal vse nižje. Naglo sem

potegnil obleko z nje. In

ko sem nato slekel še sebe,

sta se nama pogleda ujela

v medsebojnem soglasju,

v katerem so se ustnice

same poiskale z žejnimi,

vročimi poljubi med vse

tesnejšim objemanjem vse

do končne, strastne zdru-

žitve.

* * *

365

With my arm laid across Honaja’s breasts I played with her long hair. “You know, Peter…” Honaja broke the silence.“Yes?” She had an air of satisfac-tion and relaxation. “We go together pretty well, don’t we?” she said.“Sure,” I replied, despite my doubts about the future of our relationship. “At least from my point of view perhaps a little too much.” “You know, you and my husband...” She paused mid-sentence. “Yes?” “You have a lot in common. A lot more than you can imagine. I sensed this the first time I met you. But after today I can talk about this with considerable cer-tainty. It seems quite sur-prising too me.”“What? It’s surprising for you too? What is behind this? What is actually going on? I thought that here things were only sur-

Z roko, stegnjeno čez

Honajine prsi do njenega

vzglavja, sem se poigral z

njenimi dolgimi lasmi.

“Veš, Peter…” je Honaja pre-

kinila tišino.

“Da?”

Zadovoljstvo po sprostitvi

je prihajalo iz nje. “Lepo se

ujemava, kajne?” je dejala.

“Seveda,” sem odvrnil ob

pomislekih na prihodnost

najine zveze. “Vsaj z moje

strani že kar malo preveč.”

“Veš, ti in moj mož…” je

zastala sredi stavka.

“Da?”

“Veliko skupnega imata.

Precej več, kot si to lahko

predstavljaš. To sem obču-

tila že pri prvem srečanju s

tabo. Po današnjem dnevu

pa že lahko s precejšnjo

gotovostjo govorim o tem.

Zdi se mi kar presene-

tljivo.”

“Kako? Tudi zate je prese-

netljivo? Kaj je v ozadju?

Kaj se pravzaprav dogaja?

Mislil sem, da so tu stvari

presenetljive samo za

366

prising for Earthmen. Not for you as well.” Honaja turned towards me, ran her hand through my hair and cuddled up to me: “But despite everything things are clear. Taken as a whole, of course. With the details it’s a little harder. In terms of variety of characters we Sensins are considerably more hetero-geneous. We place greater importance on building the personality than you Earthmen do.”“That’s certainly pos-sible. At least in view of your higher level of civilisation,”I replied.Then the bed vibrated slightly and a decorative model of our spaceship fell from the shelf above us. I looked at Honaja. But she was raising herself up onto her elbows too. It had surprised her as much as it had me, if not more. All the hanging objects in the room were swin-ging, even the water in the small spherical aquarium

Zemljane. Ne pa tudi za

vas.”

Honaja se je obrnila k

meni, mi šla z roko po

laseh in se mi privila: “So

pa stvari kljub vsemu jasne.

V celoti vzeto, seveda. Pri

podrobnostih je že težje.

Po pestrosti značajev smo

pri nas precej bolj razno-

liki. Večji pomen dajemo

izgradnji osebnosti kakor

vi Zemljani.”

“To je seveda možno. Vsaj

glede na vašo višjo civiliza-

cijsko raven,”

sem odvrnil.

Tedaj je postelja narahlo

zanihala, s police nad

nama pa se je prevrnila

okrasna miniatura naše

vesoljske ladje. Pogledal

sem Honajo. Toda tudi

ona se je privzdignila na

komolec. Presenetilo jo je

enako kot mene, če ne še

bolj. Vsi viseči predmeti v

sobi so nihali, tudi voda v

majhnem akvariju krogla-

ste oblike s prozornimi

367

with transparent sides was lapping from side to side. The stand containing a basket of fruit tipped this way and that a few times before coming to rest. Then came a quiet, muffled drumming sound. “An earthquake?” I won-dered aloud, although in the same moment I rejec-ted that idea: we were on a spaceship after all. Honaja jumped from the bed to the holo-display which had just lit up. A pleasant-looking female Sensin with a serious expression on her face was talking: “We have just been hit by energy missi-les from an Acutin ship-carrier.”Flashing signals had lit up on our wrist-receivers: the agreed call sign of our mission. A moment later the image of the mission’s leader, Captain Harstan, appeared in the display. “All personnel report to the muster station imme-diately! We are under

stenami, stojalo s košarico

sadežev se je kar nekajkrat

nagnilo sem ter tja, preden

se je umirilo. Potem je sle-

dilo tiho, pritajeno bobne-

nje.

“Potres?” mi je ušlo med

začudenjem, čeprav sem

že v istem trenutku zavrgel

to možnost, saj smo vendar

bili na vesoljski ladji.

Honaja je skočila s poste-

lje k pravkar prižganemu

holiju, v katerem je Čutinka

prijetnega videza z resnim

obrazom govorila: “Ravno-

kar so nas zadeli energet-

ski izstrelki ostrinovske

ladjenosilke.”

Zasvetile so se alarmne

lučke na mojem in Hona-

jinem zapestnem spre-

jemniku: dogovorjeno

pozivno znamenje naše

misije. Hip zatem se je v

njem prikazala podoba

vodje - kapitana Harstana.

“Vsi takoj na zborno mesto!

Napadajo. Zapustiti bomo

368

attack. We must abandon this ship-carrier,” he said.In a moment I had slipped into my overalls. Honaja was even quicker and was already running for the door. She stopped and waited for me – I was only two or three paces behind her. She threw herself into my arms and kissed me briefly and violently, and then ran through the door and into the corridor to the rapidly moving wall fitted with stands that the Sen-sins used to travel along the corridors. It carried us to a large vaulted space the size of a football stadium, one of the larger junctions in our ship-carrier. Here there was pandemonium, with everyone running in different directions. Some were jumping aboard the flying craft used for shi-pboard transport, while others were standing in front of the giant holo-di-splays that offered a clear view of what was happe-ning. Honaja stopped by

morali to ladjenosilko,” je

dejal.

V trenutku sem smuknil v

svoj kombinezon. Honaja

je bila še hitrejša, stekla je

k vratom, nato zastala, me

počakala, bil sem sicer le

dva, tri koraka za njo, mi

skočila v objem in se pri-

vila v poljub, kratek, silo-

vit, in že stekla skozi vrata

po hodniku do hitro pre-

mikajoče se stene s stojali

za vožnjo po hodnikih, ki

naju je prenesla do veli-

kega obokanega prostora,

velikega kot nogometni

stadion, kjer je bilo eno

od večjih križišč v naši

ladjenosilki. Tu je bil pravi

direndaj, vrvež, vsakdo je

tekel v svojo smer, nekateri

so skakali na leteča plovila

za notranji promet, drugi

so se ustavljali ob velikih

devetmetrskih holijskih

prikazovalnikih z nazor-

nim prikazom celotnega

dogajanja. Še Honaja je

zastala pri eni od večjih

369

one of the larger groups. Here I saw for the first time a large number of thoro-ughly agitated Sensins, following the constantly updated reports with great concentration. It was true that the Sensins from our mission had displayed agi-tation during our attempts to break through the aste-roid barriers, but they had been specially selected for a risky undertaking and everything that had happe-ned was more or less as expected – or rather as they expected, seeing as for me everything was unexpec-ted, to put it mildly. I found myself drawn towards the holo-display. A spaceship of incredible dimensions – I realised that it was ours – appeared in the display. Its front section was shatte-red, with gashes from the explosions that appeared to be several kilometres deep. Not even the biggest nuclear bombs would be capable of causing damage like that, not in materials

skupin. Tu sem prvič

videl večje število dodo-

bra vznemirjenih Čutinov

med zavzetim opazova-

njem sprotnih poročil.

Resda so bili Čutini iz naše

misije med tistimi našimi

preboji skozi asteroidne

zapore tudi vznemirjeni,

toda bili so izbrani za

nevarno tveganje in tudi

vse je potekalo vsaj pri-

bližno v okviru predvi-

devanja, našega oziroma

njihovega, kajti zame je

bilo vse nepričakovano,

milo rečeno. Tudi mene

je pritegnil holijev prikaz.

Vesoljska ladja neverje-

tnih razsežnosti, namreč

naša, sedaj sem jo že lahko

prepoznal, je bila prika-

zana z razbitim sprednjim

delom, s kilometre glo-

bokimi useki od eksplo-

zij. Tudi največje jedrske

bombe jih ne bi mogle

narediti, ne v takih mate-

rialih z večjo trdnostjo od

370

that were harder than dia-monds and with a melting-point higher than that of tungsten. But then there were more explosions, one after the other, shattering other enormous sections of our ship. The Sensins watched with bated breath, Honaja too. Then a wave of cries and shouts echoed through the hall. I looked at the section of the holo-display that an increasing number of Sensins were pointing to. Thousands and thousands of spacecraft, among them small ships, were leaving our ship-ca-rrier. All of them, large and small, were in attack formation, while a second wave was heading for the front of our ship.“Our squadrons,” whi-spered Honaja. “They are going to attack the enemy, and those in front of us are going to build a shield. Our anti-missile fighters will shoot down the energy missiles before they hit us.”

diamantove in s tališčem,

višjim od volframovega.

Pa še nove eksplozije so se

vrstile, druga za drugo, in

trgale velike, že kar orja-

ške dele naše ladje. Vsi

Čutini so gledali z zadr-

žano sapo, tudi Honaja.

Potem je vzvalovil šum

glasov z vzkliki. Pogledal

sem v predel holijevega

prikaza, kamor je bilo

usmerjenih vse več rok.

Na tisoče in tisoče plovil,

tudi manjših ladij, je zapu-

ščalo našo ladjenosilko.

Vse, velike in male, so se

usmerjale v napad, nasle-

dnji val pa v ospredje naše

ladje.

“Naše eskadre,” je šepnila

Honaja. “V napad gredo,

tiste pred nami pa bodo

zgradile ščit. Naši lovci

izstrelkov bodo razstrelje-

vali energetske izstrelke,

še preden bodo zadevali.”

371

“Can this ship-carrier withstand an attack like this?” Judging from the expressions on the faces around me, and the enthu-siastic cries that greeted each new squadron that left the ship, one would certainly think so. Honaja’s face again showed a sombre shadow of doubt. “It is more a question of how long we can hold out. Three of their ship-carri-ers are attacking us. Help is probably already on its way, although we can’t see them yet. But, Peter…”I looked at her anxious face: “Yes?”“An attack by ships from the ship-carrier class… that means war. They are our biggest ships. This is no longer a local war. It isn’t like before with the GNAT or the STORM-BIRD. Look there, in the top left corner of the dis-play!”“What does it mean?” I could see a glint of light above the distant fleet.

“Ali lahko ta ladjenosilka

zdrži tak napad?” Po vseh

tistih obrazih naokrog

in po vzklikih ob vzletih

naših eskader bi celo lahko

tako sodil.

Na Honajin obraz je spet

legla bolj mračna senca

dvoma. “Bolj je vprašanje,

koliko časa lahko zdržimo.

Tri njihove ladjenosilke

nas napadajo. Verjetno

nam naše že prihajajo

na pomoč, čeprav jih ni

videti. Toda, Peter. . .”

Pogledal sem njen zaskr-

bljeni obraz: “Da?”

“Napad ladij iz razreda

‘ladjenosilk’ … to je vojna.

Gre za naše največje ladje,

to ni več lokalna vojna.

To ni isto kot prej z našim

KOMARJEM ali sedanjim

VIHARNIKOM. Poglej tja,

levo zgoraj v holiju!”

“Kaj to pomeni?” Videl sem

bleščanje nad oddaljenim

ladjevjem.

372

“The fleets from the upper part of the asteroid belt have entered the fray.”Then there was a flash of light across the whole belt. “The entire asteroid belt is ablaze,” came the announ-cement.“It’s war,” whispered Honaja.“We have detected laser cannon support from our ship-carriers.”All the Sensins round the holo-display jumped up and down with enthusi-asm. Even Honaja rejoi-ced: “With this support we will hold out. Their three ship-carriers aren’t enough to destroy us because we have the support of the laser cannon of five of our own ship-carriers. But where have they come from...? Look, Peter!”An entire section of the asteroid belt was merging to reveal the increasingly clear outlines of a ship of the ship-carrier class.“So these weren’t astero-

“V spopad so se vključila

še ladjevja na zgornjem

delu asteroidnega pasu.”

Potem se je zasvetlikalo

tudi prek vsega pasu. “Ves

asteroidni pas je v ognju,”

se je glasilo kratko sporo-

čilo.

“Vojna je,” je zašepetala

Honaja.

“Zaznali smo podporo

laserskih topov naših lad-

jenosilk.”

Vsi ob holiju so poskočili

v navdušenju. Tudi Honaja

se je vzradostila: “Ob tej

podpori bomo zdržali. Nji-

hove tri ladjenonosilke so

premalo za naše uničenje,

ker imamo podporo laser-

skih topov s petih naših

ladjenosilk. Toda od kod so

se vzele...? Poglej, Peter!”

Cel predel asteroidnega

pasu se je združeval v

vse bolj jasne obrise ladje

razreda ladjenosilk.

“Torej to sploh niso bili

373

ids but the scattered com-ponent parts of ship-ca-rriers!” I shouted. It was a magnificent sight: each part was building itself into a united whole.Honaja nodded: “There are asteroids of every type here, these too.”“What does this mean?” I asked, as I tried to guess what effect the presence of this technology would have on the situation.“I don’t know. There has been too much redistribu-tion of forces recently for any more definite asses-sment of the situation. Shifts are taking place constantly on both sides. It is difficult to say who has the advantage where. Here it now looks as though a balance of power is being re-established. But in other sectors one side could gain an advantage, or perhaps not. Be that as it may, the support of the laser cannon of these ship-carriers closest to us is a cause for happiness.

asteroidi, ampak razme-

tani sestavni deli ladjeno-

silk!” sem vzkliknil. Prizor

je bil veličasten, vsak del

posebej se je sproti vgradil

v zlito celoto.

Honaja je prikimala: “Vseh

vrst asteroidi, tudi taki, so

tu.”

“Kaj to pomeni?” sem vpra-

šal med pomišljanjem na

nadaljnji razplet ob priso-

tnosti take tehnike.

“Ne vem. Preveč preraz-

porejanja oboroženih sil

v zadnjem času onemo-

goča kakršne koli bolj

določene ocene stanja. Na

obeh straneh so prisotni

nenehni premiki. Težko

je reči, v katerem delu je

kdo v premoči. Tukaj se

zdaj kaže ponovna vzpo-

stavitev ravnovesja sil.

Toda na drugih območjih

je že lahko prišlo do pred-

nosti posamezne strani

ali pa tudi ne. Kakor koli,

podpore laserskih topov z

nam najbližjih ladjenosilk

smo lahko kar veseli.” Na

374

A satisfied smile appeared on Honaja’s lips.Suddenly everyone fell silent.“Whaat?” I cried. Imme-diately above us, above the flank of our ship and the section containing we were standing in at that moment, a mass of Acutin craft seemed to be gro-wing out of nothing. “Dive-bombers!” shouted the Sensins.I looked at the holo-display and then back at Honaja. “How? Where from?”“All these craft are made up of modules, including very tiny ones no bigger than dust particles. The distances between them vary. At first they appear in a more or less dense asteroid cloud with all the individual particles sepa-rated and mixed with a large number of “blind” asteroids to mislead our analysers. “And what does this mean for us?” I turned from the holo-display to observe

Honajine ustnice se je pri-

kradel zadovoljen nasmeh.

Nenadoma so vsi utihnili z

zadržanim dihom.

“Kaaaj?” se mi je izvil

vzklik. Tik nad nami, nad

bokom naše ladje, nad pre-

delom s prostori, v katerih

smo se ravno nahajali, so

po prikazu v holiju zrasla,

kot iz nič, velika prebojna

plovila Ostrinov.

“Strmoglavci!”! so se od

vsepovsod vrstili vzkliki.

Gledal sem zdaj v holi, zdaj

v Honajo. “Kako? Od kod?”

“Vsa ta plovila so sesta-

vljena iz modulov, tudi

takih zelo majhnih, vse

do miniaturnih delcev.

Priletela so v različnih

medsebojnih razmikih.

Sprva se pokažejo v bolj ali

manj gostem asteroidnem

oblačku, z razmaknjenimi

posameznimi delci, pome-

šanimi z velikim številom

‘slepih’ asteroidov za zava-

janje naših analizatorjev.”

“In kaj to pomeni za nas?”

Pogledoval sem izme-

nično v holi in v odzivanje

375

the Sensins’ reaction to the appearance of these attacking dive-bombers. “It depends on the number of these ships. If the worst came to the worst, our ship would have to expand too. All of its components would have to separate and produce a hundredfold if not a thousandfold incre-ase in its current size. Any energy blast would then only be able to destroy an incomparably smaller part of the ship. A millionfold increase in the power of the energy charges would be necessary to destroy such an ‘inflated’ ship.” Meanwhile the first dive-bombers were already attacking with such force that an entire section of the ship above us had begun to glow red-hot. The glow increased to dazzling glare which for a time hid our view of events beyond the outer walls of our ship, but once the blinding light had diminished we could see that a kilometre-long sec-

Čutinov na holijev prikaz

nastajanja teh napadalcev

iz razreda ‘strmoglavcev’.

“Odvisno od števila teh

ladij. V skrajnem primeru

bi se tudi naša ladja morala

razširiti. Vsi njeni sestavni

deli bi se morali medse-

bojno razmakniti na sto-

kratno, če ne tisočkratno

povečanje sedanje veli-

kosti. Vsaka energetska

eksplozija bi potem lahko

uničila neprimerno manjši

del ladje. Milijonkratno

povečanje moči energet-

skih nabojev je potrebno

za uničenje tako ‘napih-

njene’ ladje.”

Medtem so prvi ‘strmo-

glavci’ že napadli s tako

silovitostjo, da je ves

predel naše ladje nad nami

zažarel, najprej do blešče-

čega sija, ki je za nekaj časa

zakril prikaz dogajanja za

zunanjimi stenami naše

ladje, po prvem zmanjša-

nju slepeče svetlobe pa

se nam je pokazalo udi-

ranje kilometrskega dela

376

tion of the outer shell had collapsed into the interior of the ship. “Peter, we can’t just stand here counting their dive-bombers! We must get to the STORMBIRD. Eve-ryone will flee to their own stations.”We began to run, past the giant holo-display and the rapidly dispersing crowd of Sensins. Most of them were getting into small vehicles in the form of discs with glass semicir-cles above them. Those by the walls were opening cupboards and removing spacesuits complete with square backpacks and transparent egg-shaped helmets. “For the vacuum,” explai-ned Honaja. “In the case of a rapid dispersal of the component parts of our ship, a vacuum will form here. Those flashing lights above the cupboards con-taining the spacesuits are an alarm signal. They indi-cate that everyone should

zunanjih sten v notranjost

ladje.

“Peter, ne moremo le šteti

teh njihovih ‘strmoglav-

cev’! Do našega VIHAR-

NIKA morava. Vsak bo

bežal v svoje prostore.”

Nato sva stekla mimo veli-

kega holija in hitro razha-

jajoče se, še malo prej zelo

obsežne gruče Čutinov.

Večina jih je stopala v

manjša vozila, na neka-

kšne plošče s steklenimi

polkroglami nad njimi,

tisti ob stenah pa so jemali

iz trezorjev obleke s kva-

dratastim nahrbtnikom in

prozorno jajčasto čelado.

“Za brezzračni prostor,” je

pojasnila Honaja. “V pri-

meru hitrejše razpršitve

sestavnih delov naše ladje

bo tukaj nastal brezzračen

prostor. Utripanje teh lučk

nad trezorji s skafandri že

kaže alarmno stanje. To je

poziv vsem, naj si jih oble-

377

put on spacesuits. That is what we ought to do too. The hangars are too vast for us to cross them quic-kly enough, even though they are designed to hold smaller vessels like our STORMBIRD.Honaja ran to the nearest wall. A light was flashing above the stylised image of a spacesuit. She remo-ved two backpacks from a cupboard and pressed a button on top of them to release the airtight space-suits they contained. We both immediately put on our suits and began loo-king around for the nearest free vehicle. But there was an enormous crowd in the parking bay. Because of the large holo-display, so many Sensins had gathe-red in this section before the alarm that delays were inevitable despite the inc-reased capacities of their internal transport system. Even so, everything seemed to be happening very quickly. It only took

čemo. Tudi za naju bo to

najbolje. Hangarji, čeprav

za manjše vesoljske ladje,

kot je naš VIHARNIK, so

preveč prostrani, da bi jih

lahko dovolj hitro preč-

kali.”

Honaja je nato stekla do

prve stene z utripajočo

lučko nad stilizirano nari-

sano skafandrsko obleko

za brezzračni prostor,

vzela iz nje dva nahrb-

tnika, iz katerih se je ob

dotiku zgornjega gumba

razprla nepredušna vesolj-

ska obleka. Takoj sva si

nadela vsak svoj skafander

in se ozrla po najbližjem

prostem plovilu. Toda na

parkirišču je bila velikan-

ska gneča. Zaradi velikega

holija se je pred alarmom

nabralo na tem delu toliko

Čutinov, da je kljub poveča-

nim zmogljivostim njiho-

vega notranjega prometa

prihajalo do zastojev. Sicer

pa je še vedno vse potekalo

zelo hitro. Le nekaj minut

378

a few minutes for all the Sensins to disperse. There had probably been tens of thousands of them, or per-haps even more: I hadn’t been able to tell how many of them there were behind all the different entrances to this great crossroads-like space. But there was no time to think about that now. An arch on the oppo-site side collapsed to half of its previous height with a great bang. The explosi-ons were already reaching the area we were in.“Quickly!” shouted Honaja. “There must be enough free vehicles in the lower part of the parking bay. We have to find one because we can no longer rely on the moving walls and lifts.” She ran past the vehicles that were taking off around us and towards the central part of the parking bay. We then made our way past vehicles that were already occupied by individual Sensins waiting for their

je bilo potrebnih za razvoz

vseh Čutinov, najbrž jih je

bilo nekaj deset tisoč ali

morda še več, nisem znal

prav presoditi, koliko jih

je za vsemi izhodno-vho-

dnimi vrati v tem velikem

križiščnem prostoru. Pa

tudi časa ni bilo več za raz-

mišljanje. Obok na naspro-

tni strani se je udrl vse do

polovice prejšnje višine, in

to s pokom. Eksplozije so

segale že prav do nas.

“Hitro!” mi je zaklicala

Honaja. “Na spodnjem delu

parkirišča mora biti dovolj

prostih vozil. Eno morava

nujno dobiti, ker se na pre-

mične stene in dvigala ne

da več zanašati.”

Stekla je mimo vzletajo-

čih plovil v ospredju in

proti osrednjemu delu

parkirišča, nato sva se

prebila ob že zasedenih

vozilih, ob katerih so

posamezniki še čakali na

svoje prijatelje, ter nato

379

friends, and then across a long footbridge that curved in an arc towards a raised parking area in the distance. But this was the same direction as the col-lapsed section of the arch. Honaja stopped: “If they have already managed to penetrate the outer walls, this section will now be the target of their energy missiles. The interior of the ship is far less resistant to explosi-ons than the outer part of the hull. We had better go back.”Naturally I agreed with her. In these conditions among the Sensins I was already able to make up my own mind about some things, but not in the current situ-ation. Honaja’s suggestion seemed to make sense. And she was right too. There was another crash and the arch split, fissures opening along its length. Then came a powerful blast of air which would

po dolgem, v ozkem loku

speljanem mostičku na

privzdignjeno parkirišče

v ozadju. Toda to je bilo

prav v smeri udrtega dela

oboka. Honaja se je usta-

vila:

“Če jim je že uspelo pre-

biti zunanje stene, bodo

prav v ta del usmerili

svoje energetske izstrelke.

Notranjost je neprimerno

manj odporna na eksplo-

zije od zunanjega dela

trupa. Raje se vrniva.”

Seveda sem se strinjal. V

teh razmerah med Čutini

sem se za nekatere stvari

že lahko tudi sam odločal,

v trenutnem položaju pa

prav gotovo ne. Honajina

presoja se mi je zdela pre-

pričljiva. In je tudi res bila

pravilna. Ob ponovnem

trku se je obod vdal do

pokanja z razpirajočimi se

špranjami. Nastal je tudi

silovit piš, ki bi me skupaj

380

have sent me and Honaja rolling along the floor if not up into the air, like the several thousand Sensins it had swept off their feet and towards the gaping fissures through which the air was flowing out, right up to the ceiling. Falling back down from that height would be ter-rible. I was already thin-king about broken necks, arms, legs, heads, when the gravity suddenly disa-ppeared or, more likely, some artificially created gravity that enabled us to move as though under the effect of Earth’s gravity. Honaja and I clung to the rail in order to resist the powerful blast of air, but suddenly that disappeared too. Now we had to cope with airlessness and wei-ghtlessness. “Artificial gravity stops functioning when the component elements move apart,” explained Honaja. “On your wrist you have a controller for the minia-

s Honajo zakotalil po tleh,

če že ne odnesel v zrak,

tako kot več tisoč Čutinov,

ki jih je odneslo po tleh in

nato proti razprtim špra-

njam, skozi katere je izte-

kal zrak, vse tja do stropa.

Strahovit bo padec nazaj

na tla. Pomislil sem že na

zlomljene vratove, roke,

noge, glave, ko je nena-

doma izginila težnost ali,

bolj verjetno, nekakšna

umetno ustvarjena pri-

vlačnost tal, na katerih si

se lahko gibal z zemeljsko

težnostjo.

S Honajo sva se še držala

ograje zaradi silovitega

zračnega piša, toda tudi ta

je nenadoma izginil. Zdaj

smo bili v brezzračnem in

breztežnostnem prostoru.

“Umetno ustvarjena

težnost preneha ob razmi-

kanju sestavnih delov,” mi

je pojasnila Honaja. “Na

zapestju imaš krmilo za

miniaturni fotonski motor

381

ture photon motor in your backpack. Lift your arms in the direction you want to fly in and waggle your fingers to start the motor. Look, like this!” Honaja rapidly demonstrated the very simple controls. “But we still have to find a vehi-cle. We can move quickly enough round the ship with our backpack motors but they are not suitable for longer distances.” She set off under the arch and I followed her. We were heading towards the hangars, first along tubular corridors and then through empty space with a clear view of the starry sky out-side. In those conditions there was nothing pleasant about that black emptiness dotted with numerous cle-arly visible stars. Honaja stopped. “All the routes have been cut. We have to call the rescue service.” All we could see around us were large moving walls

v tvojem nahrbtniku. Roke

dvigni v smer leta in z

migom prstov vžgi motor.

Glej, takole!” Honaja mi je

na hitro pokazala sicer zelo

preprosta pravila uporabe.

“Vendar morava vseeno

najti vozilo. Po ladji se z

najinima hrbtnima motor-

jema sicer lahko dovolj

hitro premikava, za pre-

magovanje večjih razdalj

pa niso primerni.”

Usmerila se je pod obok,

jaz sem ji sledil, napotila

sva se proti hangarjem,

najprej po cevastih hodni-

kih, nato pa že v letu skozi

prazen vesoljski prostor s

prostim pogledom v zvez-

dnato vesolje, ki v takih

razmerah ni delovalo nič

kaj prijetno s svojo pra-

znino, posuto s številnimi

dobro vidnimi zvezdami,

vendar na temnem, črnem

ozadju.

Honaja se je ustavila: “Vse

poti so presekane. Reše-

valno službo morava pokli-

cati.” Okoli sebe sva lahko

videla le velike premika-

382

and individual sections of our ship-carrier, from which smaller ships would apparently be assembled. We actually saw this transformation taking place on an enormous piece of ship below us. The large plates began to curve and bend. A number of smaller pieces approa-ched from further away. Some of them opened sud-denly to reveal engines, and already we could see a new ship taking shape. It was much smaller than the CONQUEROR 949 but it was still very big. Honaja pressed a button on her wrist unit to call for help. We only needed naviga-tion assistance and since the information system was still fully functional we immediately received all the explanations we needed – although it was not what we wanted to hear. We were still in the area of the main attack by the dive-bombers.

joče se stene in posamezne

dele naše ladjenosilke, iz

katerih naj bi se ponovno

sestavile manjše ladje. In

prav to preobrazbo sva

lahko videla na orjaškem

kosu pod nama. Velike,

ravno odsekane plošče

so se usločile, druge spet

izbočile, iz ozadja se je pri-

bližalo večje število manj-

ših kosov, nekateri so se

nenadoma razprli, da so se

pokazali motorji, in že sva

lahko zaznala sestavljanje

nove ladje, resda nepri-

merno manjše od našega

OSVAJALCA 949, vendar še

vedno zelo velike. Honaja

je s pritiskom gumba na

zapestju poklicala pomoč,

potrebovala sva sicer samo

navigacijsko, in glede na še

vedno dobro delujoč infor-

macijski sistem sva takoj

dobila vsa pojasnila, ki pa

za naju niso bila ugodna.

Še vedno sva bila v predelu

osrednjega napada strmo-

glavcev.

383

Once they had finished assembling themselves in the way we had just witnessed, the six ships closest to us immediately launched a counter-attack by activating their laser cannon. However after a brief exchange of fire they were destroyed by the dive-bombers’ energy bolts. “We could head for the ship below us but the main information centre has advised us not to because that ship is believed to be the target of dive-bombers that are already on their way. They could attack it at any moment,” said Honaja.“Move back in the direc-tion you came from! Rescue ships have already been dispatched. We have transmitted your position and the STORMBIRD has signalled that they are on their way to you.” This message arrived via Honaja’s miniature holo-gram receiver.

Šest naših ladij je na nama

vidni razdalji takoj po

sestavitvi, kakršni sva bila

priči, začelo delovati v

nasprotnem napadu z akti-

viranjem svojih laserskih

topov, vendar so bile v

kratkih spopadih uničene

z energetskimi izstrelki

strmoglavcev.

“Lahko bi sicer šla v ladjo

pod sabo, vendar so nama

iz osrednjega informacij-

skega središče to odsve-

tovali, ker naj bi bila prav

ta ladja pod nama cilj že

usmerjenih strmoglavcev.

Vsak čas naj bi jo napadli,”

je rekla Honaja.

“Umaknita se nazaj po

isti črti leta, po kateri sta

prišla! Reševalne ladje

smo že poslali, po našem

prenosu vaše lege pa so

z vajinega VIHARNIKA

že sporočili tudi njihov

odhod po vaju,” sva dobila

sporočilo prek Honajinega

miniaturnega holijskega

sprejemnika.

384

I pointed towards the six large laser cannon that were rising up out of the hull in the forward section of the ship immediately below us.“Let’s get out of here!” shouted Honaja. “They are already here.”I looked around for the attackers, and then again to the right, to the left and in all directions, but I couldn’t see them. There were too many vague shapes moving all around us. Then we felt the shock of a powerful discharge of energy as the ship below us opened fire. I still couldn’t see the attackers but the ship was already hammering away without interruption as though taking part in a direct attack. We rapidly descended along the hull towards the rear section and then ducked below the four laser cannon located at the top of what looked like a tail section, altho-ugh ships did not need a

Iztegnil sem roko proti

šestim velikim laserskim

topovom, ki so se dvigali

iz trupa na sprednjem delu

naše ladje pod njimi.

“Beživa!” je vzkliknila

Honaja. “So že tu.”

Pogledal sem naokrog

po napadalcih, potem še

enkrat na desno, pa na levo

in v vse smeri, a jih nisem

mogel videti. Preveč premi-

kajočih se delov nejasnih

oblik, še posebej tistih na

nekoliko večji razdalji, je

bilo vse naokrog. Tedaj sva

začutila sunke močnega

sproščanja energije ob

hitrem rafalnem streljanju

naše ladje pod nama. Napa-

dalcev še vedno ni bilo

videti, ladja pod nami pa

je že tolkla brez prekinitve

kot ob direktnem napadu.

Hitro sva se spustila ob

trupu proti zadnjemu delu

in nato tik pod streli štirih

laserskih topov, namešče-

nih na vrhu nekakšnega

repnega krila, vsaj po

obliki sodeč, čeprav ga

v tem brezzračnem pro-

385

tail in this vacuum. Sud-denly the tail exploded. It had been hit by an enemy laser impulse. It must have had terrible power. The enormous cannon – tens of metres long – evapora-ted: a fraction of a second had been enough to blow them away.As we flew, I looked towards the violent fla-shes of light where the entire forward section of the ship had disappeared beneath the explosions of energy bolts beneath that were tearing its armoured hull to pieces. The ship would not last long I mut-tered to myself. And the crew would be destroyed despite their courageous resistance. This was some-thing that was outside my understanding of these Sensins, with their safe and secure lives.“Why don’t they flee?” I shouted to Honaja as I flew along next to her.“They will,” she replied. “The crew is probably

storu niso potrebovali, ki

pa se je nenadoma razle-

tel. Zadel ga je nasprotni

laserski energetski impulz.

Strahovito moč je moral

imeti. Topovi z desetme-

trskim premerom in več

deset metrov dolžine so

se razblinili, kar odpihnilo

jih je. V delčku sekunde jih

je razneslo.

Med letom sem se ozrl v

smeri silovitih bleskov,

kjer je bil ves sprednji del

ladje prekrit z eksplozi-

jami energetskih izstrel-

kov, pod katerimi se je

trgal okrepljeni sprednji

del trupa. Ladja ne bo

dolgo zdržala, mi je prišlo

skozi mrmrajoče ustnice.

In posadka bo uničena

kljub hrabremu odporu, to

pa je bilo že zunaj mojega

razumevanja teh Čutinov,

skupaj z njihovim varnim

življenjem.

“Zakaj ne zbežijo?” sem

zaklical Honaji med doti-

kajočim se letom ob njej.

“Saj bodo,” mi je odvrnila.

“Posadka je verjetno že v

386

already in the rear section and preparing to withdraw aboard escape rockets. But they still have some laser cannon and energy bolts. They can still resist the attackers.”“Hmm. They are certainly courageous.” I caught sight of a large piece of hull being torn away, and then a new explosion ripped through large sections of the par-tition walls of the accom-modation quarters in the interior of the hull. But two laser cannon on the sides of the ship were still firing away at full power. Energy bolts flashed from them in rapid succession, while energy missiles con-tinued to fire from a part of the hull that was still undamaged.“Away! Quickly, away!” shouted Honaja, visibly alarmed. “When the rear section is shattered the individual pieces will fly in our direction. Even a small fragment could be

zadnjem delu pripravljena

na umik z rešilnimi rake-

tami. Toda nekaj laser-

skih topov in energetskih

izstrelkov še imajo. Še

vedno se lahko zopersta-

vljajo napadalcem.”

“Hm. Vseeno so precej

hrabri.” S pogledom sem

ujel odstrelitev večjega

kosa trupa na sprednjem

delu in zatem še novo

eksplozijsko trganje veli-

kih kosov pregradnih

sten bivalnih prostorov iz

notranjosti trupa. Toda dva

laserska topova na straneh

ladje sta še vedno tolkla s

polno močjo. Energetski

laserski impulzi so švigali

iz njiju v hitrih zaporednih

sunkih, iz dela še nepo-

škodovanega trupa pa so

bruhali raketni izstrelki z

energetskim eksplozivom.

“Stran! Čimprej stran!”

je vidno vznemirjena, že

kar prestrašena pono-

vila Honaja. “Po razbi-

tju zadnjega dela bodo

posamezni kosi leteli v

najini smeri. Tudi zadetki

387

fatal for us because there is no air here to slow them down. We have to get under cover, behind the first large piece we can find.”Honaja looked at the ship. Its hull was already half torn apart and shattered by internal explosions. Then she launched herself in the direction of a ship that was assembling itself behind us at that very moment. Its hull was taking on a shape similar to the one we were fleeing. We were still a few minutes away from reaching its shelter when we were suddenly blinded by a violent gleam of light. A moment later a large piece of hull flew past us and, behind it, a dozen smaller fragments torn from the walls. A rescue craft appeared immedia-tely below us and a Sensin from the destroyed ship signalled to us to come on board. This craft had pro-tected us from the smaller fragments. That was why

manjših so lahko smrtno

nevarni, ker tu ni zraka,

ki bi jih upočasnil. V kritje

morava, za prvim malo

večjim kosom.” je dejala

Honaja med oziranjem

proti ladji, katere trup je

bil že do polovice ali raz-

trgan ali prebit z ognje-

nimi izpuhi od notranjih

eksplozij. Honaja se je

usmerila proti boku prav-

kar nastajajoče ladje v

ozadju, katere deli trupa so

dobivali obliko, podobno

tisti, od katere sva bežala.

Le nekaj minut sva še

potrebovala za let v njeno

zaledje, ko naju je zaslepil

silovit blesk svetlobe. Tre-

nutek zatem je mimo naju

priletel večji kos in za njim

še nekaj deset morda metr-

skih delov plošče, iztrgane

s sten v malo večji razda-

lji. Tik za nama pa je stalo

rešilno plovilo, iz katerega

nama je Čutin iz uničene

ladje dajal znamenje, naj

prideva. To plovilo naju

je zaščitilo pred manjšimi

delci. Zato sva tudi ostala

388

we were still in one piece. They had only just mana-ged to abandon their ship before it exploded, and yet they had protected us! Honaja and I flew to the rescue craft. I felt safer in it than out in the open, although even this was questionable.“What’s happening? Are we at war?” These were Honaja’s first words on entering the cro-wded central command bridge of this disc-shaped craft, which though smal-ler than our usual ships still measured several tens of metres across.The Sensin who had rescued us answered: “Battles are taking place in the whole of this sector around the asteroid belt. A large part of the fleets, both ours and theirs, had been sent here in advance. A good part of the forces of both sides are now in this part of the galaxy and it appears that the majority are already engaged in the

cela. Pa so le še pravi čas

zapustili ladjo, tik pred

njeno razstrelitvijo, in še

naju so zaščitili! S Honajo

sva zletela v reševalno plo-

vilo. Vseeno sem se počutil

v njem malo bolj varno kot

na prostem, čeprav je bilo

tudi to vprašljivo.

“Kaj se dogaja? Smo v vojni,

kajne?” so bile prve Hona-

jine besede po vstopu v

osrednji prostor z nagne-

teno posadko tega, glede

na dimenzije običajnih

ladij manjšega, vendar še

vedno več deset metrov

velikega diskastega plo-

vila.

Čutin, ki naju je rešil, je

rekel: “Na vsem tem pre-

delu okoli asteroidnega

pasu potekajo boji. Veliko

ladjevja, tako z naše kot z

njihove strani, je bilo že

prej poslano prav sem.

Dobršen del sil, z obeh

strani, je sedaj v tem delu

vesolja, in kot vse kaže, je

večina že vključena v boje.

389

fighting. But war has not yet been declared either on their side or on ours. The reports talk about local conflicts, but given the scale of these battles that is rather difficult to under-stand. We have orders from headquarters to take you to the flagship and to communicate to you the suspension of your mis-sion until further notice.”

Vendar pa vojna še ni bila

objavljena ne na njihovi

ne na naši strani. Poročila

sicer govorijo o lokalnih

spopadih, to pa je spričo

obsega teh bitk malo

težje razumeti. Imamo še

ukaz poveljstva, naj vaju

odpeljemo na admiralsko

ladjo ter naj vama sporo-

čimo prekinitev misije do

nadaljnjega.”

390

Chapter XII

After terrible clashes, which included robotic units inside the asteroid belt, and after several tho-usand ship-carriers had been destroyed on both sides, the two sides agreed to resume negotiations. Among the conditions imposed by the Acutins was a request for my pre-sence, without any addi-tional explanation. They insisted on it. I was able to hear this for myself in the company of a group of Sensins around the large holo-display. Captain Har-stan stood up with a tho-ughtful expression on his face. He pondered for a moment and then signalled to Honaja that she should go with him. He took her to one side and they spoke confidentially. They talked together for quite some time. Then they retur-

XII. poglavje

Po hudih spopadih, v

katere so bile znotraj aste-

roidnega pasu vključene

robotizirane enote, ter

po več tisoč medsebojno

uničenih ladjah tipa »lad-

jenosilk« sta se obe strani

dogovorili za ponovna

pogajanja, pri tem pa so

Ostrini ob svojih pogojih

na koncu navrgli še zah-

tevo po moji navzočnosti,

in to brez kakršnihkoli

dodatnih pojasnil. So pa

pri tej zahtevi vztrajali.

Sam sem to lahko slišal v

družbi Čutinov ob velikem

holiju. Tedaj je kapitan

Harstan vstal z zamišlje-

nim izrazom na obrazu,

nekaj je tuhtal, potem pa je

namignil Honaji, naj gre z

njim, ter jo odpeljal vstran

na nekakšen zaupen pogo-

vor. Kar nekaj časa sta se

na samem pomenkovala.

Potem sta se vrnila. Har-

391

ned. Harstan still looked slightly preoccupied. He looked at me. Then he beckoned me to join them. I walked forwards and as I did so I cast a fleeting lock at Honaja, who smiled at me with her characteristic sensual expression.“Don’t believe these Acu-tins!” said Harstan. “Now, in these strained conditi-ons, they will feign igno-rance and make up vari-ous lies on the spot. They still do not know the true importance of your pre-sence, nor the real reason for it, although they may already have some vague notions. They will want to find out more. There-fore we can expect cer-tain complications and provocations, something at which they are past masters. They have even managed to catch us out in the past, so it will proba-bly be considerably easier for them to catch out an Earthman. I therefore ask you to show a little restra-

stan je bil še vedno videti

rahlo zamišljen. In pogle-

doval je vame. Nato me je

poklical, naj se jima pri-

družim, zato sem stopil

naprej in pri tem bežno

pogledal Honajo, ki se mi

je nasmehnila s svojo zna-

čilno čutno naklonjeno-

stjo do mene.

»Ne verjemite tem Ostri-

nom!« je dejal Harstan.

»Zdaj, v teh zaostrenih

razmerah, se bodo spre-

nevedali s sprotnim izmi-

šljanjem različnih laži. Še

vedno ne poznajo niti pra-

vega pomena vaše navzoč-

nosti niti pravega razloga

zanjo, čeprav že imajo

neke meglene predstave.

Hoteli bodo izvedeti več.

Zato lahko pričakujemo

določene zaplete z izziva-

nji, pri katerih znajo biti

precej spretni. Še nas jim

je uspelo presenetiti. Vas

Zemljane pa bi lahko pre-

senetili verjetno še dosti

prej. Zato vas prosim za

nekaj malega zadržano-

392

int, and suggest that when you are talking to them you take time to consider your answers to the more diffi-cult questions or discuss them with Honaja.”I gave a slight nod to indi-cate my acceptance of Harstan’s warnings.

* * *

In the large hall the chairs at the negotiating table, three on either side of it, were still unoccupied. The escorts were suppo-sed to remain in the back-ground, but with advisers and experts on various issues within immediate reach of the negotiators. It was going to be difficult. Honaja and I stood slightly to one side, by the carpet that ran from the entrance through over half of the fifty-metre hall. My gaze was attracted by the floor

sti ter da si v pogovoru z

njimi vzamete čas za bolj

zahtevne odgovore in za

razmislek ali pa se pogovo-

rite s Honajo.«

Z rahlim prikimavanjem

sem nakazal svoje soglasje

s Harstanovimi opozorili.

* * *

V veliki dvorani so bili

stoli za pogajalsko mizo,

po trije na vsaki strani

lebdeče plošče, še vedno

nezasedeni. Spremstvo naj

bi ostalo v ozadju, vendar

s svetovalci in strokov-

njaki za razna vprašanja na

takojšnem dosegu poga-

jalcev. Trdo bo. S Honajo

sva stala nekoliko stran,

ob preprogi, speljani od

vhoda skozi dobro polo-

vico petdesetmetrske dvo-

rane. Pogled mi je zastal na

tleh pod mojimi nogami.

393

beneath my feet. Some kind of parquet cut from wood of various colours to form a mosaic-like depic-tion of a flower garden, with decorative shrubs and a stream flowing towards the walls, or rather colu-mns, with small arched exits between them and one larger arch beneath which a small lake exten-ded into the hall, with a little bridge across it. “The delegation of the Acutins!” announced a clear voice from the direc-tion of the entrance. The Sensins and the Acutins standing along the carpet moved apart, each group to its own side, and stood there in a respectful atti-tude. Honaja and I did the same, although we remai-ned slightly more to the front, where I observed with interest the etiquette of these highly developed civilisations. Their pro-tocol was quite similar to ours on Earth, except

Nekakšen parket, izrezan

iz raznobarvnega lesa v

mozaični upodobitvi cve-

tličnega vrta s potmi, z

okrasnimi grmi in s poto-

kom, speljanim do sten ali,

bolje rečeno, do stebrov z

manjšimi obočnimi izhodi

in z enim večjim, pod kate-

rim je segalo v dvorano

že pravo manjše jezerce

z mostičkom, ki je vodil

čezenj.

»Delegacija Ostrinov!« je

naznanil razločen glas iz

smeri vhoda v dvorano.

Čutini in Ostrini ob pre-

progi so se razmaknili,

vsaka skupina na svojo

stran, ter obstali v spoštljivi

drži. Tudi midva s Honajo

sva storila enako, le da sva

ostala bolj v ospredju, kjer

sem z zanimanjem opazo-

val pravila obnašanja teh

višje razvitih civilizacij.

Protokol so imeli precej

podoben kot Zemljani, le

394

that the overall effect was one of preserving a tradi-tion, despite all their new technology. “What tra-dition they are trying to preserve?” I wondered. It appeared that emphasi-sing the solemn nature of the occasion with the pre-sence of a large escort was perfectly acceptable and indeed expected.Three negotiators appea-red at the entrance, accom-panied by nine advisers in black jackets rather like tailcoats beneath which they wore silver close-fit-ting one-piece overalls with the shoes, or rather boots, already attached. The negotiators were dres-sed in the same way but with the colour scheme reversed: their tailcoats gleamed silver. I had alre-ady had a chance to see this “fabric” of theirs from close up. It was made of thousands of tiny dia-monds measuring barely a tenth of a millimetre set in a matrix finer than a

da je vse skupaj delovalo

še nekoliko bolj v smislu

ohranjanja tradicije, in to

kljub vsej novi tehnologiji.

»Hm, za kakšno tradicijo

gre?« so se mi vsiljevali

pomisleki. No, da, poudar-

janje slovesnosti z navzoč-

nostjo številnega sprem-

stva je gotovo povsod

sprejemljivo oziroma pri-

čakovano.

Na vhodu so se prikazali

trije pogajalci v sprem-

stvu devetih svetovalcev

v črnih, frakom podobnih

suknjičih, pod katerimi so

nosili srebrne, rahlo opri-

jete kombinezone, ki so

bili iz enega dela, skupaj s

čevlji, pravzaprav škornji.

Pogajalci pa so imeli sicer

enaka oblačila, le barvna

razporeditev je bila obra-

tna: fraki so bili srebrno

svetlikajoči se. Že prej

sem se od blizu seznanil s

to njihovo »tkanino«, sple-

teno iz tisočerih, komaj

desetinko milimetra veli-

kih diamantov, vstavljenih

v očem nevidne, od lasu

395

human hair and invisible to the naked eye. The first impression was that this was merely a rather unu-sual material with a flat surface. It was the reflecti-ons that gave this attire its splendid appearance. The negotiators came to a halt. One of the Acutins from the hall approached them and handed some-thing to them. Evidently they had been waiting for this. Then the main nego-tiator walked decisively forward along the carpet towards the negotiating table. I watched with inte-rest but as he passed me he suddenly stopped and looked me in the eyes with a severe expression on his face.“Are you sure that you are on the right side?” he asked me with a seriou-sness that seemed to con-tain a kind of anger, as though he were accusing me of having made the wrong decision.

tanjše okvirje. Na oko in

po prvem vtisu sodeč,

pa je bilo to le malo bolj

nenavadno blago z ravno

površino, brez pretiranega

svetlikanja. Le odsevi so

dajali tej obleki bolj slove-

sen videz.

Pogajalci so se ustavili na

vhodu. Pristopil je eden

od Ostrinov iz dvorane in

jim nekaj predal. Očitno

so prav to čakali. Nato je

srednji pogajalec odločno

stopil naprej po preprogi

proti pogajalski mizi, ko pa

bi moral iti mimo mene, ki

sem ga z zanimanjem opa-

zoval, se je nenadoma usta-

vil ter se mi s trdim, že kar

strogim izrazom obraza

zazrl v oči.

»Ste prepričani, da ste na

pravi strani?« je spregovo-

ril z resnostjo, v kateri sem

zaznal celo nekakšno jezo,

kot da mi očita napačno

odločitev.

396

“What are you saying?” interrupted Honaja. “You have no right to rebuke our guests. At least not here.”But the expression of the Acutin’s face grew even more severe. He looked furious. This was the kind of anger, contained and genuine, that could not be appeased by mere words. He raised his hand, paused for a moment and with a circular movement indica-ted the Sensins around us. “These are robots. All of them.” I looked at him in silence. I didn’t say anything. I had no idea what I was suppo-sed to say. Actually it was all rather embarrassing. He was insulting the Sen-sins, my friends. “It’s not true,” whispered Honaja.But the Acutin continued to stare at me, and altho-ugh I averted my eyes he waited for so long that I had to pull myself together again. We looked at each other. He was still stan-

»Kaj pa govorite?« se je

vmešala Honaja, »Nobene

pravice nimate, da nadi-

rate naše goste. Vsaj na tem

mestu ne.«

Toda poteze na Ostrino-

vem obrazu so postale še

ostrejše. Prav bes je zavel

iz njih. To je bila jeza, zadr-

ževana in resnična, ki je

nekaj stranskih besed ne

more pomiriti. Nato je pri-

vzdignil roko, še trenutek

zastal in z zaokroženim

gibom pokazal na bližnje

Čutine okoli naju: »To so

roboti. Vsi ti.«

Nemo sem ga gledal. Nič

nisem rekel. Sploh nisem

vedel, kaj naj bi rekel. Prav-

zaprav mi je bilo celo malo

nerodno. Žalil je Čutine,

moje prijatelje.

»To ni res,« je šepnila

Honaja.

Toda Ostrin mi je vztrajno

zrl v oči, in čeprav sem

izmaknil pogled, je čakal

toliko časa, da sem se

ponovno zbral. Spogledala

sva se. Še vedno je stal pred

397

ding in front of me with the same furious expres-sion on his face. “They cannot be your fri-ends. It’s not natural.”“That isn’t true!” snapped Honaja. Her face flushed and she could no longer hide her growing anger. “You Acutins are a civili-sation that began genetic manipulation even before you had understood the basics of life and living beings. You understood nothing and yet you embar-ked on fatal changes. And the result is what it is. Cri-pples. That’s what you are. Mental cripples!” The angry expression on the Acutin’s face gave way to a cynical smile as he turned to me. “Haven’t they told you the fairy tale about their origin yet? No?” he said, gesturing at the Sensins.“I could tell him some facts about your origin,”

mano z enakim besnim

izrazom na obrazu. »Oni

ne morejo biti vaši prijate-

lji. To ni naravno.«

»To ni res!« je vzkipela

Honaja. Zdaj je še njen

obraz prekrila rdečica in

tudi ona ni več skrivala

vse močnejšega besa z

nekajkrat zastalo besedo v

grlu in na koncu jezika. »Vi

Ostrini ste civilizacija, ki

je začela z genskim mani-

puliranjem, še preden je

razumela osnove življenja

in živih bitij. Ničesar še

niste dojeli, pa ste že šli v

usodno spreminjanje. In

rezultat je, kakršen je. Kri-

plji. To ste vi. Umski kri-

plji!«

Na Ostrinovem obrazu

se je izraz besa med obra-

čanjem k meni umaknil

ciničnemu nasmehu. »Ali

vam še niso povedali pra-

vljice o svojem nastanku?

Hm? Ne?« je dejal z nami-

gom na Čutine.

»Lahko pa mu povem dej-

stva o vašem nastanku,«

398

interrupted the Sensin next to Honaja. “They are very brief and easy to understand.”The Acutins standing nearby all started talking at once. The volume of noisy exclamations continued to grow until an Acutin from the other side of the carpet intervened: “You want to talk about us, you mad robot? How? You don’t even have the first idea about life and you want to talk about us!”Now I sensed a wave of indignation from all the Sensins around me. A tall individual with a trim beard and longish hair spoke up: “What expressions and lofty words! You drag them out of nothing and throw them on the table as though they were facts. You have forgotten everything else. Our warnings, our recom-mendations. How wret-ched you seemed when we revealed your deformity! With proofs, of course.

se je vmešal Čutin ob

Honaji. »Saj so zelo kratka

in zlahka razumljiva.«

Tedaj so se oglasili še bli-

žnji Ostrini. Šum vzklikov

je naraščal, dokler se ni

vmešal Ostrin z nasprotne

strani preproge: »O nas boš

govoril, ti robot zmešani?

Kako pa? Niti osnovnega

pojma o življenju nimaš,

pa boš govoril o nas!«

Zdaj je vzvalovilo nego-

dovanje Čutinov, vseh

naokrog. Oglasil se je višji

možak s kratko postriženo

brado in z nekoliko dalj-

šimi lasmi: »Kakšni izrazi,

in še velike besede zraven!

Privlečete jih iz nič in

vržete na mizo kot čista

dejstva. Vse ostalo ste poza-

bili. Naša opozorila, pripo-

ročila. Kako bedni ste bili

videti, ko smo razkrili vašo

deformiranost! Z dokazi,

399

We told you clearly what was wrong with you. We explained it all down to the last detail. And then you began trying to rectify it. Once again too hastily, and once again mistakenly. It is a real shame that at this level of civilisation you have understood so little.”At these words the Acutins flew into a rage. The one the Sensin had addressed replied: “There has no been no rectification on the basis of your findings, still less on the basis of your recom-mendations. We merely introduced some changes in our constantly evol-ving process of self-con-struction, which has been going on ever since the primitive level at which the Earthmen are today.”At that moment the nego-tiating delegation of the Sensins arrived. Their leader only caught the last few words, but evidently he had immediately gra-sped the situation.

seveda. Nazorno smo vam

povedali, kaj je z vami

narobe. Do podrobnosti

smo vam vse pojasnili. In

potem ste začeli s popra-

vljanjem. Spet na hitro in

spet narobe. Prav žalostno

je, da ste na tej civilizacij-

ski stopnji vse skupaj tako

malo razumeli.«

Ostrini so ponovno vzro-

jili. Tisti, ki mu je Čutin

govoril, je odvrnil:

»Pri nas ni bilo nikakr-

šnega popravljanja na pod-

lagi vaših ugotovitev in

še manj na podlagi vaših

priporočil. Uvedli smo le

nekaj sprememb v našem

nenehno delujočem pro-

cesu samoizgrajevanja,

ki traja vse od primitivne

ravni, na kakršni so dana-

šnji Zemljani.«

Tedaj je pristopila poga-

jalska delegacija Čutinov.

Njihov vodja je sicer ujel le

nekaj zadnjih besed, toda

očitno mu je bilo takoj vse

jasno.

400

“Keep to the agreement, please,” he said in a seri-ous tone, interrupting the Acutin’s explanation. “This Earthman is free, as you can see. We shall give you the opportunity to satisfy yourselves of this. There has been no compulsion from our side. Although this in fact means nothing to you, as I can see and as was already clear to me. You merely wished to confuse him for a while, since you are not capable of any more than that. You are well aware of this. But you have arrived at some conclusions regarding the sense of this intention of yours, which you have now had the opportunity to put into practice despite the breach of protocol. Good. Now you have done what you intended, but you have achieved little. Please!” – the Sensin poin-ted towards the table – “let us continue the negotiati-ons!”

»Držite se dogovora,

prosim,« je v zresnjenem

tonu ustavil Ostrinovo

razlago. »Tale Zemljan

je svoboden, kot vidite.

Omogočili smo vam, da se

prepričate o tem. Nobene

prisile ni bilo z naše strani.

Čeprav vam to sploh nič

ne pomeni, kot lahko

vidim in kot mi je bilo že

prej jasno. Želeli ste ga le

za nekaj čas zmesti, saj več

kot to niti ne morete. Tega

se dobro zavedate. Toda

prišli ste do nekih sklepov

glede smiselnosti te svoje

namere, ki ste jo sedaj

imeli priložnost uresničiti

kljub kršenju protokola.

Dobro, zdaj ste storili, kar

ste nameravali, dosegli

pa ste bolj malo. Prosim!«

Čutin je z roko pokazal

proti mizi: »Nadaljujmo

pogajanja!« Pri tem je Čutin

401

He made a gesture to indi-cate that he was giving precedence to the Acutin, or that he was the one who would follow and not the other way round. When the Acutin hesitated, the Sensin offered him prece-dence again with an even more decisive gesture of his arm. I observed all this calmly. At least this was the impression I wanted to give, despite all the doubts and confused sensations that were now assailing me. The leader of the Sensins had certainly made some very strange remarks, although of course I didn’t believe everything. Of course not. I tried to find some encouraging words for Honaja. We looked at each other. “It was my mistake, yes,” she began. Her face was thoughtful. “I wanted to give you a clearer picture of our civilisation so that you could have a deeper

nakazal prednost Ostrinu

pri odhodu oziroma da

je on tisti, ki bo sledil, ne

obratno. In ker se je Ostrin

obotavljal, mu je Čutin dal

prednost s še bolj odločno

kretnjo roke, tako da je oni

potem le stopil naprej.

Jaz sem vse opazoval z

zadržano mirnostjo. Vsaj

vtis sem najbrž naredil tak

oziroma sem želel ustva-

riti tak zunanji videz kljub

številnim pomislekom, ki

so me obletavali, skupaj s

precej mešanimi občutki.

Vodja Čutinov je vendarle

navrgel nekaj prav čudnih

pripomb, čeprav mu

seveda vsega nisem verjel.

To nikakor ne.

Težko sem našel vzpod-

budne besede za Honajo.

Spogledala sva se. »Moja

napaka je bila, da,« je začela

Honaja z rahlo zamišljenim

izrazom na obrazu. »Sama

sem ti želela z bolj nazorno

predstavitvijo naše civi-

lizacije omogočiti globlje

402

understanding of the diffe-rences between us and the Acutins. But their insults are vapid and without basis. Yes, they are merely insults.”My gaze slid along the soft skin of her innocen-tly bare neck. She radia-ted so much alluring ten-derness that the words of that Acutin really couldn’t have been anything other than, as Honaja said, a vapid insult without a serious basis. But he had spoken with such convic-tion... I couldn’t find the right expression even in my own thoughts… Yes, it was incredible… And then it all came out in a rush:“The leader of your nego-tiators gave as good as he got in that exchange of insults. You were no slouch either. What was it you accused them of? Oh yes, of being mental cri-pples…”“Yes, well... That was put-ting it a bit strongly, but there really is something

razumevanje nasprotij

med nami in Ostrini.

Sicer pa so njihove žalitve

plehke in brez podlage.

Da, zgolj žalitve so to.«

Pogled mi je zdrsnil po

mehki koži njenega nedol-

žno razkritega vratu.

Toliko mikavne mehkobe

je prihajalo iz nje, da govor-

jenje tistega Ostrina res

ni moglo biti nič drugega

kot, kakor je dejala Honaja,

plehka žalitev brez resne

podlage.

Ampak izrekel jih je s tako

prepričljivostjo, pa tudi. . .

Nisem mogel najti pravega

izraza niti v svojem razmi-

šljanju. . . Da, prav never-

jetno… Potem pa so mi

besede kar same od sebe

zletele z jezika:

»Vaš vodja pogajalcev jim

ni ostal dosti dolžan pri

izmenjavi žalitev. Ti pa še

manj. Kaj si jim že očitala?

Aha, da so umski kriplji…«

»Hja, no… Malo pregrobo

je bilo rečeno, čeprav je

um teh Ostrinov res vpra-

403

questionable if not unhin-ged about the mentality of these Acutins. At first I agreed that their genetic deformation was insignifi-cant, but now that it is the very source of these acti-ons of theirs that are cau-sing conflicts, hostilities and probably, as you your-self have been able to see, even war between us, my opinion has changed.”Naturally everything that triggers a war is impor-tant, terribly important, I thought. “How are they actually different from you? I can hardly see a difference,” I asked.At my words Honaja flin-ched and indicated with a gesture of her hand that these differences were far from being small. She smiled: “We are very dif-ferent.”“Who actually are the Acutins?” I asked. “They are a civilisation with an origin similar to your human civilisation on earth, but then they

šljiv, če že ne zmešan.

Sprva sem se še strinjala

glede nepomembnosti nji-

hove genske deformacije,

a sedaj, ko se prav iz nje

razvija njihovo delovanje,

ki sproža nasprotja, sovra-

štva in prav verjetno, kot si

lahko sam videl, še vojno

med nami, razmišljam že

drugače.«

Seveda je vse, kar sproža

vojno, pomembno, hudir-

jevo pomembno, sem raz-

mišljal. »V čem se pa prav-

zaprav ločijo od vas? Jaz

skoraj ne vidim razlike,«

sem vprašal.

Toda ob teh mojih bese-

dah se je Honaja zdrznila

in s kretnjo roke naka-

zala, kakor da te razlike še

zdaleč niso majhne, ter se

nasmehnila: »Precej se raz-

likujemo.«

»Kdo pa so pravzaprav

Ostrini?« sem vprašal.

»So civilizacija z nastan-

kom, podobnim vašemu,

človeškemu na Zemlji,

toda potem so presekali

404

interrupted their evoluti-onary path. Violently and irresponsibly. Although in part this was due to an unfortunate chance that led to a nuclear war among them.”Silence fell as those around us started listening to the negotiations, so Honaja and I interrupted our discussion. They began with mutual accusations about the bre-aching of the agreed rules both with regard to the triggering of military con-flicts and in general, but after a brief exchange of words they finally agreed on the topics to which pri-ority would be given and decided the agenda of the negotiations. Leaning towards Honaja I whispered: “Aren’t they going to discuss those energy fields of yours?” Honaja smiled and nodded: “They will, yes. After all, that is why we are here.”

What she meant, of course,

svojo evolucijsko pot. In

to nasilno. Neodgovorno.

Čeprav delno tudi po

nesrečnem naključju, po

katerem je prišlo do jedr-

ske vojne med njimi.«

Medtem so vsi okoli

naju že prisluhnili poga-

janjem, tako da sva ob

nastali tišini še midva s

Honajo prekinila najin

pogovor.

Začeli so z medsebojnim

obtoževanjem zaradi krše-

nja dogovorjenih pravil

tako ob sprožanju vojaških

spopadov kot v celoti in po

krajšem besedovanju so se

le sporazumeli, katerim

temam bodo dali prednost

oziroma kakšen bo vrstni

red obravnav.

Sklonjen k Honaji, sem

šepnil: »Ali tistih vaših

energetskih polj ne bodo

obravnavali?«

Honaja mi je v odgovor

smehljaje se prikimala:

»Bodo, da. Saj zato smo tu.«

To je izrekla z zgovornim

405

was that this was merely a prelude, an introductory warming-up. The most important issue would be on the agenda later. Now they would try and saddle us with the responsibility for the first conflicts, even though they started them, there was no question of it. I didn’t know how they could deny it. Probably by feigning ignorance and by introducing uncerta-inty in other areas, whose connection with the initial clashes they would then attempt to demonstrate. Something along those lines.This was similar to the behaviour of the diffe-rent parties in a dispute on Earth, especially before military conflicts but also after them, when major or minor disputes were invol-ved. But the main dispute between the Acutins and the Sensins nevertheless probably derived from the partly destroyed balance of power, I assumed. I sto-pped to consider the like-

namigom na predigro, na

uvodno ogrevanje. Najpo-

membnejše bo prišlo na

dnevni red pozneje. Zdaj

nam bodo najprej naprtili

odgovornost za prve spo-

pade, čeprav so oni začeli

z njimi, to je pač nesporno.

Sploh ne vem, kako bi to

lahko zanikali. Verjetno

s sprenevedanjem in z

vnašanjem vprašljivosti

na povsem drugih podro-

čjih, za katera bodo potem

dokazovali njihovo pove-

zanost z začetnimi spopadi

ali kaj podobnega.

To je bilo dovolj podobno

ravnanju različnih sprtih

strani na Zemlji, še pose-

bej pred vojaškimi spo-

padi, pa tudi po njih, ko

je šlo za večje ali manjše

spore. Toda osrednji spor

med Ostrini in Čutini

najbrž vendarle izvira iz

delno porušenega rav-

notežja sil, sem domne-

val. Moje razmišljanje je

zastalo ob verjetnosti take

406

lihood of this explanation. Another perfectly possible reason for the dispute lay in the more efficient mana-gement of energy reso-urces by one of the sides. Probably the Sensins. Yes, the balance had begun to be destroyed. But the other differences between these two civilisations appeared to be considerable, and seemed to be increasing. Even if those words had been said merely with the intention of insulting, and without a serious foun-dation, something had to be behind them, I thou-ght, although the words themselves may not have had much cogency. The responses of the two sides, particularly the emotio-nal responses, had been a little too strong. They had really gone for each other. I cast my eyes over the nearby faces. Yes, that was it. They were all waiting tensely for the outcome of the negotiations.

razlage. Povsem možen

razlog spora je bil tudi v

uspešnejšem zagotavlja-

nju energetskih virov ene

od strani. Najbrž Čutinov.

Da, začelo se je rušiti rav-

notežje. Toda tudi druge

razlike med tema civili-

zacijama so videti precej-

šnje oziroma vse večje.

Tudi če so bile vse tiste

besede izrečene zgolj z

namenom žalitve, brez

resnejše podlage, nekaj

le mora biti zadaj, sem si

mislil, čeprav bi samim

besedam prav lahko zani-

kal večjo tehtnost. Odzivi

obeh strani, predvsem

čustveni, so le bili malo

premočni. Presneto zares

so se zagnali drug proti

drugemu. S pogledom sem

preletel bližnje obraze.

Da, dejansko je tako. Vsi

so napeto pričakovali izid

pogajanj.

407

“Hey!” An Acutin about two metres away greeted me with a smile. A familiar face. Like the Acutin next to him. These were the two Acutins from the last encounter, the ones Honaja had had her altercation with, and given their atti-tude then it was unlikely that she would welcome their company now. Yes, it would be better to avoid associating with them. For Honaja’s sake. Her embar-rassment had been unple-asant to watch, although she had stood up for her-self with great self-assu-rance, and had appeared pretty convincing, at least to me. What they had said then corresponded quite closely to these last words of the Acutins’ negotiating group, to whose lies and impudence Honaja had reacted so emotionally. The two Acutins moved a step nearer, close enough for the conversation that I had intended to avoid.

»Hej!« me je z nasmehom

pozdravil kakšna dva

metra oddaljeni Ostrin.

Znan obraz. Kakor tudi

Ostrin ob njem. To sta

bila Ostrina s prejšnjega

srečanja, s katerima se

je bila Honaja nekaj spo-

rekla, in glede na njuno

takratno nesramnost bo

njuna družba zanjo tudi

zdaj neprijetna. Da, bolje

se bo izmakniti druženju z

njima. Zaradi Honaje. Nič

kaj prijetna ni bila zame

njena zadrega, pa čeprav

se jima je tedaj zelo samo-

zavestno postavila po

robu in bila pri tem tudi

dovolj prepričljiva, vsaj

zame. In njuno takratno

govorjenje se je precej

ujemalo s temi zadnjimi

besedami pogajalske sku-

pine Ostrinov, na kate-

rih zlaganost in nesra-

mnost se je Honaja tako

čustveno odzvala.

Oba Ostrina sta se prima-

knila še za korak bliže,

dovolj za pogovor, ki sem

se mu nameraval izogniti.

408

Honaja had noticed them too, and I could see the displeasure on her face, although she greeted them politely. The tension grew immediately. Why did we have to meet here all of a sudden? Was it a coin-cidence? If it was really merely a coincidence…“My friend Orhan and I were admiring your friend. She is very bea-utiful,” said the nearer Acutin. There was some-thing slightly provocative about his manner. “Of course,” replied his neighbour, although this rather cynical compli-ment had been addres-sed to me. “The Sensins follow events on Earth very closely, especially the design achievements of the Earthmen, which they copy very successfully.”Honaja remained silent. I glanced at her. I felt obli-ged to intervene in her defence, and that was also what I wanted to do, but I couldn’t find the right

Tudi Honaja ju je opazila in

po izrazu njenega obraza

sem lahko zaznal rahlo

nejevoljo, čeprav jima je

vljudno odzdravila. Nape-

tost pa je v trenutku nara-

sla. Da smo se morali prav

tu tako nenadoma srečati!

Po naključju? Če je bilo to

res zgolj naključje…

»S prijateljem Orhanom

občudujeva vašo prijate-

ljico. Zelo lepa je,« mi je v

rahlo izzivalni drži navrgel

bližnji Ostrin.

»Seveda,« je odgovoril

njegov sosed, čeprav je

bil ta, z nekakšnim ciniz-

mom izrečeni kompliment

namenjen meni. »Čutini

sledijo vsem dogajanjem

na Zemlji, še posebej

oblikovalskim dosežkom

Zemljanov, ki jih zelo uspe-

šno posnemajo.«

Honaja je ostala tiho.

Nekajkrat sem jo pogle-

dal. Čutil sem se sicer dol-

žnega posredovati v njeno

obrambo, to bi tudi prav

rad storil, pa nisem našel

409

words. I knew nothing about the background to their insinuations but I had a vague sensation that there was something important here. Honaja’s reserve, and mine, seemed to amuse the two Acu-tins. At least that is how they responded. I had the impression that this sort of conversation came natu-rally to them. “It is interesting how the Sensins have mixed industrial design with the exterior of living bodies.” Orhan addressed his comrade as though they were now talking among themselves, but his voice was loud enough to be heard by everyone around us. After listening to him with an exaggerated seri-ousness, the other Acutin took his cue: “Yes, that is the intere-sting thing,” he replied. “Things have their own form, which in the end is what it is. And this is the

nobene ustrezne besede.

Ozadje, na katerem je

temeljilo to nesramno

drezanje, mi ni bilo le pri-

krito, neznano, ampak je

v nejasnih obrisih dajalo

slutiti nekaj pomembnega.

Honajina in moja zadrža-

nost pa sta se obema Ostri-

noma zdeli zabavni. Vsaj

tako sta se odzivala. No, po

občutku sodeč, jima je bil

tak način pogovora pisan

na kožo.

»Zanimivo, kako so Čutini

pomešali industrijsko obli-

kovanje z zunanjostjo živih

teles.« Orhan je govoril svo-

jemu tovarišu, kakor da se

sedaj pogovarjata le med

sabo, čeprav ga je zaradi

njegove glasnosti morala

slišati vsa okolica, njegov

tovariš pa se je po skrajno

pozornem poslušanju s

poudarjeno zavzetostjo še

sam pridružil skupnemu

razmišljanju.

»Da, prav to je zanimivo,«

je odvrnil Orhanu »Stvari

imajo svojo obliko, ki je na

koncu taka, kot pač je. In

410

most important thing. If the form of Earthwomen is written in the genetic code, and the Sensins achi-eve the same appearance through design, then in the end there is no longer any difference, is there?” The Acutin laughed cyni-cally. Or even maliciously. As I looked at Honaja to see her reaction, the word “malicious” seemed by far the most appropriate. This was a deliberate repetition of the insult.“Their cynicism is really irritating,” I whispered to Honaja. “They seem to be rather malicious by nature.”“Yes, that’s right. They are Acutins,” she replied, con-taining her anger. “And this is nothing special for them. This is simply what they are like.” My understanding look – in her anger she seemed particularly beautiful to me – had extinguished her anger. Her eyes told me this. The Acutins cle-

to je najpomembnejše. Če

je oblika Zemljank dana v

genskem zapisu, Čutini pa

dosežejo enako zunanjost

z oblikovanjem, potem na

koncu ni nobene razlike

več, kajne?« Ostrin se je

cinično zasmejal. Že kar

zlobno. Ob pogledu na

Honajo in njen odziv se mi

je oznaka »zlobno« zazdela

še najbolj ustrezna. To je

bilo vztrajno ponavljanje

žalitve.

»Hm, pa sta res zatežila s

svojim cinizmom,« sem

šepnil Honaji. »Malo zlobne

narave sta videti.«

»Da, saj to je to. To so

Ostrini,« se je odzvala,

zadržujoč bes. »In to sploh

ni nič posebnega zanje,

niti po naključju. Oni so

preprosto taki.« Moj razu-

mevajoči pogled, v svojem

besu se mi je namreč zdela

še posebno lepa, je poga-

sil njeno jezo, kot sem

lahko razbral iz njenih

oči. Ostrina sta jo očitno

411

arly wanted to provoke her with their insults. They were simply being malici-ous. “You surprise me, did you know that?” said Honaja, half turning towards the Acutins.The Acutin closer to us immediately responded cheerfully: “We’ve noti-ced.” His comrade smir-ked. “I had long been convin-ced that that nuclear war of yours had only damaged your genes in the sphere of the emotions. But now it is becoming evident that the damage extends to other areas too. Inclu-ding form. It is hard for you to recognise this. But it doesn’t matter.” Honaja turned towards me: “They destroyed their planet with nuclear bombs. Eve-rything was destroyed. Every living creature peri-shed and all life on their planet was exterminated. And despite everything, the few Acutins who sur-

hotela jeziti s svojimi žali-

tvami. Njuno govorjenje je

bilo preprosto zlobno.

»Ali vesta, da me presene-

čata?« je nato Honaja, na

pol obrnjena k Ostrinoma,

povzdignila glas.

Bližnji Ostrin se je takoj

veselo odzval: »Sva opazila,

da.« In njegov tovariš se je

pri tem vzvišeno muzal.

»Dolgo sem bila prepri-

čana, da vam je tista vaša

jedrska vojna poškodovala

gene samo na področju

čustev. Zdaj se pa kažejo

te poškodbe še v širšem

obsegu. Tudi v oblikov-

nem. Razpoznavanje vam

dela težave. Pa nič zato.«

Honaja se je obrnila k

meni: »Svoj planet so uni-

čili z jedrskimi bombami.

Vse je bilo uničeno. Vsa

živa bitja z vsem življe-

njem na njihovem pla-

netu so bila iztrebljena.

In tistih nekaj Ostrinov,

ki so preživeli, teh nekaj

412

vived, these few mental cripples, remained con-vinced of their own supe-riority. This a special type of deformation. Mental of course. On the one hand it limits an individual, while on the other it gives him a sense of superiority. It’s very interesting. In this sense you are certainly an evolutionary achievement. There’s no doubt of that, is there?”Now it was the turn of the Acutins to get angry. Their eyes flashed. “Such obvious lies cannot pass unchallenged,” said an Acutin of more pacific appearance from the circle of listeners around us. “That simply isn’t true!” “Yes it is!” retorted Honaja. “During your quarrels you triggered a nuclear war. Is that true?”“Yes, that is true. And the consequences were ter-rible. But what you have hinted at is not correct.”“Only a small number of your entire population sur-

umskih kripljev je kljub

vsemu ostalo prepričanih

o svoji večvrednosti. To je

posebna vrsta deforma-

cij. Umskih seveda. Posa-

meznika po eni strani

omeji, po drugi pa mu

daje občutek vzvišenosti.

Neverjetno zanimivo. V

tem smislu ste vsekakor

evolucijski dosežek. O

tem ni dvoma, kajne?«

Zdaj sta se zresnila tudi

Ostrina, in to do prav

jeznega bliskanja z očmi.

»Tako očitnega laganja se

pa ne moremo iti,« je vzro-

jil Ostrin iz kroga poslu-

šalcev v najini neposredni

bližini, sicer bolj umirje-

nega videza, »saj to vendar

ni res!«

»Pa je!« je pribila Honaja.

»V medsebojnih sporih ste

sprožili nuklearno vojno.

Je res?«

»To že. In tudi posledice so

bile težke. Vendar pa to,

na kar ste namigovali, ni

točno.«

»Le nekaj od vsega vašega

prebivalstva je preživelo.

413

vived. All the others died,” continued Honaja.“There were no genetic changes as a result of radi-oactive radiation, which is what you are trying to imply,” answered the Acutin coldly.“In the final consequen-ces there were. We have proved this to you. And these genetic changes are now proving to be fatal.”“Madam, that is a lie! I do not approve of what these two gentlemen are saying” – the Acutin indicated his comrades – “since it is not correct. But that does not give you the right to feign ignorance. First and fore-most, the genetic changes were very small. And they did not occur as the result of radioactive radiation during the nuclear war. And then on top of that, we remedied all deficien-cies long ago.”“But that is precisely the point: you didn’t. Or you didn’t do it properly, and that is why we are where

Vsi ostali so pomrli,« je

nadaljevala Honaja.

»Nobenih genskih spre-

memb ni bilo zaradi radi-

oaktivnega sevanja, kot v

svojem dvomljivem izraža-

nju namigujete,« ji je s trdo

resnostjo hladno naspro-

toval Ostrin.

»V končnih posledicah so

bile, to smo vam dokazali.

In te genske spremembe

se zdaj kažejo kot usodne.«

»Gospa, to je laž! Govor-

jenja teh dveh gospodov,«

je Ostrin pokazal na svoja

tovariša, »ne odobravam,

saj ni pravilno. Vendar vam

to ne daje pravice do spre-

nevedanja. In kot prvo:

genske spremembe so

bile zelo majhne. Sicer pa

sploh niso nastale zaradi

radioaktivnega sevanja v

jedrski vojni. Vrh tega smo

vse nepravilnosti že zdav-

naj odpravili.«

»Saj stvar je ravno v tem,

da jih niste. Ali pa ste jih

napačno, in zato smo zdaj

tam, kjer smo - tik pred

414

we are now – on the brink of war,” continued Honaja with increasing firmness, to the approving nods of the other Sensins.“What is this beautifully designed puppet talking about?” interrupted one of the pair of Acutins. “I cannot believe it! We are being accused of genetic deficiencies by someone who doesn’t even have any genes!”“Silence please!” said a loud voice amplified thro-ugh the wall. I looked around the hall. Quite a number of lively discus-sions had started up. Jud-ging from the animation of the participants, they were probably similar to our quarrel. Tensions were clearly increasing on both sides. I brushed aside my doubts on the matter. The imbalance of power resul-ting from the blocked access to the energy fields still seemed to the main cause. If the Acutins were to discover their current

vojno,« je ob odobravajo-

čem kimanju ostalih Čuti-

nov vse bolj odločno nada-

ljevala Honaja.

»O čem pa govori ta lepo

dizajnirana lutka?« je vpadel

spet eden od dvojice Ostri-

nov. »Saj ne morem ver-

jeti! Genske nepravilnosti

nam očita nekdo, ki genov

sploh nima!«

»Prosim za tišino!« se je

zaslišal glas, okrepljen

skozi stene. Pogledal sem

po dvorani. Precej živah-

nih pogovorov je bilo že

vzpostavljenih, najbrž so

bili podobni našemu pre-

rekanju, vsaj po živahno-

sti sodeč. Spor med njimi

je bil očitno res zaostren.

Zavrgel sem nekaj pomisle-

kov o zadevi, še naprej pa

se mi je v ospredju kazalo

neravnovesje sil zaradi

blokiranega dostopa do

energetskih polj. Prav

lahko bi Ostrini ob spo-

znanju svoje trenutne

415

advantage, they could take the opportunity to defeat the Sensins and launch an attack. But they hadn’t done so yet, at least not with all their forces. Their tactic was more about fee-ling their way, provoking the Sensins with local attacks and then – nego-tiations. They were still not fully convinced of the situation regarding the Sensins’ energy fields. That was probably a good thing. While I hoped that the Acutins really didn’t know the whole backgro-und, I at least was afraid that they would discover the Sensins’ difficulties in re-establishing control over the largest energy field complex. And behind it there had to be some difference between them. Hmm. A difference, yes. Perhaps it wasn’t such a small difference after all. Certain signs suggested other dissensions that were not exactly insigni-

premoči izkoristili prilo-

žnost za poraz Čutinov in

šli v napad. Pa vseeno tega

doslej še niso storili, vsaj

ne z vsemi silami. Njihovo

delovanje je potekalo bolj

v smislu tipanja, izziva-

nja z lokalnimi napadi in

potem - pogajanja. Niso še

povsem prepričani, kako

je s tistimi energetskimi

polji Čutinov. To je najbrž

dobro. Vsaj meni se je ob

upanju, da Ostrini res ne

poznajo ozadja v celoti,

vzbudil strah, da bi razkrili

težave Čutinov pri ponov-

nem vzpostavljanju nad-

zora nad največjim kom-

pleksom energetskih polj.

In zadaj mora biti še neka

razlika med njimi. Hm.

Ta razlika, hja, presneto.

Morda sploh ni tako

majhna. Nekatera zname-

nja so nakazovala še druga,

ne ravno nepomembna raz-

416

ficant. With a civilisa-tion at this level I would have expected tolerance of differences, unless... I paused. Nothing I could think of seemed to fit the case. Was there a diffe-rence that would be una-cceptable even to beings at this level of civilisation? This was exactly what it seemed like at certain moments. But if that were true, how is it that they have tolerated each other until now? Was it only because of the balance of power? That was possible. Hmm… They certainly have no reservations about insulting each other. That reference to the damage that is supposed to have been caused by a nuclear war, that was very cruel. Brain damage, character defects, and these beings are then supposed to gain the ascendancy at such a high level of civilisation, in the immediate vicinity of the Earth, which they can visit whenever they

hajanja. Pri civilizaciji na

tej ravni bi pričakoval str-

pnost do različnosti, razen

če . . . Zastal mi je pretok

misli. Nobena misel se mi

ni več zdela prava. Je lahko

neka razlika tudi za bitja

na tej civilizacijski ravni

nesprejemljiva? Ravno to

se tukaj kaže v določenih

trenutkih. Ampak kako,

da so se doslej vendarle

prenašali? Samo zaradi

ravnotežja sil? Možno.

Hm… Zmerjajo se prav

krepko. Tisto o poškod-

bah, ki naj bi bile posledica

nuklearne vojne, je kar

kruto. Poškodba možga-

nov, značajev, potem pa naj

bi ta bitja dobila prevlado

na tako visoki civilizacijski

ravni, in to v neposredni

bližini Zemlje, na katero

se lahko spustijo, kadarkoli

417

feel like it. That cannot be good for the people of the Earth. The supremacy of the Acutins would not be good for Honaja either.I smiled. It was nice that we were on the same side. How angry those arrogant Acutins had made her! Cynicism was evidently an innate characteristic of the Acutins. Even I had been a little irritated by their manner, which was arrogant however you looked at it. There was too much malice in it, parti-cularly in contrast to the almost excessive tolerance and conciliatoriness of the Sensins. How could they behave with such impu-dence at their level of civilisation? Well perhaps they were not all like that. The Acutin who had inter-vened in the last discus-sion was quite different, although he still stuck to the Acutins’ positions. Or starting-points, perhaps I should say. Even he didn’t show much friendship

hočejo. To že ne more biti

dobro za Zemljane. Pa tudi

za Honajo prevlada Ostri-

nov ne bi bila dobra.

Nasmehnil sem se. Lepo,

da sva na isti strani. Kako

se je razjezila zaradi tistih

nadutih Ostrinov! Cinizem

je bil Ostrinom očitno pri-

rojen. Še mene je kar malo

pogrel njihov, kakorkoli

sem gledal, naduti nastop.

Preveč objestnosti je bilo

zaznati v njem, in to ob še

tako tolerantni spravljivo-

sti. Le kako morejo na svoji

civilizacijski ravni nasto-

pati s tako nesramnostjo?

No, najbrž niso vsi taki.

Možak iz zadnjega pogo-

vora je bil vseeno precej

drugačen, čeprav je še

vedno ostajal na ostri-

novskih stališčih. Morda

bolje rečeno – izhodiščih.

Saj tudi on ni kazal poseb-

nega prijateljstva do Čuti-

418

towards the Sensins. But at least he was prepared to discuss things in a more approachable manner, although it was clear from his words, and even more so from his way of talking, that he considered the dif-ference between Sensins and Acutins to be a serious matter, something which at this moment pointed to a certain ambiguity where the Sensins were concer-ned. Yes, there was some-thing mysterious about them too. That reference to robots may have been just an insult, but perhaps it was partly acceptable, at least in so far as it referred to a specific characteristic of the Sensins. Perhaps in their characters. But to accuse Honaja of col-dness or emotionlesness was nonsense. That could not be true in this sense. But those two Acutins had certainly been trying to suggest something like that. And not even that conciliatory Acutin had

nov. A se je bil vsaj pripra-

vljen pogovoriti na bolj

dostopen način, čeprav je

bilo po njegovih besedah,

še bolj pa po načinu govor-

jenja zaznati, da jemlje

različnost med Čutini in

Ostrini kot resno zadevo,

to pa je v tem trenutku

kazalo na določeno neja-

snost glede Čutinov. Hja,

tudi na njih je bilo nekaj

skrivnostnega. Tisto z

roboti je bila sicer res žali-

tev, a deloma morda spre-

jemljiva, vsaj kolikor kaže

na določeno značilnost

Čutinov. Morda v njihovih

značajih.

Toda Honaji očitati hla-

dnost ali celo brezčutnost

je oslarija. To že ne more

veljati v tem smislu. Sta pa

bila ta dva Ostrina nedvo-

mno sugestivna v svojem

nastopu. Pa še ta spravljivi

Ostrin ni omenil ničesar

419

said anything more spe-cific on that topic, proba-bly because he had had to rebut Honaja’s accu-sations. It was a pity that he, at least, had not said anything more about the Sensins. His explanation would have made it easier to form a clearer picture. Yes, I really needed a cle-arer picture, I thought. About both sides. I needed to investigate the whole business. Whatever had already been said, and although it was too little to form a clear picture, I had at least been given a starting-po-int for better understan-ding. The ordinary abi-lities of Earthmen were good enough (or probably were) to evaluate whate-ver it was that the Acutins and Sensins were accu-sing each other of at their higher level of civilisation. Madness or (why not?) robotic behaviour, even if it was only a matter of a lack of sensibility or

bolj konkretnega na to

temo, najbrž zato, ker je

moral zavrniti Honajine

obtožbe. Škoda, da vsaj on

ni povedal kaj več o Čuti-

nih. Na podlagi njegove

razlage bi si laže ustvaril

bolj določene predstave.

Da, prav bolj določene

predstave bi moral imeti,

sem pomislil. In to o obeh

straneh. Moram raziskati

vse skupaj.

Karkoli je že bilo rečeno in

četudi je bilo premalo za

jasno predstavo, pa mi je

bilo vseeno dano vsaj izho-

dišče za boljše razumeva-

nje. Navadne sposobnosti

Zemljanov so (ali pa vsaj

zelo verjetno, da so) dovolj

dobre za presojanje tega,

kar Ostrini in Čutini na tej

njihovi višji civilizacijski

stopnji podtikajo drug dru-

gemu. Morebitno norost

ali pa (zakaj ne?) robotsko

obnašanje, tudi če gre le

za pomanjkanje čutnosti

420

confusion in their emoti-onal responses, whatever it was caused by – this was something I could detect. At least that. It was important for me to finally find out what I needed to be attentive to. I decided to intervene myself from time to time. Yes: all I really needed was a little conversation. With both sides. Ideally in their com-pany, in everyday life. That would be good. Unfor-tunately that possibility was unlikely here, in the middle of negotiations and surrounded by military formations, with emotions pushed to one side. And if I remembered the reac-tions of the Sensins and all those moments when their life was hanging by a thread… Yes… What was the truth for them? I found myself wondering whether their life really had been hanging by a thread. As it had for me? For a moment or two they had seemed quite unaffected, even in

ali za zmešnjavo v čutnem

odzivanju, ne glede iz kate-

rega vzroka je povzročena

- to že lahko zasledim.To

vsekakor. Pomembno je,

da bi končno le izvedel,

na kaj moram biti pozo-

ren. Malo pa bom še sam

občasno podrezal. Da,

vse, kar res potrebujem,

je nekaj pogovorov. Tako

z enimi kot z drugimi. Naj-

bolje v njihovi družbi, v

vsakdanjem življenju. To

bi bilo v redu, da. Čeprav

ta možnost na žalost tukaj

ne pride v poštev, vsaj ne

sredi pogajanj z vojaškimi

formacijami naokoli, ko so

čustva odrinjena na stran.

In če sem se spomnil odzi-

vov Čutinov in vseh tistih

trenutkov, ko jim je viselo

življenje na nitki… Hja. Kaj

je zanje resnica? Zamislil

sem se nad vprašanjem, ali

jim je življenje res viselo

na nitki. Kakor meni? Za

kakšen trenutek so bili

videti precej neprizadeti,

421

some extremely dange-rous situations, and that in itself was quite strange. It was true that according to their subsequent expla-nations the situation had not been as dangerous as it appeared, because their materials were capable of withstanding far greater impacts than an Earthman might expect. Then they were in the middle of bat-tles for a while, and now they are in the middle of negotiations. I looked at the faces around me, my eyes lingering on one, then another, then a third. Most of them were facing the negotiating table: the negotiators had just agreed the agenda, although even this had required a considerable amount of noisy discus-sion. The Acutins insisted on giving priority to a discussion of the violation of the laws prohibiting interference on the part of highly developed civilisa-tions in the evolution of

in to v nekaterih izjemno

nevarnih položajih, kar

je bilo dovolj nenavadno.

Res pa po njihovih poznej-

ših razlagah zadeva ni bila

tako nevarna, kot je bila

videti, ker njihovi materiali

vzdržijo neprimerno večje

obremenitve, kot bi priča-

koval Zemljan. Potem so

bili nekaj časa sredi bitk,

zdaj pa so sredi pogajanj.

Pogledal sem po obra-

zih naokrog, zadržal sem

pogled na enem, pa na

drugem, tretjem, večinoma

so se obračali k pogajalski

mizi, za katero so pravkar

sprejeli dnevni red, čeprav

so se že pri tem kar glasno

sporekli. Ostrini so vztra-

jali na prednostni obrav-

navi kršenja zakonov o

prepovedi posegov višje

razvitih civilizacij v evo-

422

sentient beings at a lower stage of development. The leader of the Sensins suggested that this was rather cynical given that they were on the brink of war. The fighting had alre-ady involved a wide area from sector ER22 to sector ER742. “In any case,” added the Sensin, “we do not inter-fere in the evolutionary development of any civi-lisation, including the human civilisation on Earth.” “That simply isn’t true,” cried an Acutin with heavy eyebrows and a gaunt face, with a slightly jutting chin. “Your visits to Earth have already become habitual. You go down to Earth and carry off their people. We cannot even verify all your doings down there, and now you assure us that you are not interfering in the evolutionary develo-pment of the Earthmen...”

lucijo razumskih bitij na

nižji razvojni stopnji, vodja

Čutinov pa je to označil

za rahlo cinično govorje-

nje, ko je vendar na pragu

vojna. Spopadi so že doslej

zajeli široko področje od

ER22 do ER742. »Sicer pa

mi,« je še dodal Čutin, »ne

posegamo v evolucijski

razvoj nobene civilizacije,

tudi človeške na Zemlji

ne.«

»To nikakor ni res!« je

vzkliknil Ostrin s poudar-

jenimi obrvmi na košče-

nem obrazu in z nekoliko

naprej potisnjeno brado.

»Vaši obiski na Zemlji so

postali že nekaj povsem

običajnega. Spuščate se

nanjo, potem pa odpe-

ljete nekatere ljudi, vsega

vašega početja tam niti

ne moremo preverjati, in

zdaj tukaj zagotavljate, da

ne posegate v evolucijski

razvoj Zemljanov…«

423

“Our visits to Earth are few and far between and there is nothing ill-inten-tioned about them. There is nothing controversial about this from our point of view. We certainly do not do anything that could cause confusion or fear among the Earthmen. On the other hand your descents to Earth are more frequent than ours: we know this because we too have our own surveillance teams.”The Acutin merely smiled and shook his head: “What nonsense! What about purgatory? You have built your own purgatory and you plan to convince the Earthmen that your civi-lisation is part of it, but this is only one step from occupying the Earth on the pretext of your coe-xistence with the biblical purgatory.”“Such talk is inadmissi-ble!” objected a Sensin to the left of the main nego-tiator with slightly lighter

»Ti naši spusti na Zemljo

so zanemarljivo redki in

so brez kakršnekoli zlo-

namernosti. Nič spornega

ni pri tem z naše strani.

Prav gotovo ne počnemo

ničesar, kar bi lahko pov-

zročilo zmedo ali kakršen-

koli strah med Zemljani.

Po drugi strani so bili vaši

spusti na Zemljo veliko

pogostejši od naših, o

čemer se lahko prepri-

čamo, saj imamo oboji

organizirano opazovanje.«

Ostrin pa je samo sme-

hljaje se odkimaval:

»Kakšno govorjenje! Kaj

pa Vice? Zgradili ste svoje

Vice in Zemljane namera-

vate prepričati, da je vaša

civilizacija del njih, to

pa je le korak do okupa-

cije Zemlje pod pretvezo

vašega sobivanja z biblij-

skimi Vicami.«

»Tako čvekanje je nedopu-

stno!« je nasprotoval Čutin

na levi strani osrednjega

pogajalca, nekoliko sve-

424

wheat-coloured hair and slightly darker moustache and beard. “Purgatory is part of our civilisation. You know this perfectly well. You also know the position it occupies in our development to date. Your denials, and your accusati-ons of pretence, deceit and other dishonest conduct are insulting. I would the-refore ask you to be respec-tful of the differences that separate us, since although they are considerable there is no need for us to go to war over them.”“Very well. You have built what you have built. We too could build something of the kind without diffi-culty. But why do you call it purgatory? At least give it some other name!”“But it is purgatory!”A loud murmuring sprang up around the hall. Eve-ryone was speaking at once. Most of the Acutins were shaking their heads as if to say that this wasn’t true. The Sensins talked

tlejših las pšenične barve

in za spoznanje temnejših

brkov z brado. »Vice so del

naše civilizacije. S tem ste

prav dobro seznanjeni.

Prav dobro veste, kakšno

mesto jim pripada v našem

dosedanjem razvoju. Vaša

zanikanja z namigi o našem

sprenevedanju, goljufanju

in drugih nepoštenostih

so žaljiva. Zato vas prosim,

bodite spoštljivi do različ-

nosti, ki nas ločujejo, kajti

četudi so velike, ni nobene

potrebe po vojnem spo-

padu zaradi njih.«

»Dobro. Zgradili ste pač,

kar ste zgradili. Tudi mi bi

lahko kaj takega naredili

brez težav. Toda zakaj ime-

nujete to Vice? Dajte temu

vsaj kakšno drugo ime!«

»Ampak to so Vice!«

Zdaj je v dvorani nastal

močan hrum. Vsi so govo-

rili vsevprek. Ostrini so

večinoma odkimavali,

češ da to ne gre, da to ni

res, Čutini pa so omenjali

svojo tradicijo, svoj razvoj

425

about their tradition, their development and the fact that purgatory was part of their culture. Above all – and they were especially vociferous on this point – they pointed out that the Acutins could also assume this element of their cul-ture, that this would be the best thing for them, rather than rejecting an achieve-ment of highly developed civilisations without veri-fying it first. Everything that was being said was causing me such strong misgivings about the situation that I couldn’t help murmuring out loud: “But this really is too much!” I started as I noticed the reactions on faces around me. Quite a number of them were sta-ring at me. “They are bluffing!” suggested someone to the side of me. I turned to see the smiling face of the nearer of those two cyni-cal Acutins. It was Orhan’s friend. He was responding

in da so Vice del njihove

posebnosti, njihove kul-

ture, predvsem pa, to so

še posebej glasno ome-

njali, lahko ta del njihove

kulture prevzamejo tudi

Ostrini, to bi bilo zanje še

najbolje, ne pa da dosežek

visoko razvitih civilizacij

odklanjajo brez predho-

dnega preverjanja.

Različni pomisleki so se ob

vsem izrečenem tako živo

in močno zvrstili skozi

moje videnje dogajanja,

da mi je nehote prišlo iz

ust malo glasnejše mrmra-

nje s polglasnim sklepom:

»To je pa res že preveč!«

V hipu sem se zdrznil, ko

sem zaznal odzive bližnjih

obrazov ob sebi. Kar precej

se jih je zazrlo vame.

»Blefirajo!« mi je nena-

doma od strani priletelo

v pojasnilo. Pogledal sem

smehljajoči se obraz bli-

žnjega od tistih dveh cinič-

426

to the reflection that I had involuntarily expressed out loud. “These Sensins are bluffing. Surely you had guessed that?” he said mischievously. I turned away: it would be hard to accept any explana-tion from these two cyni-cal Acutins as well-intenti-oned. I was also disturbed by the slightly patronising tone that had taken the place of their usual cyni-cism. Too much so for me to seize the opportunity that had been offered to me and ask them straight out for an explanation of this unusual concept of “purgatory”. Although of course I needed quite a lot of explanations. My origi-nal plan had been to get an explanation of the nuclear war from one side and an explanation of the insults from the other side, and then try and establish the truth by means of surrepti-tious observation, but now I had to modify this plan by going into this question

nih Ostrinov. Bil je Orha-

nov prijatelj. Odzval se je

na moje polglasno razmi-

šljanje. »Ti Čutini blefirajo.

Mar tega še niste uganili?«

je navrgel objestno.

Odmaknil sem pogled, ker

od teh dveh ciničnih Ostri-

nov bi bilo težko sprejeti

kakršnokoli pojasnilo kot

dobronamerno. Motil pa

me je tudi rahlo pokrovi-

teljski ton namesto nju-

nega običajnega cinizma.

Preveč, da bi pograbil za

navrženo besedo in ju kar

naravnost povprašal za

njuno razlago o tem nena-

vadnem pojmu »Vice«.

Čeprav bi seveda potrebo-

val kar nekaj pojasnil. Kajti

svoj prvotni načrt, da bom

dobil pojasnilo o jedrski

vojni z ene in o žalitvah

z nasprotne strani ter da

bom potem z rahlo prikri-

tim detektivskim opazo-

vanjem še nekoliko preve-

ril vse skupaj, sem moral

sedaj dopolniti s poglobi-

tvijo v smislu, da so Vice

427

of purgatory being one of their peculiarities, as the Sensins put it, although this did not correspond at all to the Acutin’s replies on the subject, which seemed to be trying to expose the Sensins as deceivers or something. Another que-stion was how they had managed to place their attitude towards Earthmen right at the start of negoti-ations. At least as far as I could tell, this was a minor problem in view of the size of these two enormous civilisations – enormous in terrestrial terms – with their colossal military and energy potentials a billion times greater than those of the Earth. And now their attitude towards Earthmen was in first place. The Acutins had insisted on it. The Sensins, meanwhile, had cited the peculiarities of their own civilisation when purgatory was men-tioned. What I was suppo-sed to think about all of this was another question

del njihovih posebnosti,

kot pravijo Čutini, to pa se

nikakor ne ujema z odzivi

Ostrinov na to temo, ki so

skušali razkrinkati sprene-

vedanje Čutinov kot pre-

varantov ali nekaj podob-

nega. Vprašanje pa je tudi

bilo, kako da so na začetku

pogajanj postavili v

ospredje ravno svoj odnos

do Zemljanov. Vsaj po

mojem sklepanju je bil to

manj pomemben problem

glede na velikost obeh, za

zemeljske pojme orjaških

civilizacij z velikanskimi

vojaškimi in energetskimi

potenciali. Milijardnokrat

večjimi od zemeljskih. In

zdaj je bil odnos do Zemlja-

nov na prvem mestu.

Ostrini so vztrajali pri tem.

Čutini pa so se pri omem-

bah Vic sklicevali na svoje

civilizacijske posebno-

sti. Kaj naj si o vsem tem

mislim jaz, je pa bilo spet

nekaj drugega. Odkimal

428

again. I shook my head at my inability to under-stand. I was unable to create any real picture of what was going on from all that I knew. I hadn’t noticed anything that could genui-nely have caused differen-ces that were so serious as to lead to a threat of war. And this purgatory. What did they actually mean by that? Was it the same thing that Mike had men-tioned that time after the dance – something about that Sensin’s resemblance to his father? The same gestures, the same smile, the same reactions. I had noticed a similarity too, or rather when he smiled I too had got the impression that his father was nearby. Externally he looked dif-ferent – or perhaps not. That Sensin was quite a lot younger than Mike’s father. On the other hand I couldn’t say what his father looked like without a bald patch, white hair, and a

sem sam sebi spričo nemo-

žnosti razumevanja.

Nobenih pravih predstav

si nisem mogel ustvariti

iz vsega, kar sem vedel.

Nisem namreč zaznal niče-

sar, kar bi resnično lahko

povzročilo razhajanja vse

do grožnje z vojno. Pa te

Vice. Kaj je pravzaprav

sploh mišljeno s tem? Mar

tisto, kar je omenil Miro,

takrat po plesu v Nebotič-

niku, nekaj o podobnosti

tistega Čutina z njegovim

očetom? Enake kretnje,

smeh, odzivanje. Hja, tudi

sam sem opazil podobnost

oziroma sem ob njegovem

smehu tudi sam dobil vtis

bližine njegovega očeta.

Po zunanjosti je bil sicer

drugačen - ali pa morda

tudi ne. Precej mlajši je bil

tisti Čutin od njegovega

očeta. Kakšen je bil njegov

oče brez pleše, belih las,

brkov in brade, pa tudi ne

429

full beard. Hmm. Purga-tory? In what sense? As an expiation of sins before entering heaven? Proba-bly not, at least not in this simple sense, because that would imply some sort of judgement process, and the Sensins did not appear to have any tendency in that direction. Meanwhile the Acutins apparently found the whole subject unacceptable. Why? Or rather: what was it that they found unacceptable? Perhaps purgatory merely meant some place, the name for something… But what could this mean for Earthmen? Or rather: what could it mean in general? A connection would therefore seem to have been already esta-blished. Damn it! Could someone exploit Earthmen in this sense? Were they already exploiting us? But how? Their entrances to the energy fields suggest a complication, and also these codings and security

bi mogel reči. Hm, Vice?

V kakšnem smislu? Kot

pokora za grehe pred vsto-

pom v nebesa? Kaj takega

najbrž ne, vsaj v tem pre-

prostem smislu ne, kajti

potem bi morali imeti

nekakšno sodno prever-

janje. Pa ni videti nikakr-

šne naravnanosti Čutinov

v tej smeri. Za Ostrine pa

naj bi bila ta zadeva sploh

nesprejemljiva. Zakaj? Ozi-

roma kaj je zanje nespreje-

mljivo? Mogoče Vice pome-

nijo le neki prostor, ime za

neko. . . Toda kaj lahko to

pomeni za Zemljane? Ozi-

roma kaj lahko to pomeni

nasploh? Zveza naj bi bila

torej že vzpostavljena.

Hudirja! Ali bi lahko kdo

v tem smislu izkoriščal

Zemljane? Oziroma nas

že izkorišča? Toda kako?

Zaplet nakazujejo njihovi

prehodi v energetska

polja, pa tudi ta kodira-

nja in varnostne zapore

430

barriers based on verbal and emotional responses at some insignificant kids’ party on Earth. In other words there is some con-nection in the backgro-und. That’s clear. If there wasn’t, I wouldn’t be here either. The mere fact of my presence in all of this business indicates a con-nection or link or whatever I should call this relation-ship between Sensins and Earthmen. On the other hand some sort of relations have apparently already been established between Acutins and Earthmen too, since the Acutins also visit the Earth, although, as that Acutin said, without interfering in terrestrial evolution. It was probably more in the role of obser-vers then, which apparen-tly meant a more correct attitude, although they seem considerably more cynical than the Sensins,

na podlagi besednega in

čustvenega odzivanja na

nepomembni zabavi neke

mularije na Zemlji. Se

pravi, da je neka zveza v

ozadju. To je jasno. Saj če

ni, tudi mene ne bi bilo

tukaj. Že sama moja nav-

zočnost v vsem tem dose-

danjem dogajanju kaže

na zveze, povezave ali

kakorkoli naj bi že imeno-

val ta odnos med Čutini

in Zemljani. Pa tudi med

Ostrini in Zemljani naj

bi bile že vzpostavljene

neke relacije, ker naj bi

se Ostrini prav tako spu-

ščali na Zemljo, vendar,

kot je dejal tisti Ostrin,

brez poseganja v zemelj-

sko evolucijo, torej najbrž

bolj v vlogi opazoval-

cev, kar naj bi pomenilo

bolj korekten odnos,

čeprav so videti precej

bolj cinični od Čutinov,

431

who – and at least as far as Honaja was concerned I couldn’t be mistaken – were incomparably more sensitive. Honaja? Purgatory? The Acutins had tried to pro-voke her with their “bea-utifully designed,” presu-mably an allusion to “desi-gning” robots. Yes, hmm, these Acutins insult them by calling them robots... Why robots? Because of a lack of sensitiveness? There was nothing metal-lic, nothing robotic about Honaja. She was far from being emotionless. Quite the opposite. There was so much life and human warmth in her, and so much joy and happiness, and also sorrow, mixed with a kind of fear, a kind of expectation… I couldn’t take these insults of the Acutins seriously. At the negotiating table, during the discussion of the attitude towards less developed civilisations, the Acutins, unlike the

ki so, vsaj glede Honaje

se nisem mogel motiti,

neprimerno bolj čutni.

Honaja? Vice? Ostrina sta

jo dražila z »lepo obliko-

vana«, torej z namigova-

njem na nekakšno »dizajni-

ranje« robotov. Ja, hm, kar

z roboti jih zmerjajo tile

Ostrini… Roboti? Zakaj?

Zaradi pomanjkanja čutno-

sti? Na Honaji ni bilo niče-

sar kovinskega, ničesar

robotskega, bila je daleč od

brezčutnosti. Prav naspro-

tno. Toliko življenja s člo-

veško toplino je bilo v njej

in toliko radosti, veselja

in tudi žalosti, pomešane

z nekim strahom, nekim

pričakovanjem… Takih

zmerjanj s strani Ostrinov

že nisem mogel upošte-

vati. Za pogajalsko mizo

so Ostrini med obravnavo

odnosa do manj razvitih

civilizacij v nasprotju s

432

Sensins, had constantly mentioned Earthmen and human civilisation. The Sensins on the other hand had merely talked about less developed civilisati-ons in general, and had only mentioned terrestrial civilisation when explain-ing how a deeply respec-tful relationship had been established between them and us Earthmen; this accorded with my expe-rience or rather with my feelings regarding the Sen-sins’ attitude towards me, and thus probably towards Earthmen in general. And when this constant wor-king of the Earthmen issue into the negotiations had become more and more like an academic discus-sion – and it was already difficult to understand why they were devoting so much time to insignificant little Earth, insignificant at least in comparison to the civilisations of the Sen-sins and the Acutins – the Acutin in the centre of the

Čutini nenehno omenjali

Zemljane, človeško civili-

zacijo. Čutini pa so govo-

rili zgolj o manj razvitih

civilizacijah nasploh, o

zemeljski pa le v obrazlo-

žitvi, kako je med njimi in

Zemljani vzpostavljen glo-

boko spoštljiv odnos; to se

je ujemalo z mojimi izku-

šnjami oziroma z mojimi

občutki glede odnosa Čuti-

nov do mene in s tem ver-

jetno tudi do Zemljanov.

In ko je to nenehno vpleta-

nje vprašanja o Zemljanih

v pogajanja postajalo vse

bolj podobno akademski

razpravi, že kar nerazu-

mljivi zaradi posvečanja

tolikšnega časa tako nepo-

membno majhni Zemlji,

vsaj v primeri s civilizaci-

jama Čutinov in Ostrinov,

je Ostrin sredi pogajalske

433

negotiating group inter-rupted the discussion with a request for an immediate suspension of all contacts with less developed civi-lisations. This suspension was to last until a joint agreement was reached on ending the state of emergency, after which they would re-establish a balance under increased supervision on the basis of mutual respect and a reco-gnition of the right to evo-lutionary development. This was followed by a short break which the Sen-sins requested in order to discuss the acceptability of the proposal, as they put it. After they had returned to the negotiating table, the leader of the negoti-ating group accepted the proposal and said: “I hope that we can now focus on the issue of free passages, which, as we all know, thanks to the barri-ers that have been erected in the asteroid belt and also in other parts of the

skupine presekal to govor-

jenje z zahtevo po takojšnji

prekinitvi vseh stikov z

manj razvitimi civilizaci-

jami. Prekinitev naj bi tra-

jala vse do skupnega dogo-

vora o koncu izjemnega

stanja, po katerem naj bi

pod okrepljenim nadzor-

stvom ponovno vzposta-

vili ravnovesje na podlagi

vzajemnega spoštovanja

in priznavanja pravice

do lastnega evolucijskega

razvoja.

Temu je na zahtevo Čuti-

nov sledil kratek premor,

da bi se lahko pogovorili

o sprejemljivosti predloga,

kot so rekli. Po vrnitvi

za pogajalsko mizo pa je

vodja pogajalske skupine

sprejel predlog in dejal:

»Upam, da se končno lahko

osredotočimo na vpraša-

nje prostih prehodov, ki so,

kot vsi vemo, ob postavlje-

nih zaporah v asteroidnem

pasu in tudi na drugih pre-

434

galaxy, have been closed or rendered more diffi-cult.” Now it was the turn of the Acutins to request a break for consultation. I had the impression that they were surprised that the Sensins had agreed so rapidly to their proposal. I could sense something like alarm in their ranks. All the Acutins around me were visibly agitated. “They’ve got what they needed,” I overheard one Acutin comment to another, and immediately afterwards, the reply “They won’t get away with it just like that... . . We mustn’t let them.” All the Acutins were tal-king loudly. Evidently those on the commission had already known some-thing, but probably not the details, since otherwise they would have concen-trated even more on me and not on the Earthmen as a whole. “Peter,” whispered Honaja, gesturing at me to move

delih vesolja ali zaprti ali

oteženi.« Zdaj so pa Ostrini

zahtevali premor za posve-

tovanje. Dobil sem vtis, da

jih je tako hiter pristanek

Čutinov presenetil do pra-

vega vznemirjenja v nji-

hovih vrstah. Vsi Ostrini

okoli mene so se vidno

vznemirili. »Kar so potre-

bovali, so dobili,« sem

lahko ujel med komentarji

Ostrinov ter takoj zatem

še soglasje v odgovoru:

»Kar tako nas pa že ne bodo

. . . Tega jim ne bi smeli

dopustiti.« Vsa stran Ostri-

nov je dvigovala svoje gla-

sove. Očitno so v komisiji

že morali nekaj vedeti, le

da najbrž ne v podrobno-

stih, ker potem bi se bolj

osredotočili name in ne na

Zemljane v celoti.

»Peter,« je z namigom, naj

se ji primaknem, zašepe-

435

closer to her. Her face showed me that she wanted to talk confidentially to me, as she stole a glance at the two Acutins who were talking among themselves and looking at her increa-singly keenly.I bent close to Honaja’s mouth so that I felt her warm breath as she said:”Peter, the Acu-tins have linked our more frequent flights to Earth in the recent period with their conjectures about our pos-sible difficulties in mana-ging the energy fields. In view of their sudden exci-tement when we agreed to interrupt connections with Earth, we can already form a good idea of what they have managed to find out about our problems. Their findings apparently told them that a constant flow of information from Earth was vital to us, although they do not know why. That is also why they have closed all routes through the asteroid belts. Now they have realised

tala Honaja ob meni. Z

obraza sem ji razbral željo

po zaupnem pogovoru,

medtem ko se je prikrito

ozirala proti Ostrinoma, ki

sta se med sabo pogovar-

jala z vse ostrejšim pogle-

dovanjem vanjo.

Sklonil sem se tik do Hona-

jinih ust, da sem občutil

njen topli dih, ko je rekla:

»Peter, Ostrini so naše

pogostejše polete na

Zemljo v zadnjem času

povezali s svojimi ugibanji

o morebitnih naših teža-

vah pri upravljanju z ener-

getskimi polji. Glede na

njihovo nenadno razburje-

nje, ko smo privolili k pre-

kinitvi povezav z Zemljo

že lahko sklepamo, kaj jim

je uspelo ugotoviti o teh

naših težavah. Stalni infor-

macijski pretok z Zemljani

naj bi bil po njihovih ugo-

tovitvah za nas nujen,

čeprav ne vedo, zakaj. Zato

so tudi zapirali vse poti

skozi asteroidne pasove.

Zdaj so pa spoznali, da ta

436

that this flow of informa-tion is no longer so vital to us and – something that could be dangerous for us – they believe that the pur-pose of our mission was to transfer the last of this information, which they now believe, in view of our agreement to halt traffic to Earth, should be sufficient for our needs, for some time at least. They are still believe that their assump-tions about our urgent need for information from Earth are correct. But now they are looking at this as something that has alre-ady been done, despite all their forecasts and bloc-kades. They have establi-shed that the information that our present mission is supposed to be bringing is effectively the only infor-mation we still need. They don’t know what kind of information this is suppo-sed to be, but their teams of analysts have alre-ady begun studying eve-rything connected with

pretok za nas ni več tako

nujen in, kar je lahko za

nas nevarno, da je prav

naša misija namenjena pre-

nosu zadnjih informacij, ki

naj bi nam po njihovi zdaj-

šnji oceni, pač glede na

naš pristanek k ustavitvi

prometa z Zemljo, morale

zadostovati vsaj za nekaj

časa. Še vedno so namreč

prepričani o pravilnosti

svojih domnev glede za

nas nujnega prenosa infor-

macij z Zemlje. Toda zdaj

gledajo na to kot na nekaj,

kar je že opravljeno kljub

vsem njihovim predvide-

vanjem in blokadam. Ugo-

tovili so, da v bistvu potre-

bujemo le še informacije,

ki naj bi jih prenesla naša

sedanja misija. Ne vedo

sicer, kakšne naj bi bile te

informacije, toda njihove

analizatorske skupine so

se že usmerile v preučeva-

nje vsega, kar je povezano

437

our mission and our flight. It is possible that they will even discover the actual reason for it. Until then, however, they will do everything in their power to halt the transfer of this last part of the informa-tion. They will attack our mission and probably you in particular. You mustn’t give in to them. We will be with you. I will be there too. We have to get out of this place, although they will probably not want to let you go. Do not oppose them. Whatever they say, listen to them, agree with them and accept what they tell you, but point out the impossibility of making an immediate judgement, which means that you are not able to reach a final conclusion – which will probably be true. In the meantime, we have made all the prepa-rations to fully acquaint you with our civilisation. This time, when we have told you everything, you

z našo misijo, s tem našim

poletom. Morda bodo celo

ugotovili dejanski razlog

zanj. Dotlej pa bodo ver-

jetno storili vse, kar je v

njihovi moči, da bi zausta-

vili prenos tega zadnjega

dela informacij. Spravili

se bodo na našo misijo in

verjetno še posebej nate.

Ne smeš se jim pustiti. Mi

bomo ob tebi. Tudi jaz. Iz

tega prostora se moramo

umakniti, čeprav te ver-

jetno ne bodo hoteli spu-

stiti. Ne oporekaj jim.

Karkoli bodo rekli, jih

poslušaj s pritrjevanjem in

s sprejemanjem na znanje,

vendar nakaži tudi nemoč

takojšne presoje, zaradi

česar kot da nisi zmožen

dokončnega sklepanja, kar

bo najverjetneje tudi res.

Mi smo medtem že pripra-

vili vse za tvojo popolno

seznanitev z našo civiliza-

cijo. Tokrat, ob tej seznani-

tvi boš lahko šele razumel

438

will finally understand the essence of our civili-sation, which is the com-plete opposite of what the Acutins are accusing us of when they talk about robots. It is actually the other way round. Owing to their genetic deformations they have become incom-parably more robotic than us. They are metal cynics without feelings.”I wanted to look over at the Acutins, but then I noti-ced them right next to me. They must have approa-ched us during Honaja’s last words, so silently that I started when I suddenly noticed them by my side. Their countenances were serious, with no cynical smiles. They looked at me without a trace of any superiority. “Everything suggests that your journeys are of con-siderable importance,” began Orhan. “Not only for the Sensins, but also for us, and for the Earthmen in particular. We are figh-

bistvo naše civilizacije, ki

je pravo nasprotje tega,

kar nam Ostrini podti-

kajo v svojem zmerjanju z

roboti. Prav nasprotno je

res. Oni so postali zaradi

genskih deformacij nepri-

merno bolj robotski od

nas. Oni so kovinski ciniki

brez čustev.«

Hotel sem se ozreti proti

Ostrinoma, a sem ju zaznal

tik ob sebi. Prav med

zadnjimi Honajinimi bese-

dami sta morala pristo-

piti, in to tako neopazno,

da sem se zdrznil, ko sem

ju nenadoma začutil. Bila

pa sta povsem zresnjena,

brez ciničnega nasmiha-

nja. Brez sledi kakršnekoli

vzvišenosti sta zrla vame.

»Vse kaže na precejšen

pomen vaših potovanj,« je

začel Orhan. »In to ne le za

Čutine, ampak tudi za nas,

in za Zemljane še posebej.

439

ting for evolution. For the normal progress of evolu-tion, do you understand?” Orhan paused for a few moments to allow this to sink in. “We are a highly developed civilisation, as you already know. The Sensins are also at the same technological level. But I must warn you, they are only at the same tech-nological level. Not at the same level of civilisation, because they are not living beings…”“And you are?” shouted Honaja. “You, emotionless cynics!” “I only ask your attention for a few moments,” inter-rupted Orhan, with the evident intention of diver-ting my attention from Honaja, whom he was already pushing aside as he moved closer to me. But our conversation had alre-ady attracted the attention of both Acutins and Sen-sins. They were all follo-wing it, I saw, in the same moment that I saw Orhan

Bojujemo se za evolucijo.

Za normalen potek evolu-

cije, razumete?« Orhan mi

je pustil nekaj trenutkov za

premislek. »Mi smo visoko

razvita civilizacija, kakor

že veste. Tudi Čutini so

na enaki tehnološki ravni.

Toda opozarjam vas, zgolj

na enaki tehnološki ravni.

Ne na civilizacijski, ker oni

niso živa bitja…«

»A vi pa ste?!« je vzrojila

Honaja, »Vi, ciniki brezču-

tni!«

»Le za nekaj trenutkov

pozornosti bi vas prosil,«

je vpadel Orhan z očitnim

namenom odvrniti mojo

pozornost od Honaje, ki jo

je že kar odrival med pri-

bliževanjem k meni. Toda

naš pogovor je že pritegnil

pozornost tako Ostrinov

kot Čutinov. Vsi so mu že

sledili, kot sem videl tudi

sam, hkrati z Orhanovim

440

pushing Honaja away, for which there appeared to be no good reason at that moment, since there was no need to be so close to me: there was more than enough space for a normal conversation. Furthermore recent events had brought me so close to Honaja that she awakened my protec-tive instincts, at least in situations that were unple-asant for her. I raised my hands and slowly lowered them to indicate my desire to calm things down. Orhan accepted this with a nod of his head, but he immediately went on: “Evolution continues for-ward even with us. And we Acutins, with a civilisation that has grown through the same evolution that you Earthmen are undergoing now, are fighting of for the existence of our own evo-lutionary path. Of the kind that will one day await you Earthmen too. But the Sensins wish to interrupt this evolutionary path of

odrivanjem Honaje, za kar

v tistem trenutku ni bilo

pravega razloga, saj ni bilo

potrebno govoriti s take

bližine, za normalen pogo-

vor pa je bilo prostora več

kot dovolj. Poleg tega so

me zadnji dogodki tako

močno zbližali s Honajo,

da so me ob njej, vsaj ob

zanjo neprijetnih položa-

jih, obhajali še zaščitniški

občutki. Z privzdigova-

njem in počasnim spušča-

njem rok sem nakazal željo

po umiritvi pogovora, kar

je Orhan z namigom glave

tudi sprejel, vendar pa je

takoj nadaljeval: »Evolucija

tudi pri nas poteka naprej.

In mi, Ostrini, s civilizacijo,

zraslo skozi enako evolu-

cijo, kot se skoznjo prebi-

jate Zemljani, se borimo

za obstoj naše evolucijske

poti. Take, kot nekoč čaka

tudi vas Zemljane. Čutini

pa želijo to vašo evolucij-

sko pot presekati in vam

441

yours and impose their own on you, based merely on the partial information packets of a civilisation that, if it has not already been completely destro-yed, is at least partially destroyed. Their genes have been destroyed, altho-ugh what they have are not actually genes but merely computer programs that were used by that destro-yed civilisation.”“That isn’t true!” snapped Honaja. “We do not derive from any decayed civilisa-tion! What shamelessness! Do you even know what you are saying? You are only now arriving at the level of partial understan-ding of highly developed civilisations, the level that we are now it, and your problem is above all your weak ability to compre-hend these facts. Weak because of your cyni-cism and arrogance. If the Earthmen were to see how you look down on them, they would lose even the

vsiliti svojo, temelječo

zgolj na delnih informacij-

skih paketih neke, če že ne

popolnoma, pa vsaj delno

uničene civilizacije. Oni

imajo uničene gene, oni,

čeprav to, kar premorejo,

sploh niso geni, ampak

zgolj neki računalniški

programi, ki jih je upora-

bljala tista uničena civili-

zacija.«

»To ni res!« je vzkliknila

Honaja. »Iz nobene pro-

padle civilizacije ne izha-

jamo! Kakšna nesramnost!

Ali sploh veš, kaj govoriš?

Vi šele zdaj prihajate na

raven delnega razumeva-

nja višje razvitih civilizacij,

na kateri smo sedaj mi, in

vaš problem je predvsem v

vaši šibki zmožnosti doje-

manja teh dejstev. Šibki

zaradi vašega cinizma in

nadutosti. Ko bi Zemljani

videli, kako zviška gledate

nanje, bi jih minilo vsako,

442

smallest desire to coope-rate with you. Not only that, your arrogance would make them realise how unimportant and super-fluous they are for you, and that you see in them merely the unnecessary repetition of a path you have already trodden. If it wasn’t for us, you would have destroyed them long ago.” “That is not true!” seethed Orhan. “We do not destroy less developed civilisati-ons! The reason that we do not approach them more closely lies in our conscious decision not to interfere in the evolution of new civilisations. Inclu-ding human civilisation.”“Yes, you have labelled them as a slightly more developed animal spe-cies, that is something we have been able to establish countless times already,” replied Honaja angrily.“That is not true! Our atti-tude to them is far from being either disdainful or

tudi najmanjše veselje do

sodelovanja z vami. Pa ne le

to. Po vaši nadutosti bi spo-

znali, kako nepomembni

in odvečni so za vas ter da

vidite v njih le neko nepo-

trebno ponavljanje vaše že

prehojene poti. Če ne bi

bilo nas, bi jih vi že zdav-

naj uničili.«

»To pa že ni res!« je zdaj

vzkipel Orhan »Mi ne uni-

čujemo manj razvitih civi-

lizacij! Da se jim bolj ne

približujemo, je vzrok v

naši zavestni opredelitvi

za nevmešavanje v evolu-

cijo novonastalih civiliza-

cij. Tudi človeške.«

»Da, označili ste jih kot

malo bolj razvito žival-

sko vrsto, to smo lahko že

neštetokrat ugotovili,« ga

je besno zavrnila Honaja.

»Ni res! Naš odnos do njih

še zdaleč ni ne zaničljiv ne

omalovažujoč. Mi spoštu-

443

belittling. We respect their evolutionary path. Much about them reminds us of the childhood of our own civilisation. It is true that some of their habits and reactions seem amusing to some of our individuals, but to conclude from this that we have an arrogant and contemptuous atti-tude towards Earthmen is going too far. It simply isn’t fair.”But the Sensin’s only reac-tions to Orhan’s words were jeers and a general shaking of heads.“Always and everywhere you have acted the same way,” said a Sensin stan-ding two or three paces to my right. “You attack and destroy everything that clashes with your interests. And several fac-tors indicate a change in your interests with regard to the planet Earth. You have become fond of this planet. A planet without an unnecessary human

jemo njihovo evolucijsko

pot. Marsikaj pri njih nas

spominja na otroška leta

naše civilizacije. Da pa se

zdijo nekateri njihovi obi-

čaji in odzivi našim posa-

meznikom zabavni, je sicer

res, vendar iz tega sklepati

na našo nadutost in prezir-

ljiv odnos do Zemljanov je

le preveč. To preprosto ni

pošteno.«

Vendar je Orhan med pri-

sotnimi Čutini s svojimi

besedami sprožil le odki-

mavanje s posmehljivimi

pripombami.

»Vedno in povsod ste se

doslej obnašali enako,« se

je s povzdignjenim glasom

vmešal Čutin, dva do tri

koraka desno od mene.

»Napadate in uničujete

vse, kar se križa z vašimi

interesi. In več dejstev

kaže tudi na spremembo

vaših interesov glede pla-

neta Zemlje. Ta planet vam

je postal všeč. Planet brez

nepotrebne človeške civi-

lizacije pa bi bil še bolj po

vašem okusu.«

444

civilisation would be even more to your taste.”“That is a wicked thing to say,” shouted an Acutin on his left. He was about to go on when a loud shou-ting suddenly broke out in the middle of the hall, over by the negotiating table. There seemed to be some sort of disturbance, with people running in every direction. One of the run-ning Acutins stopped next to Orhan. The other Acu-tins in the vicinity moved towards him too and there was a hurried whispered conversation. It had to be something very exciting. The Acutins first disper-sed into separate groups, and then individuals began jumping up and down and waving clenched fists. Their discussions and various interpretations were becoming increa-singly noisy, and then we heard a shout: “The Sensins cannot reach their energy fields!” “What?” shouted some

»Ta je pa zlobna!« je vzrojil

Ostrin z njegove leve ter

že hotel nadaljevati, ko se

je iz osrednjega dela dvo-

rane, iz smeri pogajalske

mize, nenadoma zaslišalo

vse glasnejše govorjenje,

pomešano z vzkliki, in

nastal je nekak nemir s

tekanjem. In eden od teh

hitečih Ostrinov se je

ustavil ob Orhanu, h kate-

remu so se primaknili

še Ostrini naokoli, ter se

spustil z njimi v živahen

šepetajoč pogovor. Vse-

kakor je moralo biti nekaj

zelo razburljivega. Ostrini

so se najprej razšli v posa-

mezne skupine, kmalu

zatem pa so posamezniki

že kar poskakovali ali pa

vsaj občasno zamahnili s

stisnjeno pestjo. In tudi

njihovo govorjenje z raz-

ličnimi razlagami vred je

postajalo vse bolj glasno,

tja do vzklika: »Čutini ne

morejo do svojih energet-

skih polj!«

»Kaj?« je vzkliknilo nekaj

445

of the Acutins who had hitherto remained calm. “What has happened?” “The latest analyses of the situation have confir-med our assumption that the entrance to the Sen-sins’ largest energy fields is blocked. This is now a fact. All of their increased traffic to and from Earth was a consequence of this blockage.” Orhan was all smiles. He was positively glowing with happiness. Then he started waving his arms. Yes, this was a success for them. This was the news they had been waiting for. This in particular. “Their key has stuck in the lock!” he shouted facetio-usly.“Participants in the nego-tiations: your attention please!” came the voice of the neutral computerised host of the negotiations. “We are interrupting the negotiations until further notice owing to the altered conditions.”

dotlej še mirnih Ostrinov.

»Kaj se je zgodilo?«

»Najnovejše analize stanja

so potrdile domneve o

blokiranem vhodu na

največja energetska polja

Čutinov. To je zdaj dej-

stvo. Ves njihov pove-

čan promet z Zemljo je

posledica teh blokad.«

Na Orhanu se je vse sme-

jalo, kar zažarel je od vese-

lja. Potem je še zamahnil

z roko. Da, to je bil zanje

uspeh. To je bila želena

novica. Taka, in še posebej

ta. »Ključavnica se jim je

zataknila!« je nato vzkliknil

v humornem navdihu.

»Vse udeležence pogajanj

naprošamo za trenutek

pozornosti!« se je oglasil

nevtralni računalniški

gostitelj pogajalskega sre-

čanja. »Do nadaljnjega pre-

kinjamo pogajanja zaradi

spremenjenih razmer.«

446

“Quickly!” I heard Honaja’s voice. “This means war. The Acutins will attack. Everything is ready. They were only waiting for confirmation from their analysis centre. According to their calculations their current advantage will enable them victory. They are going to start the war. If they haven’t already started it.”“And us?” I looked at her anxiously. “We will continue our mis-sion to the end. We Sen-sins are ready too.” Honaja smiled at me despite the pallor of her face. “Trust us! Believe me! Let’s go!”Outside the hall, on a great platform beneath a hundred-metre-high arch, which together with the surrounding structures created the impression of a great city square, a traf-fic jam had formed, and there was a dense throng of flying craft. They were landing and taking off, singly or in swarms of

»Hitro!« sem zaslišal Hona-

jin glas. »To pomeni vojno.

Ostrini bodo napadli. Vse

imajo pripravljeno. Le na

potrditev svojega anali-

zatorskega centra so še

čakali. Po njihovih izraču-

nih jim trenutna prednost

omogoča zmago. Začeli

bodo z vojno. Če je že niso

začeli.«

»In mi?« Gledal sem jo z

zadržanim dihom.

»Mi bomo šli z našo misijo

do konca. Tudi Čutini smo

se pripravili.« Honaja se

mi je nasmehnila kljub

bledici na svojem obrazu.

»Raje zaupaj nam! Verjemi

mi! Greva!«

Zunaj dvorane, na veliki

ploščadi pod več sto

metrov visokim obokom,

ki je z okoliškimi zgrad-

bami dajala vtis velikega

mestnega trga, je nastal

gost promet s pravo gnečo

letečih plovil. Pristajala so

in vzletavala, posamič in

447

varying size. They sto-pped by the running Sen-sins and Acutins and took off again as soon as they had climbed aboard. Eve-rything was happening very quickly. I was wal-king rapidly in a small group of Sensins, most of them from our crew, with Honaja by my side. “There!” She was pointing towards a free section of the platform. We immedi-ately turned in that direc-tion, walking faster and eventually breaking into a run, like everyone around us. Then I caught sight of several hundred craft taking off in formation. I watched them rise up into the air and saw how they turned sharply and headed towards the exit. “Look!” I called to Honaja, who was already pointing at the craft arriving behind them. “Those are ours!” We immediately stopped running. The craft reached us in a moment and scree-ched to a halt like sports

tudi v manjših ali večjih

jatah, se ustavljala ob teka-

jočih Čutnih in Ostrinih

ter po njihovem vstopanju

vanje takoj spet odletela.

Vse je potekalo zelo hitro.

S pospešenim korakom

sem stopal v manjši sku-

pini Čutinov, večinoma

iz naše posadke, tik ob

Honaji. »Tja!« je z vzklikom

pokazala na prosti del plo-

ščadi, kamor smo se usme-

rili z vse hitrejšimi koraki,

dokler nismo prešli že kar

v tek, kakor vsi okoli nas.

Tedaj sem s pogledom ujel

vzlet več sto plovil v jati

ter nato sledil njihovemu

letu v višino in kako so se

po ostrem zavoju usmerili

proti izhodu.

»Glej!« sem zaklical Honaji,

ki pa mi je že z roko kazala

plovila, prihajajoča za

njimi. »To so naši!«

Takoj smo obstali, plovila

so nas v trenutku dohitela

ter se ustavila s hitrostjo

športnih avtomobilov na

448

cars on Earth. The sides nearest to us opened to enable us to jump in. The whole operation was over in a matter of moments, and like the previous wave we were now flying in a swarm consisting of some hundreds of craft. We turned steeply towards the exit and set off towards our mothership from the ship-carrier class. Brief messages in our holo-display gave us the most urgent information during the flight. Everything was in turmoil. Not only us. At least judging from the bul-letins on the holo-display, which showed the return of our negotiating team to the CONQUEROR 949 and then the empty “Peace Square”, which only moments ago had been full of bustling acti-vity, in front of the great hall with the negotiating table, at which no-one was any longer sitting. Then the holo-display showed a blinding explosion in that

Zemlji, se na naši strani

razprla za prost vstop s

skokom vanje, vse je bilo

opravljeno v nekaj trenut-

kih, in kakor prejšnji vzlet

v jati smo tudi mi zdaj pole-

teli z nekaj sto plovili v zao-

kroženem letu k izhodu in

proti naši matični ladji iz

razreda ladjenosilk.

Kratka sporočila v našem

holiju so nam med potjo

dajala najnujnejše informa-

cije. Vse je bilo v velikem

gibanju. Ne samo mi. Vsaj

po sporočilih v holiju, ki

so nam kazala vrnitev naše

pogajalske skupine na

našo ladjenosilko OSVAJA-

LEC 949 in nato še prazen,

pred kratkim prenapol-

njen »Trgu miru« pred

veliko dvorano s pogajal-

skim omizjem, za katerim

ni bilo več nikogar. Zatem

pa se je v holiju prikazala

v tistem delu še bleščeča

eksplozija s kratkim spo-

449

sector with a brief mes-sage saying that this peace station had been blown up. I looked at Honaja: “Did the Acutins blow it up?”“Yes... And that means war. The war has star-ted…”“War... It’s war..” repea-ted the other Sensins, one after the other. “All forces from both sides will now engage.” Honaja gripped my arm more tightly, and I squeezed her wrist in reply. Nobody spoke, but then at last the silence was broken by a sudden cry: “Look! Our fleets are coming!”A magnificent scene reve-aled itself to us through the great window of the command deck. Enormous spaceships were slowly emerging from the grey clouds piled up on our left. Along the whole belt, as far as the eye could see, their front sections were already out of the clouds, clearly visible, and behind

ročilom o razstrelitvi te

vesoljske mirovne postaje.

Pogledal sem Honajo: »Ali

so jo razstrelili Ostrini?«

»Da… In to pomeni vojno.

Začela se je vojna…«

»Vojna… Vojna je…« so pol-

glasno ponavljali drug za

drugim.

»Vse sile, z obeh strani,

se bodo zdaj spopadle.«

Honaja se je močneje opri-

jela moje roke, jaz pa sem ji

v odgovor stisnil zapestje.

Nato so vsi obstali v tišini.

Vse dokler jih ni prekinil

nenaden vzklik: »Glejte!

Naša ladjevja prihajajo!«

Kar skozi veliko okno

poveljniškega prostora se

nam je kazal veličasten

prizor. Iz sivih oblakov,

nakopičenih na naši levi

strani, so počasi prihajale

ogromne vesoljske ladje.

Po vsem pasu, do koder

nam je segal pogled, so

bili njihovi prednji deli

že zunaj oblakov, razkriti,

lepo vidni, za njimi pa še

450

them we could see more and more of their hulls. There was a moment of silence filled with mute enthusiasm. We knew that the other side would also have such fleets in readi-ness. But the scene was magnificent. “Look at the holo-display!” someone shouted. We all turned. From the oppo-site side, right over by the asteroid belt, the Acutins’ ships were heading in our direction. Once again the air was filled with shouts and conjectures about our position. “They can still cut us off!” said a Sensin not far away on my right. “We are in range of their cannon. They are going to attack us!” “No they’re not,” came a more resolute voice from somewhere behind me. Silence fell once again. Now we were all watching a simulation of the pro-bable outcome of events. Everything indicated that

vse večji deli trupov. Nastal

je trenutek tišine z nemim

navdušenjem. Seveda

je imela tudi naspro-

tna stran taka ladjevja

v pripravljenosti. Toda

prizor je bil veličasten.

»Glejte v holi!« je priletel

vzklik. Vso so mu sledili.

Z nasprotne strani, tik

ob asteroidnem pasu, so

drvela letala Ostrinov. Spet

je nastal šum z vzkliki in

ugibanjem glede nastalega

položaja. »

Še pot nam lahko prese-

kajo!« se je oglasil Čutin

nedaleč stran, na moji

desni. »Na dosegu njihovih

topov smo. Napadli nas

bodo!«

»Ne bodo,« ga je takoj

zavrnil bolj odločen glas

iz ozadja. Spet je nastala

tišina. Zdaj smo vsi zrli v

simulacijski prikaz verje-

tnega razpleta dogajanja.

Res je vse kazalo na naš

451

we would be able to get away in time. “We will evade them,” said a Sensin by the holo-display. “But then what? They will attack our ship-carrier and even before we manage to land we will find ourselves in the middle of a battle.” “We have to embark on the opposite side to the attack,” said the Sensin by the holo-display, “or they will shoot us down. The best thing will be to head for the rear doors.” This is in fact what we did. Events soon confirmed our predictions. Energy bolts began to strike the front sections of our great ship-carrier as soon as we had landed in our little STORMBIRD, with such force that the floor bene-ath our feet shook seve-ral times in succession. The question that was now raised was whether it made sense to flee into the interior of the ship-carrier, away from our STORMBIRD, given that

pravočasen umik. »Izma-

knili se bomo,« je v umir-

jenem razmišljanju povzel

Čutin ob holiju. »Toda kaj

bo potem? Napadli bodo

našo ladjenosilko in še

preden nam bo uspelo pri-

stati na njej, se bomo znašli

sredi bitke.«

»Vstopiti moramo s strani,

nasprotne od napada,« se

je oglasil Čutin ob holiju,

»sicer nas bodo sestrelili.

Najbolje bo na zadnjih

vhodih.«

Tako smo tudi storili.

Dogodki so kmalu potr-

dili naša predvidevanja. V

sprednje dele naše velike

ladjenosilke so začeli zade-

vati energetski izstrelki že

takoj po našem pristanku

z malim VIHARNIKOM,

in to s silo, ki nam je kar

nekajkrat zapovrstjo stre-

sla tla pod nogami. Zasta-

vilo pa se je vprašanje o

smiselnosti bega v notra-

njost ladjenosilke, stran

od našega VIHARNIKA,

452

in the case of the ship-ca-rrier breaking down into its component parts we would have to return to the STORMBIRD which, though smaller, was fast and agile. But the landing area and hangars were immediately below the outer part of the ship-car-rier, and therefore vulnera-ble in the case of a succes-sion of hits by energy bombs in that section. The interior was in any case better protected because of the enormous dimensi-ons of the ship-carrier. Some members of the crew expressed their mis-givings, while others insisted that despite eve-rything we should stay aboard the STORMBIRD, ready to take off imme-diately and abandon the ship-carrier. In the end the recommendation of headquarters prevailed. Apparently this was the better option for us. But even the choice of words in the communication

kajti ob morebitnem raz-

padu ladjenosilke na njene

sestavne dele se bo treba

vrniti na manjšega, vendar

hitrega in okretnega

VIHARNIKA. Toda prista-

jališče s hangarji je bilo tik

pod zunanjim delom lad-

jenosilke in zato ranljivo v

primeru zaporednih zadet-

kov energetskih bomb v

tisti predel, tako da je bila

notranjost vseeno bolje

zaščitena zaradi izjemno

velikih dimenzij ladjeno-

silke.

Tudi take pomisleke so

izrazili posamezniki, drugi

pa so vseeno vztrajali, naj

kljub vsemu ostanemo na

VIHARNIKU, pripravljeni

na hitri vzlet iz hangarja in

ladjenosilke. Vendar je pre-

vladalo priporočilo povelj-

stva. Vseeno naj bi bilo tako

bolje za nas. Pri tem pa je

bila že izbira besed povelj-

stva precej drugačna od

453

from headquarters was different from usual. Our protection was apparently one of their most impor-tant concerns. As though they were well aware of the importance of our mis-sion, they assured us that they would do everything necessary for us. And yet the ship-carrier did not immediately retreat into the background and hide in the clouds behind the other fleet that was on its way. It continued to brave the attack without retrea-ting. There had to be some other factor involved. But what? As soon as we had reached the quarters assigned to us, we immediately gathered round the large holo-dis-play, which showed a wide area of space around us with all the asteroid belts and the distribution of our fleets and those of the Acutins. Bombardments were already taking place throughout the border areas far into space, and

običajnih. Naša zaščita naj

bi bila za poveljstvo med

najpomembnejšimi nalo-

gami. Kot da jim je dobro

znan pomen naše misije,

so nam zagotovili, da bodo

za nas storili vse potrebno.

Pa vendar se ladjenosilka

ni takoj umaknila v zaledje

ter se skrila v oblake za

našim ostalim prihajajo-

čim ladjevjem. Vztrajno je

kljubovala napadu, ne da

bi se umaknila. Še nekaj

je torej moralo biti vmes.

Ampak kaj?

Po prihodu v prostore,

določene za nas, smo se

takoj vsi zbrali ob velikem

holiju, ki je prikazoval obši-

ren del vesolja okoli nas z

vsemi asteroidnimi pasovi

in razporeditvami tako

naših kot ostrinovskih lad-

jevij. Obstreljevanja so že

potekala po vseh mejnih

področjih tja daleč v veso-

lje in znotraj celotnega

454

within the whole of the asteroid belt. But one area nevertheless stood out in terms of both the density of the bombardment and the violence of the explo-sions. This was the area around that section of the asteroid belt where there was the greatest concen-tration of Sensins. A kind of pincer attack appeared to be taking place aga-inst the security shields fortified by bunkers that completely surrounded the whole of that sector, giving the impression of a fortress protected on all sides. Yes, this was where the Acutins were directing their most powerful ship-carriers, or even the majo-rity of them. “Why do they want this part of the asteroid belt?” I asked after a long, close observation. The two Sen-sins next to me looked at each other but they didn’t reply. Not immediately, at least. But then, when the sense of my question

asteroidnega pasu. Del pa

je vseeno izstopal tako po

gostoti obstreljevanja kot

po silovitosti eksplozij. To

je bilo prav okoli tistega

dela asteroidnega pasu,

kjer je bilo največje obmo-

čje Čutinov.

Zdaj se je vse skupaj kazalo

v nekakšnem obkolitve-

nem napadu na varnostne

plošče z bunkerji, ki so

v celoti obdajali ves tisti

predel, prikazan kot z vseh

strani zavarovana trdnjava.

Da, najmočnejše, če že ne

večino svojih ladjenosilk

so Ostrini usmerili prav

tja.

»Zakaj želijo ta del asteroi-

dnega pasu?« sem vprašal

po daljšem zavzetem opa-

zovanju. Čutina ob meni

sta se spogledala. Toda

odgovorila nista. Vsaj ne

takoj. Potem pa, ko je smi-

selnost mojega vprašanja

455

became increasingly appa-rent, the Sensin closer to me started talking while staring thoughtfully at the holo-display: “Incidents like this have been taking place in rapid succession recently. It is difficult to predict the outcome of engagements in individual areas.”I nodded. That was true. But… I had actually asked something else, and this wasn’t an answer to my question.The increasingly power-ful bombardment direc-ted at our ship-carrier, despite the defensive fire from all our armament, had already weakened or even pierced the armoured shields of our hull. Then all of a sudden the bom-bardment stopped. This seemed very strange. At least to me. Then, through the window, I caught sight of the movement of enor-mous spaceships immedi-ately above us and further ahead. The ships from

postajala že kar moteča, je

bližnji Čutin spregovoril

med zamišljenim zrenjem

v holi: »Prehitro se vrstijo

ti dogodki v zadnjem času.

Pa tudi izide spopadov na

posameznih področjih je

težko napovedati.«

Prikimal sem. To je bilo

res. Toda... Vprašal sem

pravzaprav nekaj drugega,

to pa ni bil odgovor na

moje vprašanje…

Vse močnejše obstrelje-

vanje naše ladjenosilke je

kljub obrambnemu ognju

iz vseh naših orožij že tanj-

šalo ali celo prebijalo okle-

pne ščite njenega trupa.

Nenadoma pa je obstrelje-

vanje prenehalo; to je bilo

seveda čudno. Vsaj zame.

Skozi okno, tik nad nami in

tudi dalje naprej, sem tedaj

nenadoma zagledal premi-

kanje ogromnih trupov

naših vesoljskih ladij. Tiste

456

the clouds had overtaken us and were drawing the enemy’s fire. The enemy’s entire firepower was now directed at them. But this did not stop them. There were too many of them. Almost the whole fleet, or at least the large part of it from the dense dark clouds, must have been taking part in the attack. They were heading straight for the worst of the firing. Yes, they were breaking through towards the encir-cled section of the asteroid belt. They were coming to help. They broke through the surrounding ring, with the result that the Acu-tins were forced to retreat along the whole line of the attacking Sensin fleet. This was a rapid and unexpec-ted transformation of the balance of forces on the battlefield; now the Sen-sins had taken the initia-tive along the whole line. “It’s going to work!” shou-ted a Sensin by the holo-display, which everyone

iz oblakov so nas prehite-

vale in že pritegnile nase

sovražno obstreljevanje.

Vsa moč nasprotnega

ognja se je zdaj usmerjala

nanje. Toda to jih ni usta-

vilo. Bilo jih je preveč.

Skoraj vse ladjevje, ali vsaj

njegov velik del iz gostih

temnih oblakov, je moralo

sodelovati v napadu. Prodi-

rali so naravnost proti naj-

hujšemu obstreljevanju.

Da, prebijali so se proti

obkoljenemu delu asteroi-

dnega pasu. Prihajali so na

pomoč. Razbijali so obkoli-

tveni obroč, tako da so se

bili Ostrini prisiljeni umi-

kati po vsej smeri napada-

jočega ladjevja Čutinov.

To je bil hiter in zame

nepričakovan preobrat

razmerja sil na bojišču; zdaj

so Čutini dobili pobudo na

vsej črti.

»Uspelo bo!« je vzkliknil

Čutin ob holiju, v katerega

457

was now staring at. But the view in the display was by no means encouraging. I observed the reactions of the Sensins: they were merely smiling and nod-ding in satisfaction.“Why such satisfaction?” I wondered, since as well as the breakthrough by our fleet, the display showed the approach of an equally large Acutin fleet. Altho-ugh it was slightly further away, an engagement seemed inevitable. At least that’s how it seemed to me. I pointed at the enemy ships. “Before we break their encircling rings, they will be here,” I said to Bene-sens. “Isn’t this rejoicing a little premature?” I asked, referring to the reactions of the other Sensins. Benesens looked at me with a gleam in his eyes, and then said in a serious voice: “Look, we know how you Earthmen think.

so vsi napeto zrli. Tudi jaz.

Pogled na holijev prikaz

pa ni bil niti malo razve-

seljiv. Pogledal sem odzive

Čutinov, toda ti so se samo

smehljali in zadovoljno

prikimavali.

»Zakaj pa tako zadovolj-

stvo?« sem vprašal. V pri-

kazu se je ob prodiranju

našega ladjevja kazalo

tudi približevanje enako

velikega ladjevja Ostrinov,

sicer nekoliko bolj stran,

vendar pa se je spopad z

njimi zdel neizbežen. Vsaj

videti je bilo tako. Z roko

sem pokazal nanje.

»Še preden bomo raz-

bili njihove obkolitvene

obroče, bodo že tukaj,«

sem dejal Dobročutu z

namigom glede zame nera-

zumljivih odzivov Čutinov.

»Ali ni to vaše veselje malo

prezgodnje?«

Dobročut pa me je najprej

pogledal z živahnejšim

leskom v očeh, nato pa

ponovno zresnjen dejal:

»Glejte, poznamo način

razmišljanja Zemljanov.

458

And it isn’t difficult for us to explain the peculiarities of our life. We also have sufficient experience of Earthmen. Experiences of all kinds. But experience teaches us that Earthmen must first understand eve-rything. When, in the past, we allowed some of your fellow Earthmen to live among us and adapt to our way of life, they very quic-kly accepted our values too. Our values became very agreeable to them. They were enthusiastic. It was not necessary to oblige them to do anything. They accepted everything them-selves. And after that none of them ever complained about anything. But when we merely described our civilisation to some individual Earthmen, in words, in conversation, they reacted very cauti-ously. Here…” Benesens pointed towards the calm section of the asteroid belt around which the fiercest

In ni nam težko razla-

gati posebnosti iz našega

življenja. Tudi dovolj izku-

šenj imamo z Zemljani.

Vseh vrst izkušenj. Toda

Zemljani morajo najprej

vse podoživeti, nas učijo

izkušnje. Ko smo neka-

terim vašim posamezni-

kom omogočili življenje

med nami in prilagoditev

našemu načinu življenja,

so zelo hitro sprejemali

tudi naše vrednote. Prav

všeč so jim postale. Navdu-

šeni so bili. K ničemur jih

ni bilo treba siliti. Kar sami

so vse sprejemali. In nihče

od njih se potlej ni nad

ničemer pritoževal. Ko pa

smo vašim posameznim

Zemljanom le opisali našo

civilizacijo, z besedami, v

pogovoru, so se vedli zelo

zadržano. Tukaj,«

Dobročut je pokazal proti

mirnemu delu asteroi-

dnega pasu, okoli katerega

so potekale najhujše bitke,

459

battles were raging: “Here is where we keep what we call purgatory.”“Purgatory?” I repeated the Sensin’s last word.“Yes, this peculiarity of our civilisation. And as far as I know, we have never discussed it with Earthmen. And so the reac-tion of Earthmen to such activity on the part of our civilisation is still some-thing of an unknown.”I didn’t know what I was supposed to think about all of this. I merely repe-ated part of his words: “Such activity…” Then, falteringly, I added: “You haven’t talked about this with any Earthman…” I frowned and looked clo-sely at Benesens. “What did you talk about with them? I mean…?” The Sensin had gues-sed my doubts. “Oh, we showed them many things. We accepted them among us. They lived among us,

»tukaj imamo shranjeno

to, kar imenujemo Vice.«

»Vice?« sem ponovil zadnjo

Čutinovo besedo.

»Da, to je posebnost naše

civilizacije. In kolikor

vem, o njej še nismo govo-

rili z Zemljani. Tako da je

za nas tudi odziv Zemlja-

nov na tovrstno delovanje

naše civilizacije še precej

neznan.«

Nisem vedel, kaj naj si

mislim o vsem tem. Le

ponovil sem del Čutinovih

besed: »Tovrstno delova-

nje. . .« Potem pa sem med

nekakšnim zatikanjem

v razmišljanju še dodal,

skoraj bolj zase: »O tem še

niste govorili z nobenim

Zemljanom…« Nagubal

sem čel in se zastrmel v

Dobročuta. »O čem pa ste

govorili z njimi? Mislim. .

.?«

Čutin je uganil moje

dvome. »O, kar precej smo

jim pokazali. Sprejeli smo

jih medse. Lep čas so živeli

460

we made their acquain-tance. Many Earthmen found good friends among us. We discussed both our common inclinations and our possible differences.”“What do you mean ‘pos-sible differences’? I have been among you for quite some time but I still have the feeling that I don’t know you very well. Well, I sometimes have that fee-ling.”We were interrupted by an announcement instruc-ting the crew to prepare to receive cargo from the asteroid belt:”Warning for rescue teams. Some aste-roids from the purgatory sector have been dama-ged.”I turned to Benesens: “What does this mean?” “I don’t know.” Benesens looked at me. “You alre-ady have a job to do. A very important job to do. So stay here! The rescue teams will deal with this. Part of our high techno-

med nami, poznanstva

smo navezali z njimi, mar-

sikateri Zemljan je našel

dobre prijatelje med nami.

Pogovarjali smo se tako o

naših skupnih nagnjenjih

kot o morebitnih razhaja-

njih.«

»Kako to mislite- o more-

bitnih razhajanjih? Že

kar nekaj časa sem med

vami, pa imam še vedno

občutek, da vas bolj slabo

poznam. No, vsaj občasno

imam tak občutek.«

Tedaj pa naju je prekinilo

obvestilo, naj se posadka

pripravi za prevzem tovora

iz asteroidnega pasu.

»Opozorilo reševalnim

skupinam. Nekateri astero-

idi iz predela Vic so poško-

dovani.«

Obrnil sem se k Dobro-

čutu: »Kaj to pomeni?«

»Ne vem.« Dobročut se je

zazrl vame. »Vi že imate

zadolžitev, pomembno,

zelo pomembno zadolži-

tev. Zato ostanite tu! Bodo

že reševalne skupine opra-

vile to delo. Gotovo je bil

461

logy has probably been damaged during the Acu-tins’ bombardment. I can hardly imagine the sort of complications can arise during the reception and reassembly of such a com-plex system as purgatory.”In the holo-display we could see the first clashes of our ship-carriers with the Acutin ships from the outer part of their encir-cling ring. The explosi-ons of energy bombs with their blinding flashes at first covered merely the thinner outer part of the ring, but as the Sensin forces advanced the bom-bardment moved ever deeper and soon covered the whole hemisphere. Their ship-carriers were continuing their advance. That was clear. But just as the total destruction of the Acutins’ attacking ring seemed imminent, they managed to regroup their ships on the interior. This

del naše vrhunske tehnike

poškodovan med tem

ostrinovskim obstreljeva-

njem. Kakšni zapleti lahko

nastanejo ob prevzemu

in ponovnem sestavljanju

tako kompleksnega sis-

tema, kot so Vice, si pa bolj

težko predstavljam.«

V holiju smo lahko videli

prve spopade naših lad-

jenosilk z zunanjimi lad-

jenosilkami Ostrinov iz

njihovega obkolitvenega

obroča. Eksplozije ener-

getskih bomb so s svojimi

silovitimi slepečimi bliski

prekrile najprej le redkejši

zunanji del obkolitvenega

obroča, toda ob napredo-

vanju sil Čutinov je obstre-

ljevanje prehajalo vse

globlje in kmalu prek vse

poloble. Njihove ladjeno-

silke so prodirale nezadr-

žno. To je bilo videti dovolj

očitno. Toda ko je že kazalo

na popolno razbitje napa-

dalnega obroča Ostrinov,

jim je uspelo v notranjo-

sti ponovno urediti svoje

vrste ladjevij. Ladjenosilke

462

did not cause the sligh-test hesitation on the part of the Sensins’ ship-car-riers. They immediately attacked them along the whole length of their line and with equally destruc-tive force, shattering and destroying them bit by bit, so that the Acutins were forced to retreat from this inexorable attack. And yet the Sensins were still not able to achieve a panicked rout with the collapse of the orderly functioning of the Acutins’ forces. The Acutins defended them-selves with all available firepower from all their groups of ships and quic-kly established another inner protective shell of fire, although it was not strong enough to halt the Sensins’ ship-carriers.The enthusiasm around the holo-display began to wane as the new distri-bution of forces became apparent. As I looked away from the display in order to observe the reac-

Čutinov pa se zaradi tega

niso niti najmanj obirale.

Takoj so udarile po njih, po

vsej širini in z enako uni-

čujočo silo, ter jih posto-

poma trgale in uničevale,

tako da so se bili Ostrini

prisiljeni umikati pred

tem nevzdržnim napadom.

Vendar paničnega bega z

razpadom urejenega delo-

vanja sil Ostrinov Čutini v

svojem rušilnem napadu

še niso mogli doseči.

Ostrini so se branili z vsem

delujočim ognjem iz vseh

skupin svojih ladij ter na

hitro vzpostavljali še eno

notranjo zaščitno ognjeno

lupino, čeprav ne dovolj

močno, da bi zaustavila

ladjenosilke Čutinov.

Navdušenje ob holiju se

je ob novem prikazu raz-

poreditev sil začelo pole-

gati. Med vse pogostejšim

odmikanjem pogleda s

holija, da bi videl odzive

463

tions of the Sensins, I rea-lised that their suddenly subdued expressions were a confirmation of my fears about the rapid arrival of the Acutin ship-carriers in this vast battlefield. As we could see, the Acutins had managed to gain enough time for their ship-carriers to reach us. And now an engagement would com-mence between the two fleets before the Sensins had managed to transfer all that… I searched for a word to describe that thing that the Sensins called “purgatory”, something that was probably some kind of high technology… These two concepts – pur-gatory and high techno-logy – simply didn’t go together. I had too little information about all of this, of course. But I could comprehend its impor-tance for the Sensins: jud-ging from the size of the forces sent to rescue us, it must have been something vital to them. But the Acu-

Čutinov, mi je zastajal dih.

Njihova nenadna zadrža-

nost je potrjevala mojo

bojazen zaradi prehitrega

prihoda ladjenosilk Ostri-

nov na ta bojna prostran-

stva. Ostrinom je, kot je

bilo videti, uspelo prido-

biti dovolj časa za prihod

njihovih ladjenosilk. In

zdaj se bo vnel spopad

med obema flotama, še

preden bo Čutinom uspelo

prenesti vse to… Iskal sem

besedo, s katero bi ozna-

čil tisto njihovo zadevo, ki

ji Čutini pravijo Vice, da,

to bo verjetno neke vrste

vrhunska tehnologija… Ta

dva pojma - Vice in vrhun-

ska tehnologija - mi nika-

kor nista šla skupaj. Pre-

malo informacij sem imel

o vsem tem, seveda. Lahko

pa sem iz vsega skupaj

razbral pomen te zadeve

za Čutine, ki so ji, sodeč

po velikosti oboroženih

sil, vrženih v naše reše-

vanje, morali pripisovati

že kar usodnost. Pa tudi

464

tins were sending equally powerful forces, which probably indicated their commitment to capturing or destroying this thing. That was it. This thing. The word “thing” was perhaps the most suitable because of its indefinite-ness. Since in any case it wasn’t nothing. Something definite had already been said. Something impor-tant, yes, although I was unable to formulate any clear picture on this basis. They were fighting over this thing, and in deadly earnest. But the ship-car-rier that was carrying me and the whole crew of our mission had been kept in the rear. They had not sent it into the fray. They must be holding it for transport purposes. Was that it?The holo-display had meanwhile begun to show the first long-range bom-bardments of the ship-ca-rriers from both sides. I slowly scanned the whole of the display: the Sensins

Ostrini so pognali enako

močne sile, kar najbrž

kaže na njihovo zavzetost

za prevzem ali uničenje te

zadeve. Tako. Te zadeve.

Beseda »zadeva« je bila

res morda najprimernejša

zaradi svoje nedoločeno-

sti. Kajti nič to vsekakor

ni bilo. Nekaj določenega

je že bilo povedano. Nekaj

pomembnega, da, četudi

si na podlagi tega še nisem

mogel izoblikovati nobe-

nih pravih predstav o

vsem skupaj. Spopadli pa

so se zaradi te zadeve, in to

prekleto zares. No, da, lad-

jenosilko, na kateri sem se

nahajal z vso posadko naše

misije, so Čutini le zadržali

v ozadju. Niso je poslali v

pravi bojni metež. Le za

prevoz naj bi jo imeli. Hm?

V holiju se je medtem že

začelo kazati prvo daljin-

sko obstreljevanje lad-

jenosilk z obeh strani. S

pogledom sem prešel prek

celotnega prikaza v holiju:

pravzaprav so Čutini res

465

really had thrown the majo-rity of their ship-carriers into battle. Some of them were heading towards the interior of this part of the asteroid belt. Yes, if they could make it… The ship-carriers were supposed to remove the whole of that “thing” from the thick of the fighting and transport it away. That is what they were going to do. At least that was the intention, but the Acutins had already guessed or predicted this and were now trying to prevent it. With all their forces. Whatever happe-ned, nothing indicated a rapid end to this conflict.

vrgli v boj večino svojih

ladjenosilk, nekaj se jih je

usmerilo v notranjost tega

dela asteroidnega pasu.

Da, če jim bo uspelo…

Ladjenosilke naj bi vso to

zadevo umaknile iz boj-

nega meteža in prenesle

stran. Tako bodo naredili.

Vsaj nameravajo nekaj

takega, to pa so Ostrini že

uganili ali predvideli in

sedaj to skušajo preprečiti.

Z vsemi silami. Kakorkoli,

nič ni kazalo na hiter izid

tega spopada.

466

Chapter XIII

Still half asleep, I turned over and slightly opened my eyes. Vivid hologram images of the battle of the ship-carriers flashed through my brain. I had followed the battle for a long time together with the Sensins. Terrible ener-gies were released during the engagement. But the battle dragged on into long hours of indecisive positional warfare, until at last my eyelids began to droop. ‘This is going to last a good while yet,’ Benesens had said. ‘And whatever happens, we’re going to need our wits about us. We’re going to have to act, Peter.’ So I went off to get some sleep, as did many of the Sen-sins... Now I looked at my

XIII. poglavje

Še napol v spanju sem

obrnil z ene strani na

drugo in narahlo odprl

oči, a še preden se mi je

uspelo prav pretegniti,

so mi skozi spomin prele-

teli živi holijevski prikazi

bitke ladjenosilk. Dolgo

sem jo spremljal skupaj s

Čutini. Strahotne energije

so se sproščale ob tem

spopadu. Toda ves ta boj

se je zavlekel v dolge ure

pozicijskega bojevanja

z neodločenim izidom,

vse dokler se mi veke

niso začele zapirati. »To

bo še kar takole trajalo,«

mi je tedaj dejal Dobro-

čut. »Poleg tega, ne glede,

kako se bo to vse skupaj

obrnilo, bomo mi morali

biti zelo prisebni. Ukre-

pati bomo morali, Peter.«

Potem sem z večjo sku-

pino Čutinov odšel spat…

Zdaj sem pogledal na uro,

467

watch and realised with surprise that I had slept for eight whole hours. Why hadn’t anyone woken me up? No need, I suppose. But a lot must have happe-ned in that time. I got up and went over to the holo-display. I had to see what was happening.Once again, most of our crew was gathered there. ‘How’s it looking?’ I asked after staring at the holo-di-splay for a few moments.‘Not too good,’ replied Benesens.‘What’s up?’‘Our ships are falling back.’‘Oh no!’ I looked at the display again: the advance of the Acutin ship-carriers was clearly visible. Then I looked over towards the ships carrying our spe-cial cargo. The Acutins were already right up with them. At any moment they would be alongside. I poin-ted towards the section of the holo-display where these ship-carriers were. ‘Are they retreating?’

hudirja, kar osem ur sem

spal, sem moral ugotoviti.

Zakaj me ni nihče zbudil?

Že ni bilo potrebno. Toda

v tem času se je moralo

marsikaj zgoditi. Takoj

sem se vstal in stopil do

holija. Moral sem videti,

kaj se dogaja.

Ob holiju je bila spet

zbrana večina naše

posadke. »Kako kaže?« sem

vprašal po nekaj trenutkih

strmenja v holijev prikaz.

»Ne preveč dobro,« mi je

odgovoril Dobročut.

»Kako?«

»Naši se umikajo.«

»Hudiča!« Iz prikaza sem

lahko razbral napredova-

nje ladjenosilk Ostrinov.

Pogledal sem še proti lad-

jenosilkam za prevoz tež-

kega posebnega tovora.

Že povsem ob njih so bili.

Vsak čas bodo vštric naše

ladjenosilke. S prstom sem

pokazal proti predelu holi-

jevega prikaza s temi lad-

jenosilkami. »Ali se umi-

kajo?«

468

‘Yes, but they still mana-ged to get all the cargo on board,’ he said, smiling slyly and flashing a glance at me.So they had done it – or rather we had done it. Loo-king round, I could see the same mixture of anxiou-sness and satisfaction on the faces of the other Sen-sins. I concentrated on the holo-display, to try and under-stand what was going to happen next. Our forces were drawing back. I could already see that. What this actually meant, though, was another matter. Surely not the outcome of the war?‘They will soon be here.’ Benesens woke me from my musings. ‘Then we will fall back towards our energy fields, shiel-ded by our ship-carriers.’ Benesens flashed another glance at me as he fol-lowed the images on the holo-display.

»Da, vendar jim je še uspelo

naložiti ves tovor,« se je

prebrisano nasmehnil in

me ošinil s pogledom.

To jim je torej uspelo ozi-

roma nam je uspelo. Tudi

na drugih obrazih sta se

izmenično kazala zaskr-

bljenost in zadovoljstvo.

Zatopil sem se v holi-

jev prikaz, da bi razbral

nadaljnji potek dogajanja,

in ugotovil sem umikanje

naših sil. To sem že lahko

razbral. Kaj pa je to prav-

zaprav pomenilo, je bilo

že drugo vprašanje. Najbrž

ne že izid vojne?

»Kmalu bodo tukaj,« me je

iz razmišljanja predramil

Dobročut, »potem pa se

bomo ob zaščiti naših lad-

jenosilk umaknili k našim

energetskim poljem.«

Dobročut me je spet ošinil

s pogledom, medtem ko je

spremljal prikaz v holiju.

469

‘We still have that cros-sing to come, eh Peter?‘Oh, yes, of course.’ With all that was going on I had almost forgotten about the crossing, or rather about the closed doors into the energy fields. Then it dawned on me. Of course: the energy potentials stored there are incompa-rably greater than those here. Those of the Sensins, at least. We have to get there, yes, and then get in. That will do it. That will be our salvation. Hmm. I stared at the Sensin fleet. I couldn’t tell whether it was moving away because of the superior strength of the Acutins or if this was a planned withdrawal to the shell-like surfaces of the energy fields. Then, following a rapid series of explosions along the entire length of its hull, the ship-carrier next to us began to disinte-grate. We watched the whole thing through the viewing window. As we

»Še tisti prehod nas čaka,

kajne, Peter?«

»Da, da, seveda.« Ob vsem

tem dogajanju sem že

skoraj pozabil na tisti

prehod oziroma na zaprta

vrata v energetska polja.

Seveda, mi je šlo spozna-

nje skozi zavest, tam so

nakopičeni še neprimerno

večji energetski potenciali

kot tukaj. Vsaj potenciali

Čutinov. Do tja moramo

priti, da, in potem vanje.

To bo, da. To bo rešitev

za nas. Hm, zastrmel sem

se v ladjevje Čutinov. Ali

se odhaja zaradi premoči

Ostrinov ali zaradi predvi-

denega umika na lupinaste

ploskve energetskih polj,

tega nisem mogel razbrati.

Tedaj je začela po nizu

zaporednih eksplozij v

vsej dolžini trupa razpa-

dati naša sosednja ladje-

nosilka. Vse smo gledali

skozi veliko okno. Brez

470

gazed at this scene, hardly breathing, explosions tore apart the remaining secti-ons of the ship. Then the same thing happened to the Sensin ship-carrier right in front of us, and then to three more: one on our left and two from the spear-head of our fleet. This cre-ated a gap large enough for the Acutins to break thro-ugh. Even before the Sen-sins had time to reposition their forces, the Acutins were hurtling towards the gap, and with a concen-trated attack on the fleet’s second line they destroyed the next six ship-carriers. This meant that our frei-ghters now found themsel-ves under attack: clearly they were the target of this breakthrough by the Acutins. The situation was becoming critical. ‘They’re going to catch them!’ shouted a Sensin by the holo-display. Despite desperate mano-euvring by the Sensin fleet to plug the gap, three

diha smo zrli v ta prizor,

ki se je nadaljeval še z

eksplozijami njenih pre-

ostalih večjih delov. Nato

se je enako dogodilo naši

ladjenosilki v ospredju

pred nami, in potem še

trem, eni na naši levi in

dvema, ki sta bili v sami

konici našega ladjevja. In

s tem je že nastala dovolj

velika vrzel za prodor

Ostrinov, v katero so se ti

brž usmerili, še preden so

Čutini prav prerazporedili

svoje sile, in tako so nam z

osredotočenim napadom

na drugo vrsto ladjevja

uničili še naslednjih šest

ladjenosilk. S tem pa so

se znašli pod udarom naši

nosilci tovora, saj so prav

oni morali biti tarča tega

preboja Ostrinov. Vse je

postalo vprašljivo.

»Dohiteli jih bodo!« je

vzkliknil Čutin ob holiju.

In kljub takojšnjemu

usmerjanju ladjevja Čuti-

nov v zaporo vrzeli so tri

471

Acutin ship-carriers had already caught up with the freighter convoy and were hitting it so hard with energy bolts that two of our freighters had split in two. ‘We’re closest to them’. This was the thought voiced by the Sensins around me, now staring through the window, now at the holo-display in order to get the fullest possible picture of the situation and the dis-tribution of our forces in the engagement with the Acutin fleet. The damaged ships were within range. We could take on board their cargo and all their crew. They were Sensins: surely we couldn’t aban-don them to their fate? Indignant voices around me suggested that I wasn’t the only one wondering what we were waiting for. A moment later, however, the holo-display showed that the disposition of the forces had changed. Now the Sensin fleet was

ladjenosilke Ostrinov že

dohitele konvoj s tovorom

ter tako silovito udarile

po njem z energetskimi

izstrelki, da sta se dve

nosilki tovora razleteli na

dvoje.

»Mi smo jim še najbližje,«

so na glas ugotavljali

Čutini okoli mene, strmeč

zdaj skozi veliko okno,

zdaj v holi, da bi čim bolj

celovito videli dogajanje s

prostorsko razporeditvijo

naših sil v spopadu z lad-

jevjem Ostrinov. Poško-

dovane nosilke tovora so

bile v dosegu naše ladje-

nosilke. Lahko bi mi pre-

vzeli njihov tovor z vsem

osebjem. Prav ljudi ne bi

smeli pustiti na cedilu,

sem pomislil. Slišati je

bilo kar nekaj negodova-

nja nad našim obotavlja-

njem. Toda takoj zatem se

je v holiju pokazala spre-

menjena razporeditev sil,

ko so ladjevja Čutinov

472

attacking the flank of the Acutin breakthrough. Once again the sector was full of a large number of our ship-carriers escor-ted by smaller, nimbler ships armed with laser cannon and rocket-prope-lled energy bombs. The Sensin counter-attack was even more violent than the recent breakthrough by the Acutins. The holo-display even showed the truncated spearhead of the Acutins’ breakthrough forces. The Sensin ships scythed into the gap, right behind their leading ship-carriers.‘We’ll soon finish them off,’ said Benesens. ‘We’ve surrounded them and they won’t be able to get out.’ Then I felt our ship go into a steep turn, which imme-diately triggered an ent-husiastic response from the Sensins. ‘We’re going after the cargo,’ Benesens explained. And in fact we were heading at full speed for the damaged ships, from which large pieces of

udarila v bok prodoru

Ostrinov. Spet je bilo v

tem delu večje število

naših ladjenosilk v sprem-

stvu manjših okretnejših

ladij, oboroženih z laser-

skimi topovi in raketami

z energetskimi bombami.

In napad Čutinov je bil po

silovitosti še močnejši od

pravkar izvedenega pro-

dora Ostrinov. V holiju se

je celo pokazala odsekana

konica ostrinovskih pro-

dirajočih sil. Ladje Čuti-

nov so se vsekale mednje

takoj za njihovimi pred-

njimi ladjenosilkami.

»Kmalu jih bomo uničili,«

je dejal Dobročut. »Iz tega

našega obroča se ne bodo

več rešili.«

Tedaj smo začutili moč-

nejše obračanje naše ladje-

nosilke, to pa je takoj spro-

žilo živahno odzivanje

Čutinov. »Po tovor gremo,«

mi je pojasnil pojasnil

Dobročut. In res se je naša

ladjenosilka pognala z vso

silo proti poškodovanim

ladjam, od katerih so že

473

hull were already breaking off, together with sections of the storage bays and the recently loaded cargo. Important cargo that had already fallen out and was now floating in its astero-id-shaped containers.

Judging from the images of the battle on the holo-display, rescuing the cargo would be possible without much risk, since all the Acutin ship-carriers from the spearhead of the bre-akthrough were busy figh-ting for their own survi-val.

Now that we were heading for the damaged ships, individual groups of Sen-sins from our ship-carrier received precise orders to get to work. The entire rescue operation went ahead very quickly and smoothly. No-one offered us any resistance either during the flight or when we came alongside the damaged ships. We imme-

odpadli večji kosi trupa,

skupaj z deli skladišč in s

pravkar naloženim tovo-

rom. Pomembnim tovo-

rom, ki je že izpadel in je

zdaj lebdel v svojih astero-

idno oblikovanih zabojni-

kih.

Po holijevem prikazu

poteka bitke bi reševanje

tovora moralo biti izve-

dljivo brez večjega tvega-

nja, ker so se vse ladjeno-

silke Ostrinov iz konice

njihovega prodora morale

boriti za lasten obstoj.

Takoj po usmeritvi k

poškodovanim ladjam so

posamezne skupine Čuti-

nov iz naše ladjenosilke

dobivale pozive, skupaj

z natančnimi ukazi za

nadaljnje delovanje. In

vse reševanje je nato

potekalo zelo hitro brez

zastojev. Nihče nas ni

oviral ne med letom ne

ob pristanku pri poško-

dovanih ladjah. Takoj smo

474

diately began the transfer. Our little tugs attached themselves to the astero-id-shaped containers – a thousand times their size – and dragged them, with their mysterious cargo, towards our storage bays in closely grouped, rapidly moving columns. A dis-tant observer of the holo-gram images of this rescue operation would get the impression that everything was being ‘sucked up’, as though by a giant vacuum cleaner. As though eve-rything were flying of its own accord into our sto-rage bays. It was already clear that the operation was going to succeed, and at last the signal came for the departure of our entire fleet from the area of the asteroid belt. Meanwhile, however, the Acutins had managed to reposition their forces, unite them with the forces from the spearhead of their original attack, which were still holding out despite serious

začeli s prenosom tovora.

Naše majhne ladje-vlačilci

so se oprijemale tisočkrat

večjih asteroidno obliko-

vanih zabojnikov z zame

skrivnostnim tovorom

ter ga, kot je bilo videti v

pomanjšanem holijevem

prikazu, v strnjenih, hitro

pomikajočih se kolonah

vnašale v našo ladjeno-

silko. Nekoliko oddaljen

opazovalec holijevega pri-

kaza te reševalne akcije je

najbrž moral dobiti vtis

nekakšnega »posesava-

nja« vsega, tudi razsutega

tovora v našo ladjeno-

silko. Ves ta tovor je kar

letel v naša skladišča. Vsak

čas bi nam moralo uspeti

in končno je prišlo tudi

sporočilo o odhodu vsega

našega ladjevja iz podro-

čja asteroidnega pasu.

Toda Ostrini so medtem

uspeli prerazporediti

zbrane sile, jih združili s

silami iz konice njihovega

prvotnega napada, ki so

se kljub hudim izgubam

uspele obdržati, in vzpo-

475

losses, and establish a cor-ridor to allow the ships that were waiting in the rear to fly unmolested through the resulting conical space of their breakthrough and head straight for our ship-carrier. Our initial retreat had now become a hea-dlong flight, but it was clear that the weight of the cargo was slowing us down, despite our power-ful thrusters. And there was no doubt that it was us they were heading for. Clearly the Sensins had understood this too, and with a rapid manoeuvre they positioned eleven ship-carriers on our flank as a protective escort that nothing could get past. So tight was the shield they created with their smaller ships that not even energy bolts could get through. But the forces of the Acutin ship-carriers, bro-ught up from the rear and through the conical space they had occupied, sud-denly attacked this protec-

stavili prehod za že pri-

pravljene sveže ladje iz

ozadja, da so lahko nemo-

teno zletele skozi nastali

storžasto oblikovani pro-

stor njihovega preboja ter

se usmerile naravnost v

našo, sprva odmikajočo

se, potem pa že kar bežečo

ladjenosilko s tovorom, ki

jo je kljub močnim pogon-

skim motorjem upoča-

snil najbrž precej težki

tovor. Prav na nas so se

usmerili, to pa so očitno

tudi Čutini takoj razbrali

in nam v hitro izvede-

nem manevru postavili

enajst ladjenosilk ob bok,

v pravo zaščitno sprem-

stvo, mimo katerega ni

mogel nihče, tudi izstre-

ljeni energetski naboji ne,

tako tesen ščit so naredile

skupaj s svojimi manjšimi

ladjami. Toda sile ostrino-

vskih ladjenosilk, prima-

knjene iz ozadja in skozi

njihov osvojeni storža-

sti prostor so nenadoma

udarile prav v to zaščitno

476

tive escort with such force that after a powerful bom-bardment they broke thro-ugh to our position, almost colliding with us. At least four Acutin ship-carriers had managed to break through and catch up with us. We immediately enga-ged them. The ship closest to us dived to help us, and others were on the way, but it was too late. Unable to take avoiding action, we collided with a ship-car-rier the same size as us. A terrible breaking and grin-ding sound followed the collision. We all imme-diately put on our space-suits – or rather jumped into them as quickly as we could – and moved away from the point of impact. But the enormous momen-tum of the two ship-carri-ers had a terrible effect. Hundreds of decks, tho-usands of compartments were crushed, all the way to the giant hangars and the storage bays with the just-loaded cargo. Bulkhe-

spremstvo v takem naletu,

da so se med močnim

obstreljevanjem prebile

vse do nas, skoraj vse do

fizičnega trčenja z našo

ladjenosilko. Vsaj štirim

ladjenosilkam Ostrinov

se je tudi uspelo prebiti

in nas dohiteti. Takoj smo

se spopadli, s strani nam

je priskočila na pomoč

naša bližnja ladjenosilka,

prihajale pa so še druge,

vendar za nas prepozno. V

neposrednem naletu smo

trčili z ladjenosilko enake

velikosti kot naša. Straho-

vito lomljenje in gnetenje

je sledilo trku. Vsi smo si

takoj nadeli skafandre ali,

bolje rečeno, z vso naglico

smo poskakali vanje ter se

umikali stran od trčenja.

Toda mase obeh ladjeno-

silk so imele strahotno

vztrajnost. Na stotine nad-

stropij, na tisoče notra-

njih prostorov je bilo

zgnetenih vse do orjaških

hangarjev in skladiščnih

prostorov s pravkar nalo-

ženim tovorom. Stene

477

ads were ripped open. The Sensins fled, jumping into speeder-shuttles or enga-ging their photon-drive backpacks and disappe-aring along the long cor-ridors used for internal shipboard traffic. Along with the remaining Sen-sins from our group, I was heading for one of these corridors, now blocked by slow-moving traffic, when our ship-carrier suddenly split in two and, imme-diately afterwards, disin-tegrated into its various constituent sections. And before I realised what was happening, I was floating in space, like the other Sensins, surrounded by whirling sections of the two ship-carriers, both ours and the Acutins’, which at that moment were incredibly dangerous because they kept colli-ding with each other and suddenly changing direc-tion. But I didn’t lose my head. I dodged them like the Sensins were doing

so se parale. Čutini so

bežali, skakali na hitra

notranja plovila ali vkla-

pljali nahrbtne fotonske

motorje za samostojen let

ter izginjali skozi neka-

kšne dolge hodnike, po

katerih je potekal notra-

nji promet. Tudi jaz sem

se skupaj z ostalimi Čutni

iz naše skupine usmeril

k eni od prometa upo-

časnjenih kolon, ko se je

naša ladjenosilka preklala

na dvoje ter takoj zatem

še na več svojih sestav-

nih delov. In še preden

sem se prav zavedel, sem

bil tako kot ostali Čutini

v odprtem prostoru med

hitro letečimi deli obeh

ladjenosilk, tako naše kot

ostrinovske, ki so bili v

tistem trenutku najbolj

nevarni zaradi medseboj-

nega zaletavanja in neneh-

nega spreminjanja smeri.

Vendar nisem izgubil pri-

sebnosti. Izmikal sem se

kakor Čutini, se spustil

478

and landed on a large sec-tion of ship so as to protect myself from the smaller pieces. I spotted a large section of hull hurtling towards me, but fortuna-tely I was able to get out of the way in time. I sprang to the side, and back, and managed to dodge it. Loo-king round, I saw a torn-off section of bulkheads and compartments floa-ting not far away. I headed towards it, grabbed its edge and tried to collect my strength. I also had to collect my thoughts. Eve-rything was happening too quickly. ‘My space-suit!’ The thought flashed through my mind like a warning. I checked my suit with my hands. Nothing seemed to be damaged. Then I remembered that if my spacesuit had ripped I would already be dead. I was slowly getting myself together, so once again I looked around, trying to get my bearings. The appearance of this bro-

na neki večji kos, da bi

se zaščitil pred manjšimi

deli, nakar sem zaznal

hitro približevanje veli-

kega dela ladje, na srečo

dovolj zgodaj, da sem se

hitro umaknil. Pognal

sem se stran, nazaj, uspelo

se mi je izmakniti, potem

sem ozrl naokrog. Nedaleč

stran je letel del odtrganih

sten in prostorov. Usme-

ril sem se nanj, se oprijel

roba in poskušal ponovno

zbrati moči. Moral sem

zbrati tudi misli. Doga-

janje je bilo prehitro.

»Skafander!« me je opo-

zorilno prešinilo. Potipal

sem se po telesu. Ničesar

poškodovanega nisem

zaznal. Sicer pa bi bil že

mrtev, če bi bil skafan-

der raztrgan. Postopoma

sem začel prihajati k sebi

ter se ponovno ozirati

naokrog. Nekakšni pro-

stori iz notranjosti ladje

Ostrinov so se mi naka-

zovali na tem odtrganem

479

ken-off section suggested some kind of compart-ments from the interior of the Acutins’ ship, altho-ugh of course the bul-kheads were warped and buckled. In the lower part I could see a door. Closed. And undamaged. Could there be Acutins in there? This is going to be awk-ward, I realised, unable to arrive at any more precise conclusion. If they catch me, then… Once again I had reached an impasse. I mustn’t go towards the door. After everything that had happened, that seemed obvious. I turned my attention back to the undamaged door. Judging from the size of this aste-roid-like chunk of ship, it was probable that there were quite a few undama-ged compartments behind the door. I was sitting on a partially detached and twisted panel that had been the deck above the compartments with that door below them. I was

kosu, seveda, s štrlečimi

stenami. Na spodnjem

delu sem zagledal vrata.

Zaprta. Bila so še nepoško-

dovana. Ali so notri lahko

morda Ostrini? To bo pa

nerodno, sem ugotovil,

ko nikakor nisem mogel

skleniti razmišljanja v

bolj določeno presojo.

Če me dobijo, potem…«

Spet so mi misli zastale.

Ne bi smel k njim. Po

vsem, kar se jezgodilo, bi

že moral tako razmišljati,

mi je prešlo skozi zavest.

Začel sem se ozirati v tista

nepoškodovana vrata,

za katerimi je bilo verje-

tno, vsaj po velikosti tega

asteroidnega kosa ladje

sodeč, kar nekaj nepoško-

dovanih prostorov. Naha-

jal sem se na delno odtr-

gani in izkrivljeni plošči,

ki je na ladjenosilki pred-

stavljala nadstropje nad

prostori s temi vrati pod

njimi. Bil sem nasproti

480

opposite the door, on top of a compartment whose ceiling had been wrenched off and whose walls were buckled. I moved back sli-ghtly along the panel, out of view of the door. It was perfectly possible that they were watching me, since the collision had trapped both Sensins and a large number of Acutins in the compartments of their respective ships.

I still had the possibility of flying away using my photon-drive backpack, but where we would I go? Ahead of me, further away, was a large section of ship-carrier complete with hangars and what looked like cargo strewn all around. I could make out some asteroid-shaped lumps. Then my attention was attracted by the ope-ning of the door below me. Moving back, I hid myself behind a broken pillar and

tem vratom na vrhu pro-

stora z odtrganim stro-

pom in zveriženo steno.

Pomaknil sem se nekoliko

nazaj po plošči, stran od

morebitnega pogleda izza

vrat, ki bi bil prav možen,

saj je tako kot Čutine tudi

marsikaterega Ostrina

trčenje obeh ladij ujelo v

njegovih prostorih.

Imel sem še možnost z

nahrbtnim fotonskim

motorjem odleteti stran,

toda kam? V moji smeri,

sicer bolj stran od mene, je

bil velik odtrgan del ladje-

nosilke, s hangarji in najbrž

tudi s tistim tovorom, raz-

sutim naokoli. Razločil

sem lahko nekakšne kepe

asteroidnih oblik . Tedaj je

mojo pozornost pritegnilo

odpiranje tistih vrat pod

mano. Z umikom za odtr-

gani steber sem se pritajil

481

watched. The door swung open. A slight pause, and an Acutin appeared in the doorway. After a cautious look round, he stepped out, followed by other Acutins. They stood there taking in their surroundings. Then they pointed towards some distant pieces of the ship-carrier and began moving around in various direc-tions, apparently looking for a rescue craft or a large section of their ship, just as I had done a little ear-lier. I counted six, seven, eight of them. Flying off to some other section of ship or to one of the asteroids that made up our just-loa-ded cargo now really did seem to be the most sensi-ble course of action.

I retreated to the oppo-site side of the broken-off section of the Acutin ship-carrier, switched on my photon drive and set off in a curving flight towards

ter tako skrivaj pogledo-

val k vratom, vse dokler

se ni po počasnem, verje-

tno previdnem odpiranju

med njimi pokazal Ostrin,

ki se je pogledal naokrog

in nato stopil ven, za njim

pa jih je prišlo še več. Vsi

so pogledovali po okolici.

Z rokami so kazali proti

oddaljenim kosom ladje-

nosilke, se pomikali zdaj

sem, zdaj tja ter se tako

kot maloprej jaz ozirali

po morebitnih reševalnih

plovilih ali večjem odtr-

ganem delu njihove ladje.

Šest, sedem, osem sem jih

naštel. Pa bo res najbolje

odleteti na kakšen drug

kos ali pa na enega od aste-

roidov iz našega pravkar

naloženega tovora, to se

mi je zdelo še najbolj smi-

selno.

Umaknil sem se na naspro-

tno stran tega iztrganega

dela ostrinovske ladjeno-

silke, prižgal svoj nahrbtni

fotonski motor in se name-

ril v krivuljni let proti

482

the scattered cargo. To begin with I stayed on the side that was hidden from the Acutins, but once I judged myself to be far enough away I veered towards the asteroids flo-ating by the storage bays, reaching them with no difficulty. From close up, the asteroids seemed a lot bigger. Their exterior looked like solid rock, like ordinary asteroids, except that presumably that strange cargo of theirs was concealed inside them. Yes, the mysterious cargo. I discovered an entrance. For some reason this made me feel slightly uneasy, although I couldn’t say that I was exactly afraid. It wasn’t fear, no, but there was something creepy about it. Moderately creepy. It wasn’t enough to

razsutemu tovoru, kot so

bili od daleč videti aste-

roidi skupaj z razpadlimi

stenami skladiščnih pro-

storov naše ladjenosilke.

Najprej sem se oddaljeval

po tisti strani, ki je bila za

hrbti Ostrinov, prikrit nji-

hovim pogledom, v dovolj

veliki oddaljenosti, vsaj po

moji presoji, pa sem zavil v

smer lebdečih asteroidov

ob skladiščnih prostorih,

do katerih mi je potem

tudi uspelo priti. Takole

od blizu so bili asteroidi

videti precej večji. Njihova

zunanjost je spominjala na

strjene kamnine, podobne

običajnim asteroidom, le

da so v svoji notranjosti

verjetno skrivali tisti svoj

čudni tovor. Da, skriv-

nostni tovor. Odkril sem

vhod. Že ta mi je vzbujal

nejasne občutke nelagodja,

pa čeprav ne bi mogel reči,

da sem se bal. Pravzaprav

se nisem bal. Nekaj srhlji-

vega je sicer bilo prisotno.

Toda ne pretirano. Ničesar

takega ni bilo, kar bi me

483

prevent me from going on, at least not in the sense of danger, and yet whatever there was behind that door was causing me a certain amount of uneasiness. However the unchanged exterior of the asteroid revealed nothing but the barely visible outline of an entrance. I moved closer to what seemed to be a door handle. This, too, was merely an outline, but when I touched it the panel gave way to my gentle pressure and let me thro-ugh the entrance into the interior. I looked around. There wasn’t much to see. I was in a kind of entrance hall with several doors leading out of it. One of them, directly in front of me, was transparent and revealed a slightly larger illuminated space behind it. At least as far as I could make out by peering thro-ugh it. I inspected the other doors carefully. There was no sign of movement anywhere. There’s proba-

ustavljalo, vsaj ne v smislu

nevarnosti, čeprav mi je

tisto, kar naj bi bilo za vrati,

vzbujalo nekaj tesnobe.

Pa ni bilo nič drugega kot

komaj vidno narisan vhod

na nespremenjeni zuna-

njosti asteroida. Prima-

knil sem se k naznačeni

kljuki. Tudi ta je bila zgolj

narisana, toda ob pritisku

nanjo se je plošča vdala

mojemu, sicer rahlemu

pritisku in me spustila

skozi vhod v notranjost.

Pogledal sem naokrog,

pa spet ni bilo videti nič

posebnega. Pač, več vrat je

vodilo iz tega prostora in

ena, naravnost pred mano,

so bila prozorna z razgle-

dom v nekak večji razsve-

tljen prostor za njimi. Vsaj

kolikor sem lahko videl

skozi. Previdno sem pogle-

dal še po ostalih vratih.

Nikjer ni bilo zaslediti

nobenega gibanja, ničesar

živega. Le neživi tovor je

484

bly only inanimate cargo stored in here, I thought to myself. This could easily be a storeroom for mate-rial packed in containers. Or could it? Hmm… Had they kept all this space free for the transfer? It was impossible to tell. All I could see were doors and walls: no objects of any kind, nor anything to suggest that something had been removed.

I moved towards the tran-sparent door, through which I could see a large illuminated chamber. In it were chairs and tables, while along the walls sculptures reached right up to the ceiling, which was transparent, with a bluish-black background. I was about to push open the door when a friendly voice invited me take off my spacesuit once atmo-spheric conditions had been re-established. The entrance door, a solid plate, closed behind me and I

najbrž spravljen notri, sem

pomislil. Prav lahko bi

bilo tu le skladišče zapaki-

ranega materiala. Lahko?

Hm… Ali so ves ta prostor

naokrog konzervirali za

prenos? Toda tudi tega se

ni dalo presoditi. Le vrata

in stene sem lahko videl,

brez predmetov ali česar-

koli, po čemer bi lahko

sklepal, da je bilo karkoli

odstranjeno.

Pomaknil sem se do pro-

zornih vrat, skozi katera

sem s pogledom zajel

veliko razsvetljeno dvo-

rano. V njej so bili stoli

in mize, ob stenah pa so

se dvigale skulpture vse

do stropa, ki je bil preso-

jen, z modrikasto črnim

ozadjem. Že sem hotel s

potiskom odpreti vrata, ko

me je prijazen glas pozval,

naj po vzpostavljenih

bivalnih pogojih odložim

skafander. Vhodna vrata

iz masivne plošče so se

zaprla, začutil sem zviševa-

485

felt the external pressure increase. I looked around for something that could tell me what the pressure was, but I couldn’t see any gauges. Then I thought of my wrist display. It was sure to have a pressure gauge. The only problem was I didn’t know how to work it. The controls con-sisted of various buttons set in a circle, together with some symbols that meant nothing at all to me. This thing wasn’t going to be much help then. ‘Pressure gauge,’ I mur-mured to myself, and the device immediately lit up with a display of an elon-gated cylinder with a red column rapidly moving up towards a horizontal line. Then a message flashed up showing that the pressure had equalised, and the fri-endly voice from the tran-sparent door announced that I could enter, welco-med me and wished me a pleasant stay, and warned me of possible difficulties

nje zunanjega tlaka, pogle-

dal sem, po čem bi ugoto-

vil njegovo višino, niče-

sar takega nisem mogel

zaznati, pomislil sem na

zapestni prikazovalnik, v

tej napravi je bil prav ver-

jetno tudi tlakomer, le da

jaz nisem vedel, kako naj

s tem ravnam. Različni

gumbi so bili razvrščeni

v krogu, skupaj z neka-

kšnimi znaki, ki pa meni

niso pomenili ničesar. S to

stvarjo si torej nisem dosti

pomagati. »Hja, tlakomer,«

sem zamrmral bolj zase,

pa se mi je naprava takoj

odzvala s prikazom podol-

govatega valja z rdečim

stebričkom, hitro rastočim

vse do prečne črte. Potem

se je izpisalo sporočilo o

izravnavi tlaka, prijazen

glas iz presojnih vrat pa

mi je naznanil prost vstop,

mi zaželel dobrodošlico

s prijetnim počutjem in

me opozoril na morebitne

težave zaradi poškodb, ki

486

as a result of the damage caused during the collision of the ship-carriers and the impact of large sections of ship with this asteroid, which seemed to have damaged communications and made it impossible to control the operation of certain systems. ‘Our surveillance system is no longer able to monitor the situation in the individual compartments,’ the mes-sage ended.

I entered the chamber and looked around. Once again there were several doors and several corri-dors, without any indica-tions of where they led to. The sides were lined with sculptures and unintelligi-ble Sensin hieroglyphics – although perhaps these were simply works of art too. After a brief exa-mination I decided to go straight ahead. The cor-ridor seemed to be quite long, and also curved, since I couldn’t see its

so nastale ob trčenju lad-

jenosilk in naletu večjih

kosov vanje, se pravi v ta

asteroid, to pa naj bi pov-

zročilo prekinitev povezav

in onemogočilo nadzor

nad delovanjem nekate-

rih naprav. »Naš nadzorni

sistem nima več pregleda

nad dogajanjem v posame-

znih prostorih,« se je kon-

čalo sporočilo.

Vstopil sem v prostor,

pogledal naokrog, spet je

bilo več vrat in več hodni-

kov, brez kakršnih koli

oznak, kam vodijo, ob stra-

neh so bile zgolj skulpture

in zame nerazumljivi hie-

roglifi Čutinov, ki bi lahko

bili tudi zgolj reliefno obli-

kovana umetniška stvari-

tev. Po krajšem ogledova-

nju sem stopil naravnost

naprej, precej dolg je moral

biti tisti hodnik, tudi zavit

je bil, ker mu nisem mogel

videti konca, ob straneh

pa ni bilo nikakršnih vrat.

487

end. There were probably doors along the sides too, only it wasn’t possible to distinguish them from the walls. I walked on, loo-king right and left, and I noticed some warped panels on my right. Yes, that was collision damage all right. I went on a little further. Now the damage was even more evident. I could even make out cracks. The further I went, the more damage was evident both to the walls and to the ceiling above me and the floor below me. Then I caught sight of a large crack on the left and, slightly further on, a series of damaged walls: one, two, three and more. ‘Wow,’ I muttered. ‘That was certainly a big colli-sion…’

I looked into another crack. Nothing but dar-kness. The next ones didn’t reveal much either: just rooms a little larger than living rooms on Earth, but

Najbrž so bila tudi vrata

ob straneh, le da jih ni

bilo možno ločiti od sten.

Stopil sem naprej, pogle-

dal na desno in levo ter

opazil nekaj izkrivljenih

plošč na svoji desni strani.

Da, to so bile poškodbe od

trčenja, šel sem še malo

naprej, tu so bile poškodbe

še bolj vidne, celo razpoke

sem lahko razločil, in bolj

ko sem šel naprej, bolj zve-

rižene so postajale tako

stene kot strop in tla pod

mano. Potem sem zagle-

dal večjo razpoko na levi,

malo naprej še eno, dve,

tri in spet zverižene stene.

»Presneto,« sem zamrmral,

»to je bilo kar krepko trče-

nje…«

Pogledal sem v še eno raz-

poko, v njej je bila tema,

in tudi skozi nekaj nasle-

dnjih ni bilo dosti videti,

le prostore kot malo večje

bivalne sobe na Zemlji,

488

everything was empty. I walked on, and then sto-pped mid-step. My atten-tion had been caught by a strange glow, actually a faint light in a room that was in partial darkness. I looked once again. This was something quite dif-ferent from the usually uniformly and brightly lit rooms of the Sensins. A face went past. A woman with long hair. Then she was gone. I stopped. The figure appeared again. Now I could see better. She was a Sensin, unu-sually dressed in a long white robe, with her hands folded on her breast; it was the first time I had seen a Sensin dressed like that, and in such a pose.

I held my breath. Just seven or eight metres away from me, with the ecstasy of a priestess car-rying out a ritual, she was gazing in front of her and moving her lips as she murmured what could

vse pa je bilo prazno.

Stopil sem naprej, a sredi

koraka sem zastal, mojo

pozornost je pritegnila

rahlo nenavadna svetilka,

pravzaprav bolj slabotna

luč v delno zatemnjenem

prostoru, tako da sem še

enkrat pogledal, ker je

bilo vse skupaj precej dru-

gačno od običajno lepo

enakomerno razsvetljenih

prostorov Čutinov. Neki

obraz je šel mimo. Ženska z

dolgimi lasmi. Pa je ni bilo

več. Ustavil sem se. Tisti

lik se je spet prikazal. Zdaj

sem že bolje videl. Bila je

neka Čutinka, nenavadno

oblečena, v dolgi beli halji,

z rokami, prekrižanimi na

prsih; nobene od Čutink

doslej še nikoli nisem videl

v taki obleki in v taki drži.

Pritajil sem dih. Le sedem,

osem metrov od mene je z

zamaknjenostjo svečenice

pri opravljanju obreda

zrla predse in premikala

ustnice med mrmra-

njem verjetno nekakšne

489

have been vows. Suddenly she stiffened. Standing still, she gazed at a tran-sparent sphere lying on the floor a little over three metres away, covered with a cloth. The whole effect was one of solemnity. She stood motionless for quite a long time, and I was about to shift my weight from one leg to the other when the expression of her face kept me rooted to the spot. This ceremony must have been very important for this mysterious prie-stess, who stood up even straighter and lowered her arms to her sides. Then, with slow movements, she spread her arms as though in solemn expectation of an offering. A light began to shine in the transpa-rent sphere, and the image of a bed on which an old Earthwoman was lying became increasingly visi-ble. She was lying on her back with her eyes closed. Slowly she opened them, but only a little and just for

zaobljube. Nenadoma je

povsem otrpnila. Stoje je

zrla proti dobre tri metre

oddaljeni prozorni krogli

na tleh, pokritih s prtom.

Vse je delovalo precej sve-

čano. Kar dolgo je tako

nepremično stala, tako

da sem se že hotel presto-

piti, ko me je izraz njenega

obraza ponovno zadržal

na mestu. Zelo pomemben

je moral biti ta obred za to

skrivnostno svečenico, ki

se je še nekoliko zravnala

in spustila roke ob telesu,

nato pa jih je s počasnimi

gibi razširila kot v slove-

snem pričakovanju neka-

kšnega sprejemanja. Tedaj

je v prozorni krogli zasi-

jala svetloba z vse bolj

vidnim prikazom postelje,

na kateri je bila starejša

Zemljanka. Ležala je na

hrbtu z zaprtimi očmi, ki

jih je počasi odprla, le malo

in le za nekaj trenutkov,

490

a few moments. Then her eyelids drooped and her eyes remained closed for a while. Then they opened again. She lay there moti-onless.

A transparent figure, out-wardly identical to the woman lying on the bed, slowly rose up from her body and began to grow smaller, disappearing into the distance. It turned in a semicircle and circled once again above the prone body, and again receded into the distance before finally turning upwards and flying towards the standing Sensin. The apparition approached her, growing as it did so. Now full-sized, it landed right next to her, as she awaited it with arms outstretched, smiling in unconcealed happiness at its arrival. The transparent figure of the Earthwoman stood there, hesitantly. There was no doubt that this was the elderly Earthwoman

nato so se ji veke povesile

in ostale nekaj časa zaprte,

čez čas pa so se ponovno

odprle. Nepremično je

obležala.

Nato se je iz njenega telesa

počasi dvignil presojen

lik, po zunanjosti enak

ležeči ženski, ter se začel

vse bolj manjšati, izginja-

joč v daljavo, se v polkrogu

obrnil in še enkrat zao-

krožil nad svojim ležečim

telesom, se spet pomanjšal

v oddaljenosti, dokler se

ni obrnil navzgor in zletel

proti stoječi Čutinki. Pri-

bližal se ji je v rastočem

prikazu in v naravni veli-

kosti pristal tik ob njej,

ona pa ga je pričakala z raz-

širjenimi rokami, nasme-

hljana v neskritem veselju

nad njegovim prihodom.

Presojni lik Zemljanke pa

je neodločno obstal. Brez

dvoma je bila to tista sta-

rejša Zemljanka s postelje

491

from the bed, or rather a transparent image of her, since her body was still lying immobile in the sphere. And this transpa-rent image now looked at the Sensin, and now at the image of the woman lying motionlessly in that tran-sparent sphere. Then the figure gave a half smile and without moving for-wards or backwards took a deep breath, opened its mouth, slowly closed it again, placed its hand on its lips in apparent surprise at what it had just experi-enced, and in response to the Sensin’s friendly smile began smiling more and more. Yes, the friendly smile of the Sensin also brought a smile to the appa-rition of the Earthwoman. The glances exchanged between the transparent figure and the Sensin grew longer and longer, and their smiles became incre-asingly relaxed. Then the Sensin opened her arms as though to offer a friendly

oziroma njen presojni lik,

ker je telo še vedno nepre-

mično ležalo tam v krogli.

In ta presojni lik je zdaj

gledal Čutinko, zdaj prikaz

negibno ležeče ženske v

tisti prozorni krogli. Nato

se je lik zadržano nasmeh-

nil in brez premikanja

naprej ali nazaj z globo-

kim vdihom odprl usta,

jih počasi zaprl, si položil

roko čeznje v neskritem

presenečenju nad pravkar

doživetim dogajanjem ter

se ob prijaznem Čutinki-

nem nasmehu še sam začel

vse pogosteje nasmihati.

Da, prijateljski nasmeh

Čutinke je tudi Zemljanki-

nemu liku izvabil nasmeh.

Spogledovanje med pre-

sojnim likom in Čutinko je

postajalo vse daljše, njuno

nasmihanje vse bolj spro-

ščeno. Nato je Čutinka

razširila roke, kot da vabi

v prijateljski objem, ki se

492

embrace. It was clear that the transparent figure was not afraid. They stepped towards each other, and the transparent figure opened its arms too, in expecta-tion of the embrace.

I held my breath. The Sen-sins had never talked about anything like this. What could this ceremony mean? I took a few deep breaths and exhaled slowly, my mouth half closed. Instead of an embrace, all I could see now was the transpa-rent figure sinking into the Sensin. Disappearing into her. Entirely, completely. Slowly and unhurriedly, the Earthwoman entered the Sensin. Both continued to smile, even during this strange fusion, until only the Sensin was visible. The transparent figure, after slowly sinking into her, had completely disa-ppeared. She could no longer be seen. Yes: she had disappeared into the Sensin, who then straigh-

ga presojni lik Zemljanke

očitno ni več bal. Stopili

sta druga k drugi, tudi

presojni lik je razširil roke

v pričakovanju prijatelj-

skega objema.

Še naprej sem zadrževal

dih. O čem podobnem mi

Čutini niso govorili. Kaj

pravzaprav počnejo s tem

obredom..? Po nekaj glo-

bokih vdihih sem počasi

spuščal sapo skozi napol

priprta usta. Namesto

stiska v objemu sem zdaj

lahko videl samo pogre-

zanje presojnega Zemljan-

kinega lika v Čutinko.

Kar izginjala je v njej. Vsa,

v celoti. Počasi in brez

naglice je Zemljanka vsto-

pala v Čutinko. Obe sta

se ves čas smehljali, tudi

med nenavadnim zdru-

ževanjem, vse dokler ni

ostala vidna samo Čutinka,

v kateri je presojni lik po

počasnem pogrezanju

popolnoma izginil. Ni ga

bilo več videti. Da, izginil

je v Čutinko, ki se je nato

493

tened, folded her hands across her breast and, bre-athing calmly and deeply, stood with her face turned upwards. Then she repe-ated all the movements in the same sequence and stood there unseeing, as before, with her face uptur-ned. Suddenly a shudder shook her whole body, and then another and another in successive waves, until finally a cry burst from her lips, and then another, now almost a moan, but with a kind of blissfulness in it. Calm returned to the Sensin. She hung her head, her body relaxed into a normal attitude, her arms dropped to her sides and, visibly weary, she walked towards a floating panel. The strange ritual seemed to have exhausted her. At least that’s what it looked like. Or perhaps invisible forces were struggling inside her. The expres-sion of her face certainly suggested a turmoil inside

zravnala, spet prekrižala

roke na prsih in med poča-

snim, že kar zadrževa-

nim globokim dihanjem

obstala z obrazom, obrnje-

nim navzgor. Nato je vse

gibe v enakem zaporedju

ponovila, in spet enako

kot prej obstala miže, z

obrazom navzgor, ko jo

je nenadoma prešel drget

skozi vse telo, in v zapore-

dnih valovih še nekajkrat

zapored, naposled pa se ji

je iz ust izvil krik, sledil je

še eden, že skoraj stokajoč,

vendar z neko blaženostjo

v sebi. Čutinka se je umi-

rila. Sklonila je glavo, telo

se ji je iz napete vzravna-

nosti sprostilo v normalno

držo, tudi roke je spustila

s prsi in se z vidno utruje-

nim korakom prestopila

do lebdeče plošče. Vse

skupaj je moralo biti zanjo

zelo naporno. Vsaj videti je

bilo tako. Ali pa so se v njej

premetavale nevidne sile.

Vsekakor je izraz njenega

obraza pričal o burnem,

tako močnem dogajanju v

494

her that was so powerful that she had to hold tight to that panel to avoid fal-ling. Her strength was fai-ling her. As a result of that fusion, some process was taking place inside her that was making her knees give way. ‘Yes, it could be a process of some kind,’ I thought. The Sensin drew herself up again. She seemed to come to herself and appeared to be a little more collected. She looked at the transparent sphere. The image of the motion-less Earthwoman was still there, just as before, except that now there were other people beside her: men, women and even children. Probably her relatives. Some were crying. Others were standing slightly further away. The Sensin approached the transparent sphere, going right up to it. Then she stopped. Deeply moved, she passed her hand ligh-tly over the sphere in a trancelike manner. Tears

njej, da se je morala oprijeti

tiste plošče, sicer bi verje-

tno padla. Moči so ji pošle.

Zaradi tiste združitve je

potekal v njej neki proces,

ki ji je zašibil kolena. »Da,

lahko bi bil kak proces,«

sem pomislil. Čutinka pa

se je ponovno vzravnala,

nekoliko je prišla k sebi,

spet je bila videti malo

bolj zbrana, ter je pogle-

dala proti presojni krogli.

Tam je bil še vedno prikaz

negibne Zemljanke, enak

kot prej, le da so bili ob

njej še drugi ljudje, moški,

ženske in tudi otroci.

Najbrž njeni sorodniki.

Eni so jokali, drugi pa so

stali naokoli bolj ob strani.

Čutinka je pristopila k

presojni krogli, tik ob

njo, potem je obstala in

v globoki prizadetosti

še vsa zamaknjena šla z

roko narahlo prek nje.

Celo solze so ji začele

495

began to course down her cheeks and with a sorro-wful expression on her face she murmured some indistinct words. Could they be the names of those round the bed? That at least that was the impres-sion I got. The whole scene was surprisingly moving, with the result that even I had to turn away and wipe my eyes, filled with tears for a few moments. But as I looked once again round the dark space that surro-unded me, I spotted a male figure, leaning against the wall. But how… Where had he come from? Had I failed to see him because of the dark? He could have been there before me… Had the scene with the Sensin moved me so much that I had stopped chec-king my surroundings? I looked at him more care-fully. He was an Acutin. Oh no! Had the Acutins got here before me? But not the ones from the sec-tion of the ship-carrier

teči po licih, ko je z izra-

zom žalovanja na obrazu

nerazločno mrmrala neke

besede, verjetno imena

tistih ob postelji. Vsaj jaz

sem dobil tak vtis. Pre-

sneto prepričljivo je bilo

videti vse skupaj, tako da

sem še sam moral uma-

kniti pogled in si obrisati

oči, orošene za nekaj tre-

nutkov. Toda med ponov-

nim pogledom po zate-

mnjenem prostoru okoli

sebe sem zagledal neko

moško postavo, z rameni

naslonjeno na steno. Kako?

Od kdaj? Najbrž ga zaradi

teme nisem videl? Lahko

bi bil tudi pred mano tam…

Mar me je prizor s Čutinki-

nim obredom toliko priza-

del, da se predolgo nisem

ozrl naokrog? Natančneje

sem ga pogledal. Ostrin je

bil. Hudirja! So bili Ostrini

že pred mano tu? Ampak

ne iz tistega dela ladjeno-

silke, na katerem sem bil

496

where I had hidden, not those Acutins who came through that door. Proba-bly not. But what diffe-rence did that make? Was he alone? I looked around a bit more. I couldn’t see any other Acutins. Only that one. I moved a step backwards, but the Acutin put his finger to his lips indicating that I should keep quiet. Then he poin-ted towards the Sensin and once again put his finger to his lips. I nodded, altho-ugh I didn’t know if that was the right thing to do or whether I should cry out. The Acutin didn’t seem aggressive. He didn’t look dangerous at all. He stood there, now looking towards me and now through one of the cracks in the direc-tion of the Sensin. Actu-ally he was looking more at the Sensin. That was so obvious that I turned back to the scene by the tran-sparent sphere, switching my gaze from the Acutin to the Sensin. Still visibly

sam, ne tisti Ostrini, ki

so prišli skozi ona vrata.

Najbrž res ne. A to je bilo

pravzaprav vseeno. Ali je

sam? Pogledal še malo bolj

naokrog. Nobenega dru-

gega Ostrina ni bilo videti.

Samo ta je bil. Stopil sem

za korak nazaj, Ostrin pa

mi je s pomikom prsta k

ustom nakazal, naj molčim.

Potem je z roko pokazal

proti Čutinki in nato spet

položil prst na usta. Pri-

kimal sem, čeprav nisem

vedel, ali je tako prav ali

pa bi moral zakričati.

Ostrin ni bil videti napa-

dalen, prav nič nevarno

ni deloval. Tam je pogle-

doval zdaj proti meni, zdaj

skozi eno od razpok proti

Čutinki. Pravzaprav je bolj

gledal Čutinko, tako očitno,

da sem začel ponovno

spremljati dogajanje ob

presojni krogli in pri tem

tudi sam pogledoval zdaj

Ostrina, zdaj Čutinko, ki

497

affected, she continued to stare at the scene around the Earthwoman’s bed. She was moving with sli-ghtly opened arms above that image in the transpa-rent sphere. And the tears began to roll down her cheeks. Faster and faster.Meanwhile the Acutin had slowly moved closer to me. Now standing next to me, he looked at the Sensin again. ‘So you have seen what these fools do?’ he asked.I didn’t answer. The Acutin’s comment surpri-sed me in itself, but there was also something about the way he said it: a kind of reluctance.‘You’re one of those Earthmen, aren’t you?’ the Acutin asked me, before continuing calmly: ‘I have been observing you wat-ching the Sensin’s perfor-mance. I hope you haven’t been taken in by it…’I shook my head noncom-mittally: ‘Well, yes, I don’t know whether I really

je med tem še kar naprej

vidno prizadeta strmela

v dogajanje ob postelji

Zemljanke. Kar pomikala

se je z narahlo razprtimi

rokami nad tistim prika-

zom v prozorni krogli. In

solze so ji začele polzeti po

licih. Prav močno.

Ostrin se mi je medtem

počasi približal ter se ob

meni spet zazrl v Čutinko.

»Ste videli, kaj počnejo ti

osli, a?«

Nisem odgovoril. Ostri-

nova pripomba me je

vseeno presenetila, pa še z

odporom je bila izrečena,

z neko nejevoljo.

»Vi ste eden tistih Zemlja-

nov, kajne?« je vprašal

Ostrin in mirno nadalje-

val: »Opazoval sem vas, ko

ste gledali to Čutinkino

predstavo. Upam, da ji

niste nasedli…«

Nedoločno sem zmignil

z glavo: »No, ja, ne vem,

ali sem vse to sploh prav

498

understand all this. What is actually going on?’ And after a brief reflection, under the influence of the Acutin’s penetrating gaze, I blurted out: ‘They’re not ghosts are they? It seemed as though the ghost of that dead Earthwoman passed into the Sensin. I don’t know anything about the origins of the Sensins’ civilisation, at least not enough to be able to form an opinion on all this. Your kind even insulted them by calling them robots. Quite a lot of words, and even more of what has happened, are hard for me to understand.’‘That wasn’t an insult,’ replied the Acutin firmly. ‘And your guess isn’t far from the truth. They could be anything. As far as I’m concerned. I will grant them anything,’ he smiled contemptuously, ‘except that they are living beings.’ He underlined his words with a fixed look that was surprisingly persuasive.

razumel. Za kaj pa pravza-

prav gre?« In po krajšem

premisleku mi je pod vpli-

vom predirnega Ostrino-

vega pogleda ušlo z jezika:

»Pa menda niso duhovi?

Zdelo se je, kakor da bi

duh tiste umrle Zemljanke

prešel v to gospo tukaj? Ne

poznam izvora civilizacije

Čutinov, vsaj ne dovolj za

presojo tega dogajanja.

Vaši rojaki so jih celo zmer-

jali z roboti. Kar precej

besed in še več tistega, kar

se je zgodilo, je zame težko

razumeti.«

»Tisto ni bilo zmerjanje,« je

trdo odgovoril Ostrin, »in

tudi vaše ugibanje ni daleč

od resnice. Vse so lahko.

Vsaj zaradi mene. Vse jim

priznam,« se je nasmehnil

z vzvišeno prezirljivostjo,

»vse, razen da so živa bitja.«

Podkrepil je svoje besede s

srepim pogledom, polnim

nalezljive prepričljivosti.

499

‘Wow,’ I gasped. I still wasn’t sure how much cre-dence to give the Acutin’s words, because I also had to look at the whole thing from the other point of view, and yet some details of the Sensins’ behaviour even appeared to confirm them. But Honaja was a woman of great sensua-lity. I had felt all of her feminine essence as we embraced, together with a sensuous warmth that could not have been an act, just as her distress at the loss of a man at our first meeting could not have been an act. No, it couldn’t be true. Honaja was not a ghost.‘Their bodies are of flesh and blood,’ I said to the Acutin, who listened to me calmly and then slowly shook his head and said:‘In living beings the tho-ught of the individual is connected to both brain and body. In the Sen-sins there is no such con-

Ušel mi je »huh« skozi sapo.

Ostrinove besede sem

sicer še vedno jemal s pri-

držkom, ker sem le moral

pogledati na vse skupaj

tudi z druge strani, čeprav

jih je nekaj podrobnosti v

obnašanju Čutinov celo

potrjevalo. Toda Honaja je

bila ženska z veliko čutno-

sti v sebi. Vso njeno žensko

bit sem občutil med obje-

manjem, skupaj s čutno

toplino, ki je prihajala iz

nje in ni mogla biti igrana,

kakor ni mogla biti igrana

njena prizadetost zaradi

izgube moža tedaj, ob naji-

nem prvem srečanju. Ne,

to ne more biti res, Honaja

že ni duh.

»Njihova telesa so iz mesa

in krvi,« sem odvrnil

Ostrinu, ki me je mirno

poslušal, nato pa je počasi

odkimal in rekel:

»Pri živih bitjih je misel

posameznika usodno

povezana tako z možgani

kot s telesom, pri Čutinih

pa tu ni nikakršne pove-

500

nection. With them the body is one thing and the brain another. Thinking, together with character and passions, is some-thing completely different again.’‘So their bodies are made from some kind of mate-rial?’ I said, indicating that I accepted his explanation, although I still had my reservations. The Acutin observed my response to his words. ‘It is difficult for you to accept these facts, isn’t it?’ he asked.I shook my head. I needed more time to make up my mind about all this. Why should the Acutin be tel-ling the truth, especially since the Acutins were in dispute with – actually at war with – the Sensins? Yes, in dispute… The Sensins aren’t exactly very complimentary about the Acutins either. Not at all. They say there’s some-thing wrong with them, that they are suffering the

zave. Pri njih je telo eno,

možgani drugo, mišlje-

nje skupaj z značajem in

strastmi pa nekaj povsem

tretjega.«

»Torej je njihovo telo iz

nekakšnega materiala,«

sem nakazal sprijaznjenje

z njegovo razlago, vendar

z ohranitvijo svojih pomi-

slekov.

Ostrin je opazoval moj

odziv na svoje besede.

»Težko vam je sprejeti ta

dejstva, kajne?« je vprašal.

Zmajal sem z glavo. Tako

na hitro se o vsem tem

le nisem mogel odlo-

čiti, ker zakaj pa naj bi

Ostrin govoril resnico, še

posebej, ker so Ostrini v

sporu, pravzaprav v vojni

s Čutini? Hja, v sporu… Saj

tudi Čutini ne govorijo

nič kaj lepo o Ostrinih.

Niti najmanj. Očitajo jim

nekakšno defektnost, tista

njihova jedrska vojna naj

501

after-effects of that nuclear war of theirs. I looked at the Acutin. I couldn’t see any signs of nuclear after-effects. Nothing strange, nothing that indicated specific physical injuries. There was nothing of the invalid about him. Quite the opposite: this Acutin was very well-built, like the others of his kind I had seen up to now. Their speech also appeared to be perfectly normal. They are arrogant, it’s true. A little haughty – very haughty, in fact. They think they’re something special, which in a way is understanda-ble given that they are an extremely highly develo-ped civilisation. Even on Earth it is ‘normal’ for more highly developed nations to consider them-selves somewhat superior to those that are less deve-loped.

Now the Acutin, who didn’t like my appraising glances, quickly realised

bi pustila posledice. Pogle-

dal sem Ostrina. Takole

na pogled na njem ni bilo

videti nikakršnih jedrskih

posledic. Nič posebnega

oziroma nič takega, kar bi

kazalo na določene tele-

sne poškodbe. Nikjer ni

bilo nič invalidnega, ravno

nasprotno, prav postaven

je bil ta Ostrin tako kot

ostali njegovi rojaki, kar

sem jih doslej videl, pa tudi

njihovo govorjenje je bilo

videti prisebno. So aro-

gantni, to že, malo naduti,

no, precej naduti, imajo se

za nekaj več, kar pa je po

svoje razumljivo, saj so res

na zelo visoki razvojni sto-

pnji. Tudi na Zemlji je pač

tak običaj ali kakor koli

naj že temu rečemo, da se

višje razviti narodi imajo

za nekaj več od manj raz-

vitih.

Zdaj je Ostrin, ki so ga

zmotili ti moji ocenjujoči

pogledi, hitro ugotovil, kaj

502

what was behind them. Smiling, he shook his head: ‘What have the Sen-sins been telling you about us? That we are cripples, yes? Mental cripples? That we had a nuclear war? He observed me fixedly.I made a noncommittal grimace: I didn’t want to repeat the Sensins’ accusa-tions, still less their abuse. And yet I couldn’t pretend that the Acutin’s guesses were wrong either. ‘You see,’ continued the Acutin, ‘as far as our nuclear war is concerned, things are perfectly clear, but that doesn’t suit the Sensins. And so they keep on making things up and bringing in matters that have nothing to do with the whole business. Look: even what they have told you about our nuclear war is a clear example of how they deliberately mislead Earthpeople. They are familiar with your own experiences and they only tell you the part that will

je zadaj. Smehljajoč se, je

rahlo odkimal: »Kaj so vam

Čutini natvezili o nas? Da

smo kriplji, kajne? Duševni

kriplji? Ker smo imeli jedr-

sko vojno?« Nepremično

me je opazoval.

Nedoločeno sem se

nakremžil, saj nisem želel

ponavljati očitkov s strani

Čutinov in še manj njiho-

vega zmerjanja. Vendar pa

tudi nisem mogel zanikati

Ostrinovega ugibanja.

»Veste,« je nadaljeval

Ostrin, »glede naše jedrske

vojne so zadeve povsem

jasne, to pa Čutinom nika-

kor ne ustreza. Zato si

vedno znova nekaj izmi-

šljajo in vpletajo stvari, ki

nimajo z vso zadevo nič

skupnega. Poglejte, že to,

kako so govorili o naši

jedrski vojni, vam lahko

nazorno pokaže njihovo

načrtno zavajanje Zemlja-

nov. Poznajo vaše izku-

šnje in povedo le tisti del,

503

serve as a basis for you to reach your own conclusi-ons – your own mistaken conclusions. They have sown doubts about our intellectual normality, although they know more than enough about our nuclear war.’I nodded: ‘Of course it’s hard for me to judge these things. They probably exa-ggerated.’‘They weren’t exaggera-ting, they were trying to make you think the wrong thing!’ The Acutin looked quite angry. ‘They have sent you off in an utterly false direction. They don’t exaggerate, they mislead, do you understand? Mislead is the right word. You’ll see. But I’m not only saying this because of our nuclear war, where the facts speak for them-selves, but because they do they same thing in all other cases too.’ He pro-nounced these last words with real indignation.

ki je lahko zgolj osnova

za nadaljnje sklepanje, za

vaše napačno sklepanje. V

vas so zasejali dvom glede

naše umske normalnosti,

čeprav jim je tista naša

jedrska vojna dovolj dobro

poznana.«

Prikimal sem: »Seveda jaz

te stvari težko presojam.

Po vsej verjetnosti so pre-

tiravali.«

»Kaj pretiravali, speljali so

vas v napačno razmišlja-

nje!« Ostrin je bil videti

že kar jezen. »Preusmerili

so vas na povsem krivo

pot razumevanja. Ne da

pretiravajo, ampak zava-

jajo, razumete, zavajanje

je prava beseda. Sami se

boste prepričali. Tega ne

govorim le zaradi naše jedr-

ske vojne, glede katere so

stvari dovolj očitne, ampak

zato, ker delajo enako tudi

v vseh drugih primerih.«

Zadnje besede je izrekel s

pravim gnevom.

504

I didn’t say anything. I would have to argue with this Acutin if I contradic-ted him now, and I didn’t want that. I had no desire for an unnecessary dis-pute.

‘As for our nuclear war, it was like this,’ conti-nued the Acutin, his tone of voice now somewhat calmer. ‘Two dominant nations – at that time we too had several different countries, just like you Earthpeople – were in con-flict. It was very similar to what happened on Earth at the time of the Cold War, except that we threw ourselves even more ent-husiastically into the pro-duction of nuclear bombs, thanks to the greater accessibility of minerals, especially uranium. Then the conflicts grew increa-singly severe. And since a nuclear war began to seem quite likely, both sides started building powerful nuclear shelters designed

Ostal sem tiho. Moral bi se

sporeči s tem Ostrinom,

če bi mu zdaj nasprotoval,

tega pa nisem maral. Nič

kaj si nisem želel nepotreb-

nega spora.

»Z našo jedrsko vojno je

bilo pa takole,« je Ostrin

nadaljeval v bolj umirje-

nem tonu. »Dva prevladu-

joča naroda, tudi mi smo

imeli tedaj več držav, tako

kot jih imate Zemljani,

sta se spopadla. Vse je

potekalo zelo podobno

dogajanju pri vas v času

hladne vojne, le da smo se

mi zagnali v še večjo pro-

izvodnjo jedrskih bom,

pač zaradi lažje dostopnih

rudnin, predvsem urana.

Potem pa je prihajalo do

vse ostrejših nasprotij.

In ker se je jedrska vojna

kazala kot dokaj verjetno

možnost, sta si obe strani

začeli graditi močna proti-

jedrska zaklonišča za dolgo

505

to ensure long-term sur-vival. Both sides took this project very seriously and devoted their best efforts to it. Meanwhile there was the question of who should have priority for a place in the first shelters. Since the wars had been going on for decades even before the discovery of the nuclear bomb, and there been hostilities of varying seve-rity for centuries before that, a warrior culture had developed. To be the best soldier was the highest virtue of all. We inspec-ted the young recruits on enlistment and during training. We ranked them according to how they car-ried themselves on the bat-tlefield, as well as through written tests. Boys and girls. And over the years we developed this system of selection to an enviable level. We obtained elite divisions of warriors, the sort that every comman-der dreams of. And both sides, theirs and ours,

preživetje. Obe strani sta

se tega projekta lotili z vso

resnostjo in po vseh svojih

najboljših močeh. Pri tem

je nastalo vprašanje, komu

dati prednost pri namesti-

tvi v prva zaklonišča. Ker

so pri nas potekali boji že

desetletja pred odkritjem

jedrskih bomb, z večjo

ali manjšo ostrino pa že

stoletja prej, se je pri nas

izoblikovala kultura bojev-

nika. Biti najboljši vojak

je bila najbolj cenjena

vrlina. Mlade nabornike

smo preverjali tako ob

sprejemu kot med treningi

in šolanjem. Rangirali

smo jih po njihovi drži na

bojnem polju kakor tudi

s pisnimi testi. Tako fante

kot dekleta. In z leti smo ta

sistem izločanja pripeljali

na zavidljivo raven. Dobili

smo elitne oddelke bojev-

nikov, takih, kot si jih je

vsak poveljnik lahko samo

želel. In obe strani, njihova

in naša, sta se odločili, da

506

decided that in the case of war, these elite units of young men and women should be protected first. That was the position on both sides. Part of it was also the desire to streng-then the reputation of the military profession and encourage young people to join military units. And as it later turned out, this was decisive in determining precedence for a place in the atomic shelters. This can also be seen from the changes made to the prio-rity list. Evidently, though, the leaders on the two sides were still not con-vinced that a nuclear war was a serious possibility. In the end they were taken by surprise. The possibi-lity of an error cannot be excluded. Another contri-bution to total war came from the command positi-ons in the shelters, altho-ugh later checks shows that they only launched their systems after the enemy’s first bombs had exploded. In the end, all

v primeru vojne prav te

elitne enote mladih fantov

in deklet najprej zaščitita.

Taka je bila opredelitev na

obeh straneh, k temu je

pripomogla tudi želja po

okrepitvi ugleda vojaškega

poklica ter želja vzpod-

buditi mladino k vključe-

vanju v vojaške enote. In

kot se je pozneje izkazalo,

je bilo prav to slednje

odločilno pri določanju

prednosti za namestitev v

atomska zaklonišča. Na to

lahko sklepamo tudi po

preverjanju sprememb na

prednosti listi. Očitno pa

vodstva na obeh straneh

še niso bila prepričana o

resni možnosti za začetek

jedrske vojne. Naposled

jih je le presenetila. Niso

namreč mogla izključiti

pomote. Nekaj pa so k

totalni vojni prispevala

tudi poveljstva v zakloni-

ščih, čeprav so poznejša

preverjanja pokazala, da

so sprožila svoje sisteme

šele po eksplozijah prvih

nasprotnikovih bomb.

507

life throughout our planet was destroyed. The only survivors were in the shel-ters. Since then our develo-pment has been peaceful. The survivors from both sides later united, because of their small number, and then built our civilisation in peace. In the war itself there were no wounded. The Sensins know that perfectly well. There were only the dead and the per-fectly healthy survivors. The genetic changes that the Sensins accuse us of are supposed to have been, so they say, the con-sequence of the selection of recruits through testing, and to a certain extent that may even be true, since later we carried out cor-rections on the correspon-ding genes, but nothing like as much as they say. The main reason this went on was the uncertainty in our relations with our neighbours, since there was reason to believe that we would again need to

Na koncu je bilo uničeno

vse življenje na celotnem

našem planetu. Preživeli

so le v zakloniščih. Odtlej

pa je naš razvoj potekal

v miru. Preživeli z obeh

strani so se pozneje tudi

združili, pač zaradi majh-

nega števila, in potem so

v miru izgrajevali našo

civilizacijo. V sami vojni

pa ni bilo ne ranjenih ne

poškodovanih, to Čutini

prav dobro vedo. Bili so

samo ali mrtvi ali popol-

noma zdravi preživeli.

Genske spremembe, ki

nam jih očitajo Čutini, pa

naj bi bile, spet po njiho-

vih besedah, posledica

selekcije s testiranjem

nabornikov, to v manjši

meri celo drži, zato smo

pozneje naredili popravke

na ustreznih genih, a niti

približno ne toliko, kot jih

naštevajo oni. Zlasti je bilo

tega malo zaradi nedore-

čenosti našega sosedstva,

ker je bilo mogoče skle-

pati na ponovno potrebo

508

strengthen our defence forces and military spirit. Courage and the readiness to obey orders and sacrifice ourselves for the good of our civilisation are innate qualities for the Acutins, and it would never occur to us to change these two principal virtues that evi-dently disturb the Sensins so much.’‘This is all a bit different from what I had ima-gined,’ I said. I needed to think about what the Acutin was telling me. This explanation of their abnormality, if I could call it that, hadn’t occurred to me. Was it possible? That they could have been so foolish as to start that sort of testing? It was hard to believe. Unless when loo-king for one set of abili-ties they had completely forgotten about the others, then it would be possi-ble. Hmm. It’s true that it wouldn’t be very nice having a militaristic, hig-hly-developed civilisation

po krepitvi obrambnih sil

in vojaškega duha. Pogum

in pripravljenost izvrše-

vati povelja s samožrtvova-

njem za blagor naše civili-

zacije sta nam Ostrinom

prirojena in niti na misel

nam ne pride, da bi spre-

minjali ti dve naši poglavi-

tni vrlini, ki Čutine očitno

tako zelo motita.«

»Aha, pa sem si res vse

skupaj nekoliko drugače

predstavljal,« sem dejal.

Kar malo sem se moral

zamisliti nad temi Ostri-

novimi besedami. Na tak

izvor defektnosti, če sploh

lahko to tako imenujem,

res nisem pomislil. Ali je

to sploh možno? Da bi tisto

testiranje tako neumno

zastavili? Težko je verjeti.

Razen če ob iskanju enih

sposobnosti niso povsem

pozabili na ostale, to pa

bi že bilo možno. Hm.

Res je, da take, vojaško

usmerjene višje razvite

civilizacije ni nič kaj prije-

509

like this for a neighbour, so in that sense I could understand the Sensins. It wouldn’t be exactly fortu-nate for Earthpeople either, to put it mildly. From this point of view the Sensins are probably better par-tners for the Earthpeople, but I’d better not mention that to this Acutin. But the Sensins are strange too. If they really are ghosts, as the Acutin says and as it now appears, a partner-ship with them wouldn’t be particularly pleasant either. Actually, it is quite hard to imagine what kind of partnership this could actually be. ‘I will grant them anything except that they are living beings.’ I couldn’t get the Acutin’s words out of my head, although because of the beauty of Honaja’s face I kept pushing them aside. Ghosts, hmm... But what does that actually mean? It wasn’t easy thinking about them. At least not for me, because I simply didn’t

tno imeti za sosedo, tako

da bi v tem smislu lahko

razumel Čutine. Pa tudi za

Zemljane to ne bi bila pre-

tirana sreča, če ne upora-

bimo nasprotnega izraza,

ki je verjetno bolj prime-

ren. V tem pogledu so za

Zemljane najbrž boljši

partner Čutini, a bolje, da

temu Ostrinu tega ne ome-

njam. Ampak tudi Čutini

so čudni. Če so res duhovi,

kot pravi Ostrin in kot

vse skupaj zdaj kaže, par-

tnerstvo tudi z njimi ne

more biti posebno prije-

tno. Pravzaprav si je težko

predstavljati, kakšne vrste

partnerstvo bi to sploh

lahko bilo. Ostrinove

besede »priznam jim vse,

razen da so živa bitja« so

mi vedno znova prihajale

na misel, čeprav sem jih

zaradi lepote Honajinega

obraza nenehno potiskal

na stran. Duhovi, hm, kaj

pa pravzaprav ta pojem

pomeni? Ni bilo lahko raz-

mišljati o njih. Vsaj zame

ne, ker v duhove sploh

510

believe in ghosts. I still don’t believe in them. It’s true that there was some-thing strange about these Sensins here, but even so it wasn’t easy to decide what was actually going on. Ghosts? That’s a good one. But on the other hand quite a number of their characteristics suggested that many things were pos-sible. Yes, many things…I looked at the Acutin, who was facing the Sensin by the transparent sphere and staring straight ahead with an absent expression. His thoughts must have been elsewhere. I looked at the Sensin and saw her tear-stained face, and how she followed events in that sphere with rapt attention. A man and a woman sitting on chairs at the foot of the Earthwoman’s bed were wiping away their tears. They were probably relati-ves of the dead woman. At least that’s what it looked like. After everything I had been through recen-

nisem verjel. Pravzaprav še

vedno ne verjamem vanje.

Tu, pri teh Čutinih, je sicer

res nekaj takega videti,

toda za kaj resnično gre,

vseeno ni bilo možno kar

tako opredeliti. Duhovi? Ta

je debela. Ampak po drugi

strani je kar nekaj značil-

nosti tako nakazanih, da je

marsikaj lahko možno. Ja,

marsikaj…

Pogledal sem Ostrina, obr-

njenega proti Čutinki ob

presojni krogli, z nekam

odsotnim pogledom je zrl

predse. Z mislimi je moral

biti nekje drugje. Ko sem

pogledal še Čutinko,

sem videl njen objokan

obraz, kako zamaknjeno

spremlja dogajanje v tisti

krogli, v kateri so si ob

postelji Zemljanke bri-

sali solze moški in ženski,

ki sta sedeli na stolih ob

vznožju. Najbrž sorodniki

pokojnice. Vsaj videti je

bilo tako. Po vsem tem,

kar sem doživel v zadnjem

511

tly, and taking into acco-unt the little that I had been able to understand, I was no longer sure about anything. ‘The evolution of your civilisation is very intere-sting,’ I began. ‘It is dif-ficult for me to imagine what is possible at such a high level of civilisation, which means that not even your dispute with the Sen-sins is exactly clear to me. But judging from all these conflicts,’ I went on, allu-ding to their incredible scale, ‘it seems to be a ter-ribly serious business.’ The Acutin carried on watching the Sensin stan-ding in front of the sphere, or at least gazing in her direction, and then gave a slight nod. ‘It is serious, yes,’ he said, and looked at me appraisingly. ‘Their victory would mean the predominance of ghosts and robots over living beings, a predominance over the civilisations that

času in kolikor sem lahko

tudi razumel, pa nisem bil

več prepričan o ničemer.

»Evolucija vaše civilizacije

je prav zanimiva.« sem

začel. »Težko si sicer pred-

stavljam, kaj vse je možno

na tako visoki civilizacij-

ski ravni, tako da mi tudi

ta vaš spor s Čutini ni

povsem jasen. Glede na

vse te spopade,« namignil

sem na zame neverjetno

velikost, »pa se kaže hudir-

jevo resna zadeva.«

Ostrin je še naprej gledal

Čutinko, stoječo pred

kroglo, ali vsaj v njeno

smer, potem pa je rahlo

prikimal. »Gre zares, da,« je

dejal in ocenjujoče upiral

oči vame. »Njihova zmaga

bi pomenila prevlado

duhov in robotov nad

živimi bitji, prevlado nad

civilizacijami, ki so se po

512

have developed along a normal evolutionary path in this part of the universe. Including yours. Or rather, especially yours, since for them predominance over you is particularly impor-tant. Do you know why?’I thought about it, but I couldn’t think of anything that might be suitable as an answer. Apart from a few disjointed details, nothing of any significance came to mind. ‘For them you are a kind of farm.’ The Acutin con-templated me for a few moments with his pene-trating gaze, and then continued in a calmer voice: ‘Well, not exactly that, because up until now we’ve been here too. It’s us you have to thank for the fact that your evolution has proceeded without inter-ference. At least for the most part. At our very first meeting with the Sensins we made them agree not to interfere in the develo-pment of younger civilisa-

normalni evolucijski poti

razvile v tem delu vesolja.

Tudi nad vašo. Oziroma

še posebej nad vašo, ker

prevlada nad vami je zanje

prav posebno pomembna.

Ali sploh veste, zakaj?«

Malo sem pomišljal, pa se

ničesar, kar bi lahko bilo

primerno za odgovor,

nisem mogel spomniti;

razen nekaj med seboj

nepovezanih podrobnosti

mi nič tehtnega ni prišlo

na misel.

»Zanje ste nekakšna

farma.« Ostrin me je nekaj

trenutkov motril s svojim

predirnim pogledom,

potem pa je bolj umirjeno

nadaljeval: »No, ja, ni čisto

tako, ker doslej smo bili

tukaj tudi mi. Prav nam se

morate zahvaliti, da vaša

evolucija poteka nemo-

teno. Vsaj v glavnem. Že

ob našem prvem srečanju

s Čutini smo postavili zah-

tevo po nevmešavanju v

razvoj mlajših civilizacij.

513

tions. They had to agree. They knew they had to. Despite their indignation, they eventually assented. Then we set the rules.’ As he said these last words the Acutin began to grow excited, which made him even more convincing. ‘The Sensins have talked to me about their friendly inclinations towards less developed civilisations,’ I hazarded. ‘I haven’t noti-ced anything hostile in their attitude towards us Earthpeople.’‘Nothing hostile!’ repeated the Acutin, with an ironic laugh. ‘Ha! You aren’t hostile to pigs either, but you eat them, don’t you?’This comment was, I thou-ght, either tasteless or… . . hmm, cruel. ‘You mentio-ned an agreement on allo-wing less developed civi-lisations the right to their own development, so the comparison with pigs…’‘Well of course this agre-ement has remained in force until now. At least

Morali so privoliti vanjo.

Vedeli so, da morajo. Kljub

vsemu negodovanju so na

koncu privolili. Potem smo

postavili pravila.« Ostrin se

je ob zadnjih besedah celo

malo razvnel, tako da sem

se njegovi prepričljivosti

že težko upiral.

»Meni so Čutini govorili

o prijateljskih nagnjenih

do manj razvitih civiliza-

cij,« sem navrgel. »Ničesar

sovražnega do nas Zemlja-

nov nisem mogel zaznati

pri njih.«

»Ničesar sovražnega!«

je ponovil moje besede

Ostrin ter se skoraj obeše-

njaško zasmejal. »Hah! Saj

tudi vi ne sovražite praši-

čev, ki jih pojeste, kajne?«

Ta pripomba je bila, sem

pomišljal, ali neokusna ali

. . . hm, okrutna. »Omenili

ste sporazum o dopušča-

nju pravice manj razvi-

tih civilizacij do lastnega

razvoja, tako da primera s

prašiči…«

»No, seveda je ta dogovor

veljal doslej. Vsaj do meje

514

as far as we can see. Your evolution has been undi-sturbed until now thanks to our insistence on non-interference in the evo-lutionary development of less developed civilisati-ons. But if we hadn’t been there and the Sensins had been able to do what they wanted, without any kind of supervision, the compa-rison with pigs would be worth considering.’ I made a face and repe-ated under my breath: ‘Worth considering… hmm. Why? What would make them do such a thing? I didn’t understand and I couldn’t accept it, and I wondered whether it might not be better to believe the Acutins rather than the Sensins. Just then a light flashed on and a piercing whistle sounded. The Sensin looked round wildly. She didn’t see the Acutin or me. In distress or fear, judging from her expression, she turned back to the image in the

opaznosti. Vaša evolucija

do sedaj res ni bila motena

po zaslugi našega vztra-

janja pri nevmešavanju

v evolucijski razvoj manj

razvitih civilizacij. Ampak

če nas ne bi bilo zraven in

bi Čutini lahko delali po

svoji volji, brez kakršnega

koli nadzora, bi primera s

prašiči postala upošteva-

nja vredna.«

Rahlo sem se nakremžil in

polglasno ponovil: »Upo-

števanja vredna… Hm.

Zakaj pa? Kaj pa jih žene

v tako početje?« Stiskal

sem ustnice zaradi nera-

zumevanja in nesprejema-

nja tovrstnega početja ter

pomislil, ali ne bi bilo bolje

verjeti Ostrinom kakor pa

Čutinom. Tedaj pa se je

zasvetlikalo s predirnim

piskom, ob katerem se je

Čutinka sunkovito ozrla

naokrog, Ostrina in mene

ni mogla videti, se v neka-

kšni stiski ali strahu, kot je

bilo razvidno po njenem

obrazu, obrnila k prikazu

515

transparent sphere and then at the lights coming on above her head. She moved back a step, as though she was going to run away, but then stepped closer again and once again gazed at the image inside the sphere. She brushed the tears from her cheeks and then turned away and fled rapidly through the door. I looked at the Acutin. He was looking slightly confused too. He looked at the lights and at the holo-display on his wrist: ‘They destroyed my secu-rity control panel outside the entrance to this aste-roid container. They did it earlier, before I could spot them.’ He looked around, and then at the display on his wrist, where a map of the surrounding compart-ments appeared.‘What are we going to do?’ I asked. ‘Here, through this door, and then we must go along the corridor to the upper rooms.’ Moving his finger

v prozorni krogli ter nato

v prižigajoče se lučke nad

sabo, se hitro odmaknila

za korak, kakor da mora

zbežati, potem je spet sto-

pila bliže in se še enkrat

zazrla v prikaz znotraj

krogle, si obrisala solze z

lic ter se nato obrnila stran

in s hitrimi koraki zbežala

skozi vrata. Pogledal sem

Ostrina. Tudi ta je deloval

nekam zbegano. Pogle-

doval je po prižigajočih

se lučkah in v holijevski

prikazovalnik na svojem

zapestju: »Uničili so mi

varnostno kontrolno plo-

ščico pred vhodom v ta

asteroidni zabojnik. In

to prej, preden sem jih

lahko zaznal.« Pogledal je

naokrog in spet v prikaz

na zapestju, kjer se mu je

kazal razpored okoliških

prostorov.

»Kaj bova?« sem vprašal.

»Tu, skozi ta vrata in potem

naprej po hodniku do zgor-

njih prostorov morava iti.«

Ostrin je s prstom pote-

516

across the holo-display, the Acutin traced out the route. There was a way out through the upper rooms. I nodded. The Acutin walked to the open door and I followed him. We went through. There was no-one in the corridor. Thanks to the accurate map generated by the Acutin’s holo-display, I had no difficulty getting my bea-rings. Suddenly there was an explosion in the room we were about to enter. The door opened with a crash and we were struck by a blast of air, which forced us to stop. Simul-taneously, Sensin robots rushed towards us from doors on either side of the corridor. In a moment we were on the ground. They immediately disarmed the Acutin and left me to pick myself up. By the time I was on my feet, they were already leading the Acutin away and quickly disappe-ared with him through the door. I was left alone with the robots.

gnil po predvideni poti

čez holijev prikaz prosto-

rov. Tam je bil tudi izhod

skozi zgornje prostore.

Prikimal sem. Ostrin je

stopil do odprtih vrat, jaz

pa sem mu sledil, šla sva

skozi, tudi na hodniku

ni bilo nikogar. Po tako

natančnem prostorskem

prikazu, kot se je kazal v

Ostrinovem holiju, se ni

bilo težko orientirati. Toda

potem je sledila eksplozija

v prostoru, skozi katerega

sva nameravala iti, vrata so

se s treskom odprla, v naju

je udaril zračni sunek,

tako da sva se morala usta-

viti. V tistem trenutku so

se skozi vrata na obeh stra-

neh hodnika proti nama

pognali roboti Čutinov.

V hipu sva bila na tleh.

Ostrina so takoj razorožili,

meni pa dopustili, da sem

se v njihovi sredi lahko

nemoteno pobral. Ostrina

so že odnašali in kmalu so

z njim izginili za vrati, tako

da sem ostal sam z roboti.

517

‘I hope we did not hurt you,’ said an apologetic voice. Though the speaker was a robot, its appearance was entirely human. It invited me to follow it into the central chamber, where there was some kind of muster station. ‘The other members of your crew survived the collision,’ the robot continued, ‘and fleet command has ordered you to continue with your mis-sion.’‘I see,’ I said, as doubts began to form, and with them the realisation that it was still too early to reach a conclusion. Yet that Acutin had been quite convincing. More than quite convincing: very, very convincing. After a lengthy wait in the large chamber, I was told that our ship STORM-BIRD was on its way, and that our crew was already assembled aboard. Eve-rything was in order and I should get some rest. The bringer of this message,

»Upam, da vas nismo

poškodovali,« se mi je

spoštljivo opravičil robot

s povsem človeško zuna-

njostjo ter me zaprosil, naj

mu sledim v osrednjo dvo-

rano, kjer je bil nekakšen

zbirni center. »Ostali člani

vaše posadke so preživeli

trčenje,« mi je še dejal, »in

naše poveljstvo je že uka-

zalo, naj nadaljujete vašo

misijo.«

»Aja!« sem dejal s porajajo-

čimi se pomisleki in z neka-

kšno ugotovitvijo, da je

še prezgodaj za dokončne

sklepe, čeprav je bil malo

prej tisti Ostrin precej

prepričljiv. Pravzaprav ne

samo precej, ampak kar

zelo, zelo prepričljiv.

Po daljšem čakanju v veliki

dvorani so mi sporočili, da

prihaja naša ladja VIHAR-

NIK, na kateri naj bi bila že

zbrana naša posadka. Sicer

pa je vse v redu in naj se v

miru spočijem. Prinašalec

tega sporočila, spet robot

518

another humanoid robot, suggested to me a more suitable place, somewhere ‘very pleasant’, and when I nodded my agreement it went on: ‘There are spe-cial compartments for rest and relaxation after great exertions. Our guests also use them very frequently.’ The robot invited me to follow it. But the explana-tion that the Sensins had special rest compartments on this asteroid was sligh-tly at odds with my expe-riences up till now. Tired Sensins were certainly not a common sight. Had I ever actually seen any? And yet on this asteroid, at least that was the impres-sion I got from what the robot said, they were used to dealing with the tire-dness of Sensins. Tired from what? I thought of the Sensin by the transpa-rent sphere. I wonder?The robot led me into a large chamber with com-fortable bunks along the walls, six rows of couches

s človeško zunanjostjo, mi

je pri tem svetoval bolj pri-

meren prostor, ki je »zelo

prijeten,« kot je rekel, in

ko sem z glavo nakazal, da

se strinjam, je nadaljeval:

»Za počitek in sprostitev

po izjemnih naporih so

namenjeni posebni pro-

stori. Tudi naši gostje jih

zelo pogosto uporabljajo.«

Potem me je povabil, naj

mu sledim v smeri teh pro-

storov. Toda pojasnilo, da

imajo Čutini na tem aste-

roidu posebne prostore za

počitek, se je nekoliko raz-

likovalo od mojih doseda-

njih izkušenj. Nič kaj pogo-

sto nisem videl utrujenih

Čutinov. Če sem jih sploh

kdaj? Na tem asteroidu pa

naj bi, vsaj po robotovem

govorjenju sem dobil tak

občutek, imeli pogosto

opraviti z utrujenostjo

Čutinov. Od česa? Pomislil

sem na Čutinko pri pro-

zorni krogli. Hm?

Robot me je peljal v

veliko dvorano z udob-

nimi pogradi ob stenah, s

šestimi vrstami ležalnikov,

519

distributed around the centre of the room, and a circular path along which a number of Sensins were walking in a kind of trance. Others were resting on the couches or bunks. All of them looked very different from the Sensins I had been used to up till now. One walked past me with an absent expression, eyes fixed ahead of him, which gave him a slightly strange appearance. The robot stopped in front of a pair of bunks. The lower one was still free. For me, the robot seemed to imply. I sat on the bunk and began to look around. A Sensin reclining on a couch a few metres away from me was breathing deeply and slowly opening and closing his eyes. A little further on a female Sensin was dozing. Another male Sensin walked slowly past me with such a total absence of spirit that he reminded me of a living corpse. He really could

razporejenih po sredini

sobe, in s krožno potjo,

po kateri so se v nekakšni

zamaknjenosti sprehajali

nekateri Čutini, drugi pa

so počivali v ležalnikih

ali na teh pogradih; vsi so

delovali precej drugače od

Čutnov, kakršnih sem bil

vajen doslej. Eden je stopal

mimo mene z odsotnim

pogledom, uprtim predse,

tako da ga je bilo kar malo

čudno videti. Robot me

je popeljal do prostega

pograda, spodnji je bil še

prost. Nanj sem se usedel in

se začel razgledovati nao-

krog. Čutin na ležalniku

nekaj metrov od mene je

med globokim, počasnim

dihanjem narahlo odpiral

in zapiral oči. Malo naprej

je dremala neka Čutinka.

Mimo mene pa se je v

počasnem sprehajalnem

koraku premikal drugi

Čutin v popolni odsotno-

sti duha kot nekakšen živi

mrtvec. Prav lahko bi bil

520

have been a ghost. And yet it wasn’t as though the other Sensins in this room were much different. The same absence of life was apparent in all of them. Very strange. I had never seen anything like this before.

I was assailed by doubts of every type. For me the idea of ghosts was still strange and I couldn’t simply accept the expla-nations of that Acutin. Ghosts, yes, ghosts… Despite everything, I still couldn’t see anything more definite. I had never believed in ghosts. Why should I suddenly start believing in them? Not just like that. Ever since my first encounter with the Sensins I had been dealing with alien concepts, with things that were evidently possible even though until recently I had believed them to merely the stuff of imagination. Could ghosts also exist in this reality?

duh. Pa tudi ostali Čutini

v tem prostoru niso delo-

vali dosti drugače. Odso-

tnost življenja sem lahko

zaznal v vseh. Prav čudno.

Prej nisem zasledil ničesar

podobnega.

Vsakršni pomisleki so se

mi vrstili drug za drugim,

kajti misel na duhove je bilo

zame še vedno nenavadna

in nisem mogel kar tako

sprejeti tistih Ostrinovih

razlag. Duhovi, ja, duhovi…

Kljub vsemu še vedno

nisem mogel videti niče-

sar bolj določenega. Nikoli

nisem verjel v duhove,

zdaj pa naj kar naenkrat

verjamem? Kar tako pa že

ne. Vse od prvega srečanja

s Čutini imam opravka s

pojmi, tujimi, presneto

nenavadnimi, s stvarmi, ki

so očitno možne, čeprav

sem jih še nedavno imel

le za domišljijsko poigra-

vanje. Ali bi v tej resnič-

nosti lahko obstajali tudi

521

As Sensins? This thought lifted me from my bunk. Once again I let my gaze roam across the room. In the dim recesses of the room, just behind a seated Sensin, I caught sight of an indistinct female form that somehow made me think of the scene by the tran-sparent sphere. I couldn’t help comparing her to the figure of that Sensin who had run away so quickly when the alarm sounded. Could this woman here actually be her? Oh no. If she is, that means that these Sensins here are also something like her. Some-thing like what? I didn’t exactly know, of course. But what are the possibi-lities? These ghosts here, around me… No, no. I no longer knew what to think. As though they had died or just risen from the dead… That was it. Those were the two cate-gories into which it was easiest to fit them. I could easily picture the body

duhovi? Kot Čutini? Kar

dvignilo me je s pograda.

Še enkrat sem preletel s

pogledom po prostoru. V

temačnem ozadju, tik za

sedečim Čutinom, sem

zagledal nejasno postavo

ženske, ob kateri se mi je

nehote obudil prizor ob

prozorni krogli. Moral sem

jo primerjati z likom tiste

Čutinke, ki je na koncu

tako na hitro zbežala ob

alarmnem pisku. In zdaj

bi lahko bila ta ženska tu

prav ona? Hudirja. Če je to

res, potem so ti Čutini tu

nekaj takega kot ona. Nekaj

takega? Povsem jasno pa

mi seveda ni bilo. Toda

kaj bi bilo sicer možno? Ti

duhovi tukaj, okoli mene…

Ne, ne, tako že nisem

mogel zastaviti svojega raz-

mišljanja o vsem tem doga-

janju! Kakor da bi umrli ali

pravkar vstali od mrtvih…

Točno tako. V ti dve sku-

pini bi jih še najlaže uvr-

stil. Prav lahko sem si pred-

stavljal tam doli na Zemlji

522

down there on Earth from which that thing, whate-ver it was, it could even be a soul as far as I was concerned, had migrated into the Sensin. But why have they got such an empty look on their faces? Do ghosts have an empty look on their faces? Corp-ses yes, but ghosts? What expression do ghosts have, anyway? What expression should they have? I really didn’t know enough about ghosts. I had seen cadavers in a mortuary. And this atmosphere here occasio-nally provoked the same sensation, although only when I looked at some of the Sensins in this room. Only a few individuals had that effect. But they were very convincing. Were they in shock? Because they had just been resur-rected? Or because they still hadn’t got over the shock of their own death. Or rather the death of the human being whose soul had then migrated into

neko truplo, iz katerega se

je tisto, karkoli je že bilo,

zaradi mene lahko tudi

duša, preselilo v Čutinko.

Samo zakaj pa imajo tako

prazen pogled? Imajo

duhovi prazen pogled?

Mrtveci že, ja, ampak

duhovi? Kakšen pogled pa

pravzaprav imajo duhovi?

Oziroma kakšnega naj bi

imeli? Res sem premalo

vedel o duhovih. V mrtva-

šnici sem že videl mrtvece.

In to vzdušje tukaj mi je

občasno vzbujalo enake

občutke, čeprav je res, da

le ob pogledu na nekatere

Čutine v tem prostoru.

Le nekateri posamezniki

so tako delovali. Toda ti

so bili dovolj prepričljivi.

523

them. I looked round the room again and, as before, saw the outline of the face of that Sensin. It really was her sitting there... I looked again, even more carefully, and tried to find familiar features in that face sunk in semidarkness behind a much larger Sensin seated in front of her. He looked rather cadaveric too. Or did it only seem like that? I wonder? I had to go over to her. If I sat next to her, it would certainly be easier to tell. But I would have to sit between her and that cadaveric Sensin in front of her. Hmm... I just couldn’t get used to this atmosphere here. If anything, the opposite was true… I was begin-ning to get the creeps. It wasn’t that I was exactly scared. But it wasn’t exac-tly pleasant either. Should I pretend to be stupid and simply sit down between them? Do that among ghosts? Well, I didn’t have any other options. I’d got

Spet sem pogledal po

prostoru in tam kot prej

zaznal obrise obraza tiste

Čutinke. Pa je res sedela

tam… Še pazljiveje sem se

zazrl v tisto smer ter iskal

znane poteze na obrazu,

pogreznjenem v poltemo

za precej večjim Čutinom,

sedečim spredaj. Tudi ta

je deloval nekam mrliško.

Ali pa se mi vse skupaj le

dozdeva? Hm? K njej bi

moral iti. Če bi prisedel

k njej, bi seveda laže pre-

sodil vse skupaj. Ampak

moral bi sesti med njo in

tistega mrliškega Čutina

v ospredju. Hm… Tega

vzdušja tukaj se nikakor

nisem mogel navaditi. Celo

prav nasprotno. . . začel me

je spreletavati srh. Sicer me

ni bilo pretirano strah, to

ne. Prijetno pa tudi ni bilo

vse skupaj. Da bi se naredil

neumnega in se kar usedel

vmes? Tako početi med

duhovi? No, kaj drugega

mi niti ne preostane. V

524

myself into a real mess. Or rather been thrown into it. And now I was going to jostle my way between ghosts? Yes, I was going to have to push my way between them. Because I couldn’t ask these Sensins around me what to do.

Once again I looked round the room. A Sensin two or three metres away had turned in my direction. Yes, he was staring strai-ght at me. Had he read my thoughts? Strange as they are, these Sensins really might have this ability… I’m even going to have to be careful what I think about in here. I looked at the Sensin again. He was still standing there moti-onlessly, turned towards me. That was more than clear. And I was going to have to go past him. He wasn’t exactly a friendly type. Was he really loo-king at me? Actually I couldn’t make out what he was looking at.

lepo kašo sem zašel. Ozi-

roma so me vrgli vanjo. In

zdaj se bom prerival med

duhovi? Da, prav preriniti

se bom moral tja vmes. Saj

teh Čutinov ob meni ne

morem spraševati glede

svoje namere.

Spet sem pogledal nao-

krog. Čutin, oddaljen dva

ali tri metre, je bil obrnjen

naravnost vame. Da, narav-

nost vame je bulil. Menda

mi ne bere misli? Tako

čudni, kot so, bi Čutini

prav lahko imeli tudi tako

sposobnost…Huh! Paziti

bom moral celo, o čem

razmišljam v teh prosto-

rih. Še enkrat sem pogle-

dal Čutina. Še vedno je

stal nepremično, obrnjen

naravnost proti meni. To

je bilo več kot očitno. Pa še

mimo njega bom moral iti.

Nič kaj prijeten tip. Je res

gledal vame? Pravzaprav

nisem mogel razbrati, kam

gleda.

525

I made up my mind. Slowly I stood up, looked round the room one more time, and slipped past him. Another Sensin was wandering along the side, similar to the first except that he gave the impres-sion of a certain combati-veness: at least his sharper movements had that effect. I walked on as calmly as possible, staring in front of me as though deep in tho-ught. In fact I wasn’t thin-king about anything except not attracting attention by acting differently from the others. Then I stopped beside the female Sensin in the semidarkness. My presence didn’t disturb her, nor the Sensin sitting in front of her. He didn’t even notice me and conti-nued to look past me. He didn’t appear to be dange-rous and showed no signs of aggression, although he was quite big. I took a quick look around me and then sat on a nearby bunk, as I had seen the Sensins

Odločil sem se. Počasi

sem vstal, s pogledom

obšel prostor in se zla-

goma sprehodil mimo

njega. Še en Čutin je tam

postaval ob strani, navi-

dez podoben, le da je dajal

vtis nekakšne bojevitosti,

vsaj njegovi ostrejši gibi

so tako delovali. Koli-

kor je bilo mogoče, sem

z umirjenim korakom

stopil naprej, pogled pa

sem upiral predse v glo-

boki zamišljenosti, čeprav

pri tem nisem mislil na

nič oziroma le na to, da

s svojo drugačnostjo ne

bi pritegoval pozornosti.

Potem sem se ustavil ob

tisti Čutinki v polmraku.

Nič je nisem zmotil, kakor

tudi ne Čutina pred njo.

Še opazil me ni, kar mimo

mene je gledal. Ni bil

videti nevaren, nobene

agresivnosti ni kazal,

čeprav je bl precej obilen.

Malo sem se oziral naokoli

in sedel na bližnji pograd,

kot sem v tem prostoru

videl sedeti Čutine. Potem

526

do in this room. Then for a little while I stared in front of me, which the Sensin next to me must have noti-ced, although apparently I didn’t interest her at all. Then I stretched out on my back and propped myself up on my elbows so that I could keep the room in view without having to turn my head. The Sensin’s face was still covered in tears. Slowly she moved her hand to her cheek and, first on one side, then on the other, she wiped away her tears, murmu-ring something from time to time. I listened. That murmuring might tell me something. But it was no good. The murmuring was too indistinct. It faded to a whisper, or just the moving of lips. I sat up and looked at the Sensin again, pretending to be looking past her when in fact I was trying to read her lips and make out at least the odd word. It seemed to be a kind of commiseration.

sem še nekaj časa bolščal

predse, kar je Čutinka

ob meni morala opaziti,

čeprav je očitno nisem

prav nič zanimal. Nato

sem se zleknil na hrbet in

se privzdignil na komolec,

tako da sem lahko ohra-

nil pregled po prostoru

brez posebnega obrača-

nja glave. Čutinka je bila

še vsa objokana. Počasi je

segala z roko k licu in si

zdaj po eni, zdaj po drugi

strani s prsti otirala solze,

pri tem pa je s presledki

nekaj mrmrala. Prisluh-

nil sem. Nekaj bi že moral

razbrati iz tega mrmranja.

Toda ni šlo. Mrmranje je

bilo preveč nejasno, izgu-

bljalo se je šepetu, prav-

zaprav le v premikanju

ustnic. Spet sem sedel.

Potem sem pogledal proti

Čutinki, nekako sem se

delal, kot da gledam mimo

nje, vendar pa sem skušal

brati z njenih ustnic, da bi

ujel vsaj kakšno besedo.

Bilo je nekakšno pomi-

lovanje. »Ubogi . . .« sem

527

‘Poor…’ I could make out, followed by something unintelligible. And then again ‘poor...’ Perhaps she was saying ‘my poor chil-dren…’ She repeated this at the end of each murmur. I listened even more atten-tively and furtively obser-ved the Sensin’s face. Yes, she was expressing pity for ‘her’ relatives. Just like people do on Earth. A perfectly human response to the death of one’s rela-tives or close acquaintan-ces. Except that here the situation was reversed. The one who had died was lamenting her living relatives. Hmm? That’s a good one. I shook my head as though this explanation were too simple to accept. What I was seeing was probably real in its own way. But the fact remai-ned that this woman next to me was a Sensin, yet she was acting as though she were that woman, that dead Earthwoman, as though that dead woman

razbral, sledile so neke

nerazumljive besede. Pa

spet »ubogi . . .« Menda je

rekla: ubogi moji otroci…

To je ponavljala na koncu

vsakega mrmranja. Še bolj

zbrano sem prisluhnil in

pri tem prikrito opazo-

val Čutinkin obraz. Da,

pomilovala je »svojce«.

Podobno, kot to počnejo

ljudje na Zemlji. Povsem

človeško odzivanje ob

smrti svojcev ali dragih

znancev. Le da je bilo tu

najbrž obratno. Tista, ki

je umrla, je pomilovala

svoje žive sorodnike. Hm?

Ta je pa dobra. Narahlo

sem odkimaval, kot da ne

morem sprejeti preveč

preproste razlage. To, kar

je bilo videti, je bilo najbrž

po svoje resnično. Toda

dejstvo je tudi bilo, da je ta

ženska ob meni Čutinka.

Vedla pa se je tako, kot da

bi bila tista ženska, tista

mrtva Zemljanka, kot da

bi tista mrtva ženska oži-

528

had come back to life and was watching her survi-ving relatives. Hmm… ‘Poor children...’ I repea-ted her words myself in a low murmur.The Sensin gave a start. Not too much though. Just a little, enough for her to notice me. ‘Was I talking too loudly?’ she asked.I shook my head. It’s true that she was a little louder than the other Sen-sins in this room, but that was the least of my pro-blems. I waved my hand and the Sensin accepted the gesture as something normal, which sugge-sted that in this case my response conformed to what she expected. She looked at me another two, three times. She was pro-bably trying to remem-ber something. But what should I say? What does one say on such occa-sions? Something com-monplace? What was commonplace for Sensins in such cases? I looked at

vela in potem gledala na

svoje preživele svojce.

Hm… »Ubogi otroci…« sem

še sam mrmraje ponovil

njene besede.

Čutinka se je zdrznila. Pa

ne preveč. Le malo, toliko,

da me je opazila. »Ali sem

preglasno govorila?« je

vprašala.

Odkimal sem. Res je bila

malce glasnejša od ostalih

Čutinov v tem prostoru,

ampak to je bil še naj-

manjši problem. Zato sem

odmahnil z roko, Čutinka

pa je to sprejela kot samo-

umevno kretnjo, tako da

sem se v tem primeru

očitno odzval po njenih

merilih. Le pogledala me je

še dvakrat, trikrat. Najbrž

bi moral še kaj pripomniti.

Toda kaj naj bi rekel? Kaj

pa se reče ob takih prilo-

žnostih? Nekaj običajnega?

Kaj je za Čutine v takih pri-

merih nekaj običajnega?

Pogledal sem po drugih

529

the other faces around me. All of them seemed more or less absent. Just like I had pretended to be a little earlier? Hmm, no, that wouldn’t be it. They don’t pretend. Should I perhaps mention some of what I had been thinking?‘I feel sorry for the chil-dren,’ I said, murmuring as though lost in thought. ‘Yes.’ The Sensin nodded. ‘Although they are all pro-vided for now, they’ve all got jobs, a regular income, families, children…’ She brushed away a tear. In her words there was a hint of a parent’s satisfaction that her children were pro-vided for. How human. She dabbed at her tears again: ‘Yes, they’ve lost their mother. It’s hard for them. It’s hard for me to see them crying.’ I replied with a slow nod. I wanted to say something but on reflection I deci-ded to keep quiet. That had worked quite well

obrazih naokrog. Bolj ali

malo so vsi delovali nekam

odsotno. Tako kot sem se

maloprej trudil delovati

tudi jaz? Hm, ne bo to, ne.

Oni se ne sprenevedajo.

Ali bi kar navrgel kakšen

del svojega razmišljanja?

»Otroci se mi smilijo,« sem

dejal, mrmraje kot v odso-

tnem razmišljanju.

»Da,« je narahlo prikimala

Čutinka. »Čeprav so že

vsi preskrbljeni, z druži-

nami, vsi imajo službe,

urejene dohodke, dru-

žine, otroke…« Obrisala si

je solze. V njenih besedah

je bilo zaznati tudi starše-

vsko zadovoljstvo s pre-

skrbljenostjo otrok. Kako

človeško.

Spet si je obrisala solze:

»Da, mamo so izgubili.

Hudo jim je. Težko gledam

njihov jok.«

Na njene besede sem se

odzval s počasnim pri-

kimavanjem. Hotel sem

sicer še nekaj pripomniti,

pa sem po premisleku

raje ostal tiho. Do zdaj

sem se še kar dobro odre-

530

up till now. I didn’t know enough about what con-stituted normal conver-sation among Sensins on such occasions to hazard a more relaxed chat. And yet… these customs of the Sensins. Or ghosts? Ghosts or Sensins? Were they, after all, one and the same thing? How was I supposed to penetrate the mystery of this civilisa-tion? Perhaps that wasn’t the right word, but at any right it was a specific ‘civilisation’. Whatever they are, they are a civili-sation of some kind, even though the Acutins don’t recognise them as living beings.A robohostess came towards me. Her appe-arance was pleasant but different from the Sensins, who had evidently ensu-red that there was a suffi-ciently visible difference between them and the robots. Hmm... Between them and the robots? She told me I had a visitor.

zal. Kaj vse sodi med obi-

čajno govorjenje Čutinov

ob takih priložnostih, mi

je bil le preveč neznano

za malo bolj sproščen

klepet. Čeprav… te navade

Čutinov? Duhov? Duhov

ali Čutinov? Naj bi bilo

to po vsem tem eno in

isto? Kako naj prodrem

v skrivnost te civiliza-

cije? Mogoče to ni prava

beseda, a vseeno gre za

določeno »civilizacijo«.

Karkoli že so, v vsakem

primeru so nekakšna

civilizacija, čeprav jih

Ostrini ne priznavajo za

živa bitja.

K meni je pristopila robo-

hostesa prijetne, vendar

drugačne zunanjosti kot

Čutini, ki so tako poskr-

beli za dovolj vidno različ-

nost med njimi in roboti.

Hm… Med njimi in roboti?

Obisk imam, mi je spo-

531

Honaja had arrived. They had come for me with our ship.I stood up quickly. I looked once again at the tearful Sensin and then set off behind the robohostess.

ročila. Honaja je prišla. Z

našo ladjo so prišli pome.

Hitro sem vstal. Še enkrat

sem pogledal objokano

Čutinko in se odpravil za

robohosteso.

532

Chapter XIV

Honaja and I were walking down the entrance corri-dor of the STORMBIRD. She had come to the aste-roid to get me but after all that I had been through I was still mentally shat-tered and I wasn’t able to relax completely, despite Honaja’s happiness at our being reunited. She had been frightened for me, she told me. That collision had been terrible. No-one knew what had happened to the others. For my part, I hadn’t even known where I was myself. I had been carried off in an unknown direction on one of the torn-off pieces of the ship-carrier. The ship-carrier had reconstituted itself rapidly – very rapidly, in fact – but before that there had been casualties. A lot of casualties, Honaja said. I nodded. I felt awkward

XIV. poglavje

S Honajo sva šla po vho-

dnem hodniku našega

VIHARNIKA. Po njenem

prihodu pome na asteroid

sem bil še kar miselno raz-

rahljan od vsega tistega

razmišljanja, po katerem

se ni mogel povsem spro-

stiti niti ob Honajinem

veselju nad najinim ponov-

nim snidenjem. Zbala se

je že zame, mi je dejala.

Presneto hudo je bilo tisto

trčenje. Nihče ni vedel

za ostale. Še zase nisem

vedel, kje se nahajam. Na

enem od odtrganih delov

ladjenosilke me je odneslo

v neznano smer. Sledilo je

sicer hitro obnavljanje lad-

jenosilke, zelo hitro, toda

pred tem so bile tudi žrtve.

In to ne v majhnem šte-

vilu, mi je navrgla Honaja.

Prikimal sem. Pravzaprav

533

because I wasn’t fully able to share her enthusiasm at our being back together. I even found myself invo-luntarily doubting the sin-cerity of her feelings. That business about the ghosts had got so far under my skin that I was simply unable to shake of the uneasy feelings that filled my mind. Eventually even her playfulness became more subdued, and that was awkward too, so I started to look for a more cheerful subject to talk about: but nothing suitable came to mind. Strange. I had never had been lost for words with Honaja before. If anything the opposite was true: the words poured from us effortlessly. They just came out, without any effort. But now I was wal-king next to her and for-cing myself to smile.

mi je bilo neprijetno, ker

se nisem v enaki meri

pridružil njenemu navdu-

šenju nad najinim sreča-

njem. Nehote sem jo celo

pogledoval z dvomom o

iskrenosti njenih čustev.

Ker tisto z duhovi se mi je

tako zalezlo pod kožo, da

se nikakor nisem mogel

otresti tesnobnih občut-

kov. Potem pa je tudi

njeno igrivo spogledova-

nje postajalo vse bolj zadr-

žano, to pa spet ni bilo pri-

jetno, zato sem začel iskati

malo bolj živahno temo

pogovora. Toda nič pri-

mernega mi ni hotelo priti

z jezika. Čudno. Prej nisem

v družbi s Honajo nikoli

imel težave zaradi pomanj-

kanja besed. Celo preveč

jih je bilo, obema so tekle

besede brez kakršnega

koli naprezanja. Same od

sebe so se nama porajale,

brez posebnega razmišlja-

nja. Zdaj pa sem hodil ob

njej in se prisiljeno nasmi-

hal.

534

“You know, Peter,” began Honaja after a pause – not a long one, but still quite disturbing, “my fatigued kinsmen in that rest cham-ber seem to have made quite a strong impression on you.”I smiled. At that moment the word “impression” seemed faintly amusing. Various blackly humo-rous witticisms occurred to me. “They seemed different from the Sensins here. I mean, different…”It was hard to explain.Honaja was smiling too as she watched me struggle to find the right word to describe a concept that was evidently not very clear to me. “There on the asteroid, they captured an Acutin,” she said. “Yes, hmm, an Acutin, yes,” I said.Honaja looked away. She had read my thoughts in a flash. It was no longer dif-ficult for me to read hers either. At least not then; I

»Veš, Peter,« je po premoru,

sicer ne pretirano dolgem,

vendar že kar motečem,

začela Honaja, »moji utru-

jeni rojaki v tistem pro-

storu za počitek so, kot

kaže, naredili nate precej

močan vtis.«

Nasmehnil sem se. Beseda

»vtis« mi je v tistem tre-

nutku delovala rahlo duho-

vito. Kar nekam humorno

obešenjaški prebliski so

me obhajali. »Malo dru-

gačni so bili videti od vas

tukaj. Mislim reči, dru-

gačni . . .« sem skušal poja-

sniti.

Tudi Honaja se je nasmeh-

nila ob mojem iskanju

ustrezne besede za meni

očitno ne najbolj jasne

pojme. »Tam, na asteroidu,

so ujeli nekega Ostrina,« je

dejala.

»Da. Hm. Ostrin, da,« sem

rekel.

Honaja je umaknila

pogled. Presneto hitro mi

je prebirala misli. Pa tudi

meni ni bilo več težko ugo-

toviti njenih. Vsaj tedaj ne;

535

had the feeling that I was not mistaken.Suddenly Honaja gave a peal of laughter. She turned towards me and shot me a playful look: “An Acutin, huh?”I didn’t know how to answer. A teasing expres-sion flitted between her eyes and the corners of her mouth. “We are not friends with the Acutins,” she went on. “You have already had an opportunity to convince yourself of that, haven’t you?” I continued to look at her without speaking. She was beautiful. Like this, the way she was talking… I couldn’t help admiring her. There was so much life in her eyes, and doubts were creeping into my already tired mind.“You talked to the Acutin, didn’t you?” Honaja didn’t actually need an answer. The que-stion was a mere formality. I could tell from her face.

imel sem občutek, da se ne

motim.

Nenadoma pa se je Honaja

zvonko zasmejala, se usta-

vila, se hitro obrnila k

meni in me igrivo pogle-

dala: »Ostrin, kajne?«

Nisem vedel, kaj naj odgo-

vorim. Nagajiva prebrisa-

nost se je poigravala zdaj v

njenih očeh, zdaj na kotič-

kih njenih ustnic.

»Z Ostrini nismo prijatelji.

O tem si se že imel prilo-

žnost prepričati, kajne?«

Še naprej sem jo gledal brez

besed. Lepa je bila. Takole,

s tem svojim nastopom…

Nisem se mogel povsem

ubraniti občudovanja,

preveč živi so bili njeni

pogledi, kar nekaj dvoma

se je vtihotapilo v moje že

precej utrjeno mnenje.

»Z Ostrinom si se pogovar-

jal, kajne?« Honaja pravza-

prav sploh ni potrebovala

odgovora. Le zgolj zaradi

lepšega mi je zastavila to

vprašanje, kot sem dovolj

536

She had already guessed everything from the way I was acting.“And what did this Acutin tell you about us? That we are ghosts?” Honaja seemed to find this funny, and she had lost none of her self-assurance. This made it even harder for me to sort out my fee-lings.She looked at me: “Do you believe in ghosts?”“Hmm,” was the only reply I could think of. “No. Actually no,” I added.“So, you see,” replied Honaja immediately. “You don’t believe!”I shook my head: “No.”Honaja smiled at me: “Then you can believe me that I am not a ghost either.”Now I had everything: a lot of information. Too much information, of every kind. And Honaja was beautiful. Incredibly beautiful.

My search for an answer

jasno razbral po njenem

obrazu. Iz mojega vedenja

je že vse uganila.

»In kaj ti je potem ta Ostrin

povedal o nas? Da smo

duhovi?« Honaji so se zdele

njene ugotovitve zabavne,

pa tudi samozavesti ni

prav nič izgubila, in to je

bila za mojo razmišljanje

tudi neke vrste obremeni-

tev.

Zazrla se je vame: »Verja-

meš v duhove?«

»Hm,« je bilo vse, kar mi

je takole na hitro prišlo iz

ust. »Ne. Pravzaprav ne,«

sem potem vseeno dodal.

»No, vidiš,« se je takoj

odzvala Honaja. »Ne verja-

meš!«

Odkimal sem: »Ne.«

Honaja se mi je smehljala:

»Potem mi lahko verjameš,

da tudi jaz nisem duh.«

Zdaj sem imel vse na kupu.

Veliko informacij. Preveč

se jih je nabralo. Vseh vrst.

Honaja pa je bila lepa. Pre-

sneto lepa.

Moje iskanje sklepa z raz-

537

– a process that involved analysing all my random thoughts and then reas-sembling them to form dif-ferent conclusions – must have been reflected in my face. I loved her. Despite everything. She was smi-ling at me. “You know, Peter,” she began again, “we are an old civilisation. So old that your word ‘tradition’ is only partly useful in our case. At least in the sense that we connect various concepts to it. Here there are certain principles, sacred to us, which in our opinion have a profound meaning. Life is sacred to us. Everything that lives is sacred to us. All living things. We nurture a deep respect for all life.”

I smiled approvingly: “Nicely put. It is nice to hear you talking like this.”“Talking? Well, all right. There are still some things I have to tell you about us,

člembo vseh naključnih

misli in potem s ponovnim

sestavljanjem različnih

ugotovitev se je moralo

zrcaliti na mojem obrazu.

Rad sem jo imel. Kljub

vsemu. Smehljala se mi je.

»Veš, Peter,« je spet začela,

»mi smo stara civiliza-

cija. Tako stara, da je

vaša beseda ‘tradicija’ pri

nas lahko samo delno

uporabna. Vsaj glede na

našo povezavo različnih

pojmov z njo. Tu so dolo-

čena, nam sveta načela, ki

imajo po našem mnenju

globok smisel. Življenje

je za nas sveto. Vse, kar je

živo, je za nas sveto. Vsa

živa bitja. Globoko spo-

štovanje gojimo do vsega

živega.«

Nasmehnil sem se, odo-

bravajoč njene besede:

»Lepo povedano. Prijetno

je slišati tako govorjenje iz

tvojih ust.«

»Govorjenje? No, prav. Še

kar nekaj stvari ti moram

povedati o nas, toda prej

538

but before that you need to know about the Acutins.” Honaja paused. I listened in silence, since altho-ugh my mind was full of doubts I didn’t have anything worth saying.“That Acutin talked to you about their nuclear war, didn’t he?” she asked.I nodded. “Yes, he men-tioned it. And also those survivors, were supposed to be the best among them according to their criteria at the time.”“Yes, they were supposed to be their best warriors. But the problem is not so much the over-emphasis on certain abilities that formed the basis of their choice. A bigger problem was caused by an unfor-tunate coincidence. Above all, the fact that the group of survivors was very small in number. Only a few dozen individuals in total.”“What? Only a few dozen?” Such a small number came as a surprise

še o Ostrinih.« Honaja je

umolknila. Seveda sem

prisluhnil, saj nisem mogel

kar na hitro dodati kakšne

smiselne pripombe,

čeprav se mi je porajalo

precej pomislekov.

»Najbrž ti je tisti Ostrin

govoril tudi o njihovi jedr-

ski vojni?« je vprašala.

Prikimal sem. »Da, omenil

jo je. In tudi tiste preživele,

ki naj bi bili po njihovih

tedanjih kriterijih najboljši

med njimi.«

»Da, bili naj bi najboljši

vojaki. Pa ni toliko problem

v izjemno poudarjenih

sposobnostih na podlagi

take izbire. Večji problem

je v nesrečnem naključju.

Predvsem je bila preživela

skupina zelo maloštevilna.

Le nekaj deset posamezni-

kov vsega skupaj.«

»Kaj? Samo nekaj deset?«

Tako majhno število je bilo

zame presenečenje. »Razu-

539

to me. “I had understood that there were some tens of thousands of them.”“Oh yes? The Acutins don’t like talking about this number or about their chosen ones, for whom emotional suppression if not actual emotionlessness is an innate characteristic. They were already aware of this at the time of their test selection, but at that time the most important thing for them was the ability to react rapidly in conditions of war. A whole range of important abilities that the average Acutin possessed were missing in the mem-bers of this elite. They were genuinely handica-pped in the sphere of the emotions. And not only in the emotional sphere. And then these surviving Acutins continued the development of their civi-lisation with a deep belief in the superiority of their own elite minority and in their mission. They forged

mel sem, da jih je bilo nekaj

desettisočev.«

»A tako? Ostrini se nič kaj

radi ne pogovarjajo ne o

tej številki ne o teh svojih

izbrancih, ki jim je bila

čustvena zavrtost, če že

ne brezčutnost, prirojena.

To so sicer vedeli že v času

testnega izbiranja, a je bilo

zanje tedaj najpomemb-

nejše hitro odzivanje v

vojnih razmerah. Cel kup

pomembnih sposobnosti,

ki jih je sicer imel povpre-

čen Ostrin, je manjkal tem

izbrancem. Že kar pravi

kriplji so bili na čustve-

nem področju. Pa ne samo

na čustvenem. In potem so

ravno ti preživeli Ostrini

nadaljevali razvoj njihove

civilizacije v globokem

prepričanju o superiorno-

sti lastne elitne manjšine

in o svojem poslanstvu.

540

myths about the abilities on the basis of which they had been chosen. And they simply “forgot” about the warning signs pointing to their weaknesses. What they actually did was mini-mise their importance and push them to the margins of their thinking, until over time these views of theirs became habit, which they later called tradition. And this has become this tradition based on lore that they mention so often, as you have already heard for yourself. It was like this until they met us. Or to be more precise: to begin with we lived for quite a long time as neighbours with relatively little contact between us. Nevertheless, we slowly got to know each other better and we began to see this defect of theirs increasingly clearly. We also mentioned it to them, in a very circumspect way. We are an older civi-lisation and we are fami-liar with the development

Prave mite so skovali o

sposobnostih, na podlagi

katerih so bili izbrani. Na

opozorilne slabosti pa so

kar ‘pozabili’. Pravzaprav

so jim najprej zmanjševali

pomen in jih odrivali na

obrobje svojega razmi-

šljanja, vse dokler jim sča-

soma niso te njihove opre-

delitve prešle v navado,

ki so jo pozneje preime-

novali v tradicijo. In to je

zdaj ta tradicija na podlagi

izročil, ki jo tako pogosto

omenjajo, kot si lahko že

slišal. Tako je bilo, dokler

se niso srečali z nami. Ozi-

roma, natančneje, sprva

smo še precej časa živeli

kot sosedje z bolj malo

medsebojnih stikov. Kljub

temu pa smo vse bolj in

bolj spoznavali drug dru-

gega in mi smo lahko vse

jasneje ugotavljali to nji-

hovo hibo. Zelo previdno

smo jim jo potem tudi ome-

nili. Mi smo starejša civili-

zacija, ki pozna razvojno

pot mnogih drugih civi-

541

paths of many other civi-lisations on different pla-nets. We know what was lost in that nuclear war of theirs. And we told them how they could remedy individual weaknesses. At first they listened to us. It even appeared that they were going to agree to gradual genetic supple-mentation. But then they got bogged down in a dis-pute about deviating from their tradition. Then they started asking themselves what derived from genes and what from loyalty to their values, their tradi-tion, which some of them once again began to stress at the top of their voices. A powerful group emer-ged claiming that pro-gress could be achieved without modifying genes, and finally the whole busi-ness was complicated by a growing exaltation of their own development. It ended with them claiming that it was us who should

lizacij na različnih plane-

tih. Vemo, kaj je bilo izgu-

bljeno v tisti njihovi jedr-

ski vojni. In povedali smo

jim, kako lahko odpravijo

posamezne slabost. Sprva

so prisluhnili. Kazalo je

celo, da bodo pristali na

postopno gensko dograje-

vanje. Pa so potem obstali

v nekakšnem prerekanju

glede takega odmika od

njihove tradicije. Nastalo

je še vprašanje, kaj izvira

iz genov in kaj iz zvestobe

svojim vrednotam, svoji

tradiciji, ki so jo nekateri

njihovi posamezniki začeli

ponovno na ves glas pou-

darjati.

Nastala je močna skupina,

ki je trdila, da je napredek

možno doseči brez spre-

minjanja genov, nazadnje

pa se je vse skupaj zaple-

tlo ob rastočem veličanju

njihovega lastnega razvoja

s končno ugotovitvijo, da

bi oni morali spremeniti

542

be changed and not them. That is when the pro-blems started. They hadn’t understood anything. Eve-rything we had told them about themselves, they rejected as unacceptable. All of a sudden, nothing about us was right any longer. Everything bothe-red them. And in the end they decided that only they could be responsible for future development and that we could never be, although we had told them much about our civilisation, considera-bly older than theirs. We have travelled a path of development that is longer than theirs and much more thorough. Not as narrow as theirs, oriented only towards the technology of war, but also in the spheres of the arts and new forms of life. Particularly with regard to the latter we are at an incomparably higher level of development than them. Yet they reject this fact both through a simple

nas in ne sebe. Potem se

je začelo. Razumeli niso

nič. Kar smo jim povedali

o sebi, so vse zavračali kot

nesprejemljivo. Kar naen-

krat jim ni bilo na nas nič

več prav. Vse jih je motilo.

In na koncu so ugotovili, da

so edino oni lahko nosilci

nadaljnjega razvoja, mi pa

nikakor ne, čeprav smo

jim veliko povedali o naši

civilizaciji, znatno starejši

od njihove.

Daljšo kakor oni in dosti

bolj temeljito razvojno

pot smo naredili. Ne tako

ozko, usmerjeno le v vojno

tehnologijo, temveč tudi

na področju umetnosti in

novih oblik življenja. Zlasti

glede slednjih smo mi na

neprimerno višji razvojni

stopnji kakor oni. To dej-

stvo pa zavračajo tako s

preprostim zanikanjem,

543

denial that alternative forms of life could also be acceptable for them, and by denying our higher level of civilisation as a whole, with the result that the differences between us have merely intensified, right up to their attempt to break into our energy fields.”“Would capturing your energy fields have guaran-teed them superiority over you?” I asked.“They cannot capture them. But some of them are utterly convinced of their skills as warriors, and this is the result of coun-tless myths from what they call their history, although the majority of them were invented later by magni-fying and distorting rela-tively minor incidents and turning them into utterly unbelievable sto-ries. We have carried out an analysis of the origin of these stories. Their

da bi bile tudi zanje spre-

jemljive drugačne oblike

življenja, kot tudi z zaniče-

vanjem naše višje civiliza-

cijske stopnje v celoti, tako

da so se razhajanja med

nami samo še stopnjevala,

vse do njihovega poskusa

vdora na naša energetska

polja.«

»Ali bi jim osvojitev teh

vaših energetskih polj

zagotovila premoč nad

vami?« sem vprašal.

»Saj jih ne morejo osvojiti.

Toda nekateri med njimi

so povsem prepričani

o svojih bojnih in osva-

jalskih sposobnostih, to

pa je posledica neštetih

mitov iz njihove, kot pra-

vijo, zgodovine, čeprav so

si jih večino šele nakna-

dno izmislili oziroma

so nekatere sorazmerno

malo pomembne dogodke

tako poveličali in spre-

menili, da so potem iz

njih nastale že povsem

neverjetne zgodbe. Nare-

dili smo analizo nastanka

teh zgodb. Vojskovodij

544

ancestors also had many military leaders, and thus a basis of this kind does exist. But many of the brilliant exploits of indi-viduals are to a considera-ble extent the fruit of later imagination. Owing to the constant presence of these legends in their everyday lives, some Acutins have already lost a sense of rea-lity. Then some extremists found themselves, as you say on Earth, in the right place at the right time, and this is when they deci-ded to try and break into our energy fields. As you have seen, they did con-siderable damage to us, but they were not able to break through our protec-tion. It is hard for us to understand what can have given them such an idea. They deciphered some data about us and that was enough for them to decide to attack.”

“But now you can’t get into your energy fields

so res imeli tudi njihovi

predniki veliko, tako da

obstaja tovrstna podlaga.

Toda pri tem so številna

bleščeča dejanja posame-

znikov v znatni meri le

plod kasnejše domišljije.

Zaradi nenehne prisotno-

sti teh legend v njihovem

vsakdanjem življenju so

nekateri Ostrini že izgu-

bili občutek za realnost.

Potem se je nekaj skraj-

nežev znašlo na kupu ali,

kot pravite na Zemlji, ob

pravem času na pravem

mestu. Sledil je poskus

vdora na naša energet-

ska polja in naredili so

nam, kot si lahko videl,

kar precej škode, a naše

zaščite le niso prebili.

Težko razumemo, kako

jim je sploh prišlo na

misel kaj takega. Nekaj

malega podatkov o nas

so dešifrirali in že so se

odločili za napad.«

»Toda tudi vi ne morete

zdaj na svoja energetska

545

either. There is no denying that it was a serious attack,” I said, referring to the danger represented by the Acutins. Judging from Honaja’s words, she unde-restimated them a little too much, at least in the military sphere. From my point of view the victor in this war of theirs was by no means clear.But Honaja shook her head: “They cannot vanquish us. Even on the battlefield we are a match for them. These energy fields were merely an advantage. The real shame is that this will only become appa-rent after a conflict, after a war that could be avo-ided of we were to rele-ase our forces from those energy fields. Even so, all is not yet lost. We can still ensure peace, which is so vital for the survival of you Earthmen.”“Why for us?” I asked.“Because the fighting will also take place in your part of the galaxy, and

polja. Vsekakor je to bil

hud napad,« sem rekel z

namenom, da bi nakazal

nevarnost Ostrinov, ki jih

je Honaja, po njenih bese-

dah sodeč, le malo preveč

podcenjevala, vsaj glede

vojaškega področja. Zame

morebitni zmagovalec v

tej njihovi vojni nikakor ni

bil povsem razviden.

Toda Honaja je odkima-

vala: »Ne morejo nas pre-

magati. Tudi na bojnem

polju se lahko kosamo z

njimi. Ta energetska polja

so bila le naša prednost.

Škoda je bolj v tem, ker

se bo to pokazalo šele po

spopadu, po vojni, ki bi se

ji lahko izognili, če bi spro-

stili naše sile iz tistih ener-

getskih polj. Sicer pa še ni

vse izgubljeno. Še vedno

lahko zagotovimo mir, ki

je tako nujen za preživetje

vas Zemljanov.«

»Zakaj pa nas?« mi je ušlo.

»Ker bodo boji potekali

tudi v vašem predelu

vesolja, tam pa, kjer bodo

546

where there are conflicts nothing will be left alive. Your whole planet will be destroyed. We must pre-vent this.”“Er, yes,” I mumbled. That could also be true. Although perhaps Honaja was exaggerating a little. I wasn’t simply going to believe something like that just because she said it. On the other hand, with all the terrible weaponry that both Acutins and Sen-sins had at their disposal, it wouldn’t take much to destroy life on Earth. A catastrophe might even happen by mistake. Damn it! Even so, Honaja was exaggerating. I could sense it somehow. But that didn’t alter the fact that the whole business was extre-mely problematic.“It seems very odd that a highly developed civilisa-tion should concern itself only with building its military potential,” I said

spopadi, ne bo ostalo nič

živega. Ves vaš planet bo

uničen. To moramo pre-

prečiti.«

»Hja, hm,« sem zamomljal.

Tudi to bi bilo lahko res.

Čeprav je Honaja morda

nekoliko pretiravala. Česa

takega ji le nisem mogel

verjeti kar tako. Po drugi

strani pa ob vsem tem

silnem orožju, ki ga imajo

tako Ostrini kot Čutini,

ne bi bilo potrebno prav

dosti za uničenje življe-

nja na Zemlji. Najbrž bi se

katastrofa lahko zgodila

tudi po pomoti. Presneto.

Honaja vendarle pretirava.

Nekaj takega občutka sem

le imel. Kakor koli, vse

skupaj je skrajno proble-

matično.

»Prav čudno se zdi, da se

neka visoko razvita civili-

zacija tako ozko usmeri le

v izgradnjo svojega voja-

škega potenciala,« sem

547

doubtfully. “Still, it’s a good thing that at least you have followed a normal evolutionary path.”

“Yes,” agreed Honaja with a smile, as she watched the changes in my expres-sion. My words certainly weren’t entirely convin-cing: at that moment they coincided with what I actu-ally thought, but the rest of time they probably didn’t. So many things needed to be taken into account and I wasn’t capable of saying anything more specific, despite my best efforts. I sighed helplessly. This wasn’t how things were either.

Honaja continued to observe me. Once again she immediately guessed what I was thinking. “Look Peter, there are no longer any obstacles. It is no longer necessary for me to conceal anything from you. You have seen our battles. You had to. Now

navrgel enega od svojih

dvomov. »No, da, še dobro,

da ste vsaj vi šli po bolj nor-

malni evolucijski poti.«

»Da,« je z nasmehom pri-

trdila Honaja in opazo-

vala spremembe izraza

na mojem obrazu. Seveda

nisem bil povsem prepri-

čljiv s svojimi besedami,

ki so bile le za trenutek v

skladu z mojim razmišlja-

njem, sicer pa najbrž ne,

kajti marsikaj je bilo treba

upoštevati, jaz pa nisem

mogel reči česa bolj dolo-

čenega, čeprav sem se

trudil. Narahlo sem puhnil

iz sebe v nekakšni nemoči.

Vse namreč tudi ni bilo

tako, ker se stvari potem

niso ujemale z druge

strani.

Honaja me je še naprej

motrila. Spet je takoj uga-

nila moje misli. »Peter, glej,

saj ni več nobenih ovir.

Ničesar več mi ni treba

skrivati pred tabo. Videl

si naše bitke. To si moral

548

you know how quickly the Earth’s destruction could come about. After all you have seen, this must be clear to you. We are on the side of peace. Not only that: we have also main-tained peace right up until now, and will continue to do so. You too can con-tribute something to this. And since you Earthmen cannot bypass this con-flict between us and the Acutins, we have to work together. Up until now we have relied more on your powers of perception and your ability to follow your feelings. We knew that you would be able to per-ceive our friendly feelings towards you Earthmen, and that has been enough until now.” Honaja was talking very calmly. And confidently. She seemed sincere when she continued:”Peter, our native planet, where our people now live, is quite far away. We are pioneers. When we reached a high

videti. Zdaj veš, kako hitro

lahko pride do uničenja

Zemlje. To ti je po vsem

tem moralo postati jasno.

Mi smo za mir. Pa ne le to.

Mi smo mir vse do zdaj

tudi vzdrževali in ga bomo

še naprej. Nekaj pa lahko

k temu prispevaš tudi ti.

In ker tudi vi Zemljani ne

morete mimo tega spora

med nami in Ostrini,

moramo delovati skupaj.

Doslej smo se zanašali bolj

na tvoje čutno zaznavanje

in na tvoje razmišljanje

po občutku. Vedeli smo,

da boš zaznal naše prija-

teljsko nagnjenje do vas

Zemljanov, to je doslej tudi

zadostovalo.«

Honaja je govorila zelo

umirjeno. In tudi samo-

zavestno. Delovala je

iskreno, ko je nadaljevala:

»Peter, precej daleč je naš

rojstni planet, kjer še zdaj

živijo naši rojaki. Mi pa

smo pionirji. Ko smo dose-

549

level of development we built great spaceships for voyages lasting thousands of years. And thus it was that one of these ships arrived here, where we are now. We arrived here before the Acutins. They came later. We were the first alien civilisation they had encountered, so that this was something new for them. For this reason they responded to us very rationally. They were very friendly during our first encounters and we accep-ted them as our neigh-bours. There is enough space here for us, for them, and for the people of Earth too. We left them in peace, since the proxi-mity of other civilisati-ons is actually agreeable to us, while at the same time they represented no danger to us. We main-tained our acquaintance at occasional encounters at which we gradually got to know each other thro-

gli visoko stopnjo razvoja,

smo zgradili velike vesolj-

ske ladje za tisočletna

potovanja. In tako je ena

teh ladij prispela tudi sem,

kjer smo zdaj. Še pred

Ostrini smo prišli. Oni

so prišli pozneje. Mi smo

bili prva tuja civilizacija,

ki so jo srečali, tako da je

bilo to zanje nekaj novega,

zato so se nam odzvali zelo

razumsko, prav prijatelj-

ski so bili ob naših prvih

srečanjih in mi smo jih

sprejeli kot svoje sosede.

Prostora je tu dovolj, za nas,

zanje in tudi za Zemljane.

Pustili smo jih v miru, saj

je za nas celo prijetna bli-

žina drugih civilizacij, pa

tudi nikakršne nevarno-

sti niso pomenili za nas.

Vzdrževali smo poznanstva

z občasnimi srečanji, na

katerih smo se postopno

spoznavali v medsebojnih

pogovorih, hodili smo na

obiske drug k drugemu.

550

ugh discussions, and we would visit each other. A considerable amount of time passed like this, and everything suggested that lasting neighbourly relati-ons had been established. We all had enough of eve-rything and there was no apparent need to change anything. It is true that some on our side warned that we should be careful because the Acutins were beginning to catch us up in terms of technology. The warnings also related to their military tradition, imbued with legends full of cruelty and veneration of military leaders. And yet all our analyses of the comparability of their military potential with ours indicated that we had a sufficiently large advan-tage. Everything appeared to be in order. According to estimates, surprises were not possible either. Then came that unexpected attack or attempt to break into the energy fields, and

Tako je minilo precej časa

in vse je že kazalo na trajno

zastavljene dobrososedske

odnose. Vsi smo imeli vsega

dovolj, nobenih potreb po

spreminjanju česar koli ni

bilo videti. Res so nekateri

z naše strani opozarjali na

nujno previdnost, ker so

nas Ostrini začeli tehno-

loško dohitevati. Opozo-

rila so se nanašala tudi na

njihovo vojaško tradicijo,

prežeto z legendami, pol-

nimi okrutnosti in čašče-

nja vojskovodij. Vendar so

vse naše analize primerlji-

vosti njihovega in našega

vojaškega potenciala

kazale našo dovolj veliko

prednost. Vse je bilo videti

v redu. In po naših ocenah

niti presenečenja niso

bila možna. Potem pa je

prišlo do tistega nepriča-

kovanega napada oziroma

poskusa vdora na ener-

getska polja, to pa je takoj

551

that immediately conver-ted the formerly peaceful neighbourly coexistence into a state of hostility. Why did you do it, we immediately asked them at the first negotiations. But all of a sudden they dragged up arguments based on some studies and analyses that they had car-ried out and insisted that their ridiculous findings were correct.”

“Where did they get such an idea from?” I asked, shaking my head at the behaviour of the Acutins towards the friendly Sen-sins. Everything seemed to be based on artificial con-structs. Suddenly curious, I asked: “What did they actually come up with?”

My fingers toyed with Honaja’s wrist as we exchanged glances. Whe-never she looked at me I could feel her emotional warmth, but not always with the same intensity:

spremenilo dotlej mirno

sosedsko sobivanje v sovra-

žno stanje. Zakaj ste to sto-

rili, smo jih vprašali takoj

na prvih pogajanjih. Pa so

kar naenkrat privlekli na

dan argumente, zasnovane

na nekakšnih njihovih pre-

učevanjih in analizah ter

vztrajali na pravilnosti teh

svojih bedastih spoznanj.«

»Kako jim je sploh prišlo

kaj takega na misel?« sem

vprašal in zmajal z glavo

nad obnašanjem Ostrinov

do prijateljsko naravnanih

Čutinov. Vse je stalo na

nekih konstruktih, zato

sem v utrinku radovedno-

sti navrgel: »In kaj so si

pravzaprav izmislili?«

Moji prsti so se v rahlih

stiskih poigravali s Honaji-

nim zapestjem, medtem ko

sva si izmenjavala poglede,

ob katerih sem vedno

znova začutil njeno člove-

ško toplino, pa čeprav ne

ves čas enako, ker jo je pre-

552

she was having to choose her words carefully and this inhibited what would otherwise have been an entirely spontaneous demonstration of her fee-lings. After my initial reserve, when my mind was still full of ghosts, I was now trying to express my own feelings more openly.

“Peter, you have already realised that our relations with the Acutins are not simple, but it is probably more difficult for you to imagine the dimensions of these differences. You probably haven’t even con-sidered the possibility that the difference between us and the Acutins is grea-ter than, for example, the difference between us and human civilisation on Earth.”

I nodded my head to indi-cate my provisional accep-tance of this possibility: “That your differences

mišljanje o ustrezni izbiri

besed zadrževalo pri sicer

že povsem spontanem

izkazovanju čustev, ki sem

jih jaz med tem srečanjem

po začetni zadržanosti

zaradi razmišljanja o duho-

vih zdaj že spet skušal izra-

žati vse bolj sproščeno.

»Peter, da naša razmerja z

Ostrini niso preprosta, si

že sam spoznal, toda raz-

sežnosti teh nasprotij si

najbrž bolj težko predsta-

vljaš. Verjetno niti pomi-

slil nisi na možnost večje

različnosti med nami in

Ostrini, kot je na primer

razlika med nami in člove-

ško civilizacijo na Zemlji.«

Zmignil sem z glavo, češ

da pogojno sprejemam

tako razmišljanje: »Da so

553

have brought you to a state of war is something I alre-ady know. Conflicts over specific advantages are something that are familiar to us too. That you and the Acutins are also different in other ways is something that I have only recently realised, and the situation is still not entirely clear to me.” I smiled, feeling sli-ghtly embarrassed. “There are quite a few things here that are difficult to recon-cile. What is it that most bothers the Acutins?”

“Our endorsement of dif-ferent forms of life,” was Honaja’s immediate reply, without hesitation.“Oh yes?” Various thoughts fla-shed through my brain. It really was difficult for me to reconcile that busi-ness with the ghosts and Honaja. Unpleasant was perhaps a better word. Suddenly a possible inter-nal difference occurred to me: That among the Sen-

vas nasprotja pripeljala v

vojno stanje, že vem. Tudi

spori zaradi določenih

prednosti mi niso tuji. Da

pa ste si z Ostrini tudi sicer

različni, sem lahko spo-

znal šele v zadnjem času,

čeprav povsem jasne pred-

stave še vedno nimam.«

Nasmehnil sem se v rahli

zadregi. »Kar precej stvari

je tu bolj težko spraviti v

sklad. In kaj pri vsem tem

najbolj moti Ostrine?«

»Naše zagovarjanje različ-

nih življenjskih oblik,« je

bil takojšnji Honajin odgo-

vor, brez premišljanja.

»A tako?« V hipu so mi zle-

teli različni pomisleki skozi

možgane, ker to s tistimi

duhovi in Honajo mi je

bilo res težko uskladiti,

pravzaprav je bilo zame

bolj neprijetno kot težko.

Nenadoma sem pomislil

na morebitno notranjo

različnost. Da so med

554

sins there were ghosts and but also “different” Sen-sins, like Honaja for exam-ple. That was a pleasant thought. That would make everything a lot easier. I wouldn’t have anything against these “different” Sensins, since they hadn’t troubled me up till now. At least not excessively.

“In the Acutins’ opinion,” continued Honaja, “our merging with the human form of life on Earth is demeaning. For them it means acknowledging the equality, if not the supe-riority, of primitive races. In vain we explained to them that this wasn’t true, and that all we take from people are their passions, their longings. Yes, Peter, human longings refresh us. Human existence is rich in feelings and when we take over your already exhausted souls, empty, drained of feelings, they reanimate us because they forces us to build our own

Čutini duhovi in zraven še

drugačni Čutini, taki, kot

je na primer Honaja. Kar

prijetna misel. Tako bi bilo

potem vse skupaj dosti

lažje. Nič ne bi imel proti

»drugačnim« Čutinom, saj

me že doslej niso motili.

Vsaj ne pretirano.

»Naše združevanje s člo-

veško obliko življenja na

Zemlji,« je nadaljevala

Honaja, »je po mnenju

Ostrinov ponižujoče. Bilo

naj bi priznavanje ena-

kovrednosti primitivnim

rasam, če že ne večvre-

dnosti. Zaman smo jim

razlagali, da nič takega

ni res in da prevzemamo

od ljudi le njihove strasti,

njihova hrepenenja. Da,

Peter, človeško hrepene-

nje nas osvežuje. Člove-

ška bit je bogata v svojem

čustvovanju in kadar pre-

vzamemo od vas že izžeto

dušo, prazno, izpraznjeno

čustev, nas prav tako poži-

vlja, ker nas sili v hitro

555

personalities and beca-use this provokes creati-vity in us, which fills us with life once again. This means that we are in con-stant transformation, first because of our merging with an interesting human personality, a being full of life, full of every type of existential responses, from wrath and rage to happiness and joy, and then because of our union with an empty, dull crea-ture, with such misery in it that resistance to accep-ting such a thing into our ourselves inflames us even more. And yet all that the Acutins have been able to ascertain from all of these varied forms of life of ours is that we are merely the robots of some very deve-loped civilisation, nothing more. In their opinion the only logical explana-tion for our behaviour is that all the members of the crew of our pionee-ring fleet died and that only we robots were left,

lastno izgrajevanje oseb-

nosti in ker v nas izzove

ustvarjalnost, to pa nas

spet napolni z življenjem.

Tako smo v stalnem preo-

blikovanju, enkrat zaradi

združitve z zanimivo člo-

veško osebnostjo, z bitjem

polnim življenja, polnim

vseh vrst življenjskih odzi-

vov, od gneva in besa do

veselja in življenjskih rado-

stih, drugič zaradi spoji-

tve s prazno, nezanimivo

kreaturo, s tako bedo v

njej, da nas odpor proti

sprejemanju česa takega

vase še bolj razvname.

Ostrini pa so iz vseh teh

naših pisanih oblik življe-

nja lahko ugotovili le to, da

smo zgolj roboti neke, sicer

zelo razvite civilizacije,

nič drugega. Po njihovem

mnenju je v našem poče-

tju logično le to, da so vsi

člani našega pionirskega

ladjevja pomrli, ostali smo

556

along with programs for maintaining life, and the-refore we sought a specific living species with which to establish symbiosis. In the Acutins’ opinion, the living representatives of highly developed civili-sations would never have done something like this. This is of course non-sense. And yet such thin-king may well be the most natural thinking for the representatives of a civi-lisation that is as arrogant and inward-looking as that of the Acutins.” Honaja’s explanation had the effect of making eve-rything even less clear than it had been before. All the explanations seemed, if not convincing, at least possible, although I did not like the Acutins’ definition of the Sensins as robots, which would of course mean that Honaja was a robot. I wasn’t con-vinced by it either. Yet in the end, Honaja’s expla-nation was also possible.

le roboti skupaj s programi

za vzdrževanje življenja, in

zato smo si poiskali dolo-

čeno življenjsko vrsto, s

katero naj bi potem vzpo-

stavili simbiozo. Resnično

živi predstavniki višje raz-

vitih civilizacij po mnenju

Ostrinov nikoli ne bi

počeli česa takega. To je

seveda nesmisel. Čeprav

je tako nadutim in vase

zagledanim predstavni-

kom neke civilizacije, kot

so Ostrini, tako razmišlja-

nje prav lahko najbližje.«

Ob tej Honajini razlagi mi

je postajalo vse skupaj še

manj jasno, kot mi je bilo

prej. Vse razlage so bile

videti če že ne prepričljive,

pa vsaj možne, čeprav mi

ostrinovsko opredeljeva-

nje Čutinov kot robotov,

kar bi seveda pomenilo,

da je Honaja robot, ni bilo

prav nič všeč, kakor tudi ni

bilo posebno prepričljivo.

Na koncu koncev pa bi res

bila možna tudi Honajina

557

It was equally difficult to accept that no truly living beings would have chosen the form of development adopted by the Sensins. There was too much Acutin arrogance in this explanation.“All these forms of life are certainly very interesting,” I said finally, after a short pause.“Yes, Peter, much can be interesting,” replied Honaja. “There are many forms and each of them has its own advanta-ges, which for the casual observer can be difficult to understand.”“And do you Sensins know some other form of life in more detail?” I smiled, this time a little more easily, because I already had too many of these findings and opinions in my head.

“Yes, there is one other interesting form of life,” said Honaja, with a myste-rious smile. “We know quite a lot about you

razlaga. Da se nikakršna

res živa bitja ne bi odločila

za razvojno obliko Čuti-

nov, je bilo prav tako težko

sprejeti. Preveč nadutosti

Ostrinov je bilo čutiti v tej

razlagi.

»Res so zanimive vse te

oblike življenja, da,« sem

naposled dejal po kratkem

premisleku.

»Da, Peter, marsikaj je lahko

zanimivo,« je takoj živahno

povzela Honaja. »Veliko

oblik je in vsaka med njimi

ima svoje prednosti, ki pa

so postranskemu opazo-

valcu prav lahko bolj težko

razumljive.«

»Mar Čutini poznate

pobliže še kakšno obliko

življenja?« Nasmehnil

sem se, to pot malo bolj

sproščeno, ker se mi je že

preveč nabralo vseh teh

ugotovitev in mnenj.

»Da, še ena oblika življe-

nja je zanimiva,« je dejala

Honaja z igrivo skrivno-

stnim nasmehom na ustni-

cah. »Kar precej vemo o

558

Earthmen, about huma-nity, about people on Earth. Some of our findings are very amusing. You have already achieved a level of development that involves quite complex demands on the individual, and yet you still use merely a tiny percentage of your intel-lectual capacities. With you, building the perso-nality is subordinated to more random occurren-ces. In this we are quite different from you. This is actually the key to the gre-atest differences between our two civilisations. Building the personality is, for us, simultaneously a science and an art. We enjoy building ourselves. Naturally you cannot do this in the same way that we do, but you could do a great deal more. We know the abilities of individual Earthmen; it is not merely about their passions, their sensuality, but also about their dormant characteri-stics. We absorb them into

vas Zemljanih, o člove-

štvu, o ljudeh na Zemlji.

Nekatera spoznanja so

prav zabavna. Dosegli ste

že razvojno stopnjo z dokaj

zapletenimi zahtevami

do posameznika, vendar

še vedno ostajate pri zelo

majhnem odstotku izkori-

ščanja svojih umskih zmo-

gljivosti. Tudi izgradnja

osebnosti je pri vas pod-

vržena bolj naključnemu

dogajanju. Mi se v tem

kar precej razlikujemo

od vas. Pravzaprav tu leži

ključ največjih razlik med

našima civilizacijama.

Izgradnja osebnosti je za

nas znanost in umetnost

hkrati. Uživamo v svojem

izgrajevanju. Seveda tega

ne morete početi enako

kot mi, toda lahko bi nare-

dili veliko več. Poznamo

sposobnosti vaših posa-

meznikov, ne gre le za

njihove strasti, za njihovo

čutnost, ampak tudi za nji-

hove speče lastnosti. Mi jih

prevzemamo vase in jih

559

ourselves and then build on them according to our customs.”

“How do you do that?”“That is something that would be difficult to explain in just a few words. And anyway you do not need to know that. You yourselves will gradually discover how it is possible to make better use of your abilities. And of course, as you can probably imagine, the individual’s diligence is not enough here. It is necessary to know how to do it.”“I see,” I said. “I think that most people would certainly do something in this direction if they knew how to. That is to say, if they could. Or as far as I know they would. Could you give us some of this knowledge?”

Honaja laughed: “We Sen-sins have more passion, sensuality and longings than you Earthmen, and

nato izgrajujemo po naših

običajih.«

»Kako pa to dosežete?«

»Tega se ne da povedati v

nekaj besedah. Pa saj ti niti

ni treba vedeti. Sami boste

postopno odkrivali, kako

je mogoče bolje izkoriščati

svoje sposobnosti. Seveda

pa, kakor najbrž domne-

vaš, posameznikova pri-

dnost pri tem ne zadostuje.

Vedeti je treba, kako se to

počne.«

»Hja,« sem povzel, »po moje

bi večina prav gotovo že

kaj naredila v tej smeri, če

bi vedela, kako, se pravi,

če bi mogla. Vsaj kolikor

jaz vem. Ali bi nam vi

lahko dali kaj tovrstnega

znanja?«

Honaja se je zvonko

zasmejala: »Več strasti,

čutnosti in raznih hre-

penenj imamo mi Čutini

kakor Zemljani, in na

560

it is on this basis that we build our personalities. There are many differen-ces between us. But you Earthmen also have many different passions and yearnings in you which you have to harmonise logically with the enviro-nment in which you are situated. In this you are very amusing. At least to the outside observer.” Her voice became more seri-ous: “Until, of course, a confusion occurs in the interweaving of your pas-sions with your intellect, when finally you don’t know what will prevail. We on the other hand are better able to control our-selves.”

“How did you achieve that?”“We had to. Otherwise, by taking over all the impulses of a murderously inclined individual, one of us could have caused a massacre among us. And naturally we could not

tej podlagi izgrajujemo

svoje osebnosti. Tu je

precej razlik med nami,

da. Ampak tudi Zemljani

imate v sebi nemalo različ-

nih strasti in hrepenenj,

ki jih morate smiselno

usklajevati z okoljem, v

katerem se nahajate. Pri

tem ste prav zabavni. Vsaj

gledano od strani.« In

zresnjeno je nadaljevala:

»Seveda, dokler ne pride

do zmešnjave pri preple-

tanju vaših strasti z razu-

mom, ko na koncu ne

veš, kaj bo prevladalo. Mi

se imamo bolj pod kon-

trolo.«

»In kako ste to dosegli?«

»Morali smo. Saj bi sicer s

prevzemom vseh nagnjenj

katerega od vaših morilsko

nagnjenih posameznikov

lahko kdo od nas povzro-

čil pravi pomor med nami.

Tega seveda nismo mogli

561

allow that. We have also obtained sufficient expe-rience. We have developed the right mental systems.”“And so you can take from a human being his pas-sions, emotions and eve-rything that defines the individual and build on this with your own kno-wledge in order to build a personality and in this way obtain a new living being?” I guessed. “Yes. We have alre-ady achieved quite good results in this direction.” Honaja seemed to be enjo-ying herself. “Very good results.”“But you could send kno-wledge of this kind to some other planet via any data transfer medium and then build a civilisation similar to yours on this basis? Would this kno-wledge be enough on its own? You wouldn’t need anything else?”“Yes, it could be enough.”

dopustiti. Pa tudi dovolj

izkušenj smo si pridobili.

Prave miselne sisteme smo

si izoblikovali.«

»Torej lahko človeku

odvzamete strasti, čustvo-

vanje in sploh vse, kar

določa posameznika, ter

to nadgradite s svojim zna-

njem za izgradnjo osebno-

sti in tako dobite novo živo

bitje?« sem ugibal.

»Da, precej dobre rezultate

smo že dosegli v tej smeri.«

Honaja je očitno uživala

pri tem odgovoru. »Zelo

dobre.«

»Toda tovrstno znanje bi

lahko poslali na kakšen

drug planet prek kakr-

šnega koli medija za prenos

podatkov in na tej podlagi

potem zgradili civilizacijo,

podobno vaši? Ali bi zado-

stovalo zgolj to znanje? Nič

drugega?«

»Da, lahko bi zadostovalo.«

562

“And if you were a civi-lisation of this kind, how would I distinguish you, or recognise you?”“You wouldn’t. Even for us it is almost impossible.” Honaja put her arms round me and pulled herself towards me. She was now completely relaxed and clearly enjoyed being with me, but I was not entirely comfortable.“But from what you have told me,” I began doubt-fully, “I can assume that if this knowledge was already present aboard the ship you came here on, and if the crew died…”

Honaja laughed again, more heartily this time. Everything was clear to her. Not only that, she found my doubts amusing. She transmitted such self-assurance through those few glances when she saw how difficult it was for me to express my thoughts.

“It is right for you to give

»In če bi vi bili take vrste

civilizacija, kako bi vas

ločil, spoznal?«

»Nikakor. Še nam komaj

uspeva.« Honaja se me je

oklenila z rokami in se pri-

žela k meni. Zdaj je bila že

povsem sproščena, očitno

ji je bilo všeč ob meni, a

meni ni bilo najbolj prije-

tno.

»Toda po tem, kar si pove-

dala,« malce sem pomislil

v dvomu, »lahko domne-

vam, da bi v primeru, če bi

že bilo tako znanje na vaši

ladji, s katero ste prišli, in

bi posadka pomrla . . .«

Honaja se je spet zasmejala

z živim, zvonkim glasom.

Vse ji je bilo jasno. In ne

le to. Moj pomislek jo je

zabaval. Veliko samoza-

vesti je prišlo iz nje skozi

tistih nekaj iskrivih pogle-

dov, ko je opazovala, kako

težko mi je izraziti svoja

spoznanja.

»Prav je in tudi zelo lepo,«

563

your imagination free rein.” Her voice became slightly patronising. “Many things are possible. Very many. Too many for us to com-prehend everything quic-kly. But thinking about all these possibilities is fun in its own way, isn’t it?”

Once again I had to repeat my noncommit-tal “Hmm”. Honaja’s last comment had started an amusing, though slightly confused train of thought. “Amusing?” I ran my eyes over her face. There was nothing robotic about her. Nothing. Abundant femi-ninity was all that she tran-smitted. An abundance of life. No doubt of mine could seriously connect her to any kind of robot. Not even that explana-tion of the Acutins accor-ding to which the crew of Sensins were supposed to have died and left the development of their civi-lisation to be continued by robots. Because in that

njen glas je postajal za

kanček pokroviteljski, »da

pustiš domišljiji prosto

pot. Zelo veliko stvari

je možnih. Zelo veliko.

Preveč za hitro dojetje

vsega. Po svoje pa je razmi-

šljanje o vseh teh možno-

stih zabavno, kajne?«

Spet sem moral pono-

viti svoj »hm.« Zadnja

Honajina pripomba me

je nenadoma preusme-

rila na nekakšno zabavno

področje na rahlo zme-

deni podlagi. »Zabavno!?«

Pogled mi je zdrsnil po

njenih licih. Nič robot-

skega ni bilo na njej. Nič.

Le obilje ženskosti je pri-

hajalo iz nje. Obilje življe-

nja. Noben moj pomislek

je ni mogel resnično

povezati z nikakršno

robotinjo. Tega ni mogla

niti tista razlaga Ostrinov,

po kateri naj bi posadka

Čutinov pomrla, nakar

naj bi razvoj njihove civi-

lizacije nadaljevali roboti.

Ker potem bi bila Honaja

564

case Honaja would be a robot, and that was some-thing I simply couldn’t accept. Just as I couldn’t accept the idea that she was a ghost. And yet some doubts still remained… I was starting to get irri-tated. And now she was suggesting that thinking about all this was amu-sing for her. Hah! Maybe. If I were able to ponder all these things somewhere on Earth, lying on a sofa, I would probably have found it amusing too. But I have to participate here. There is going to be fighting here: there is going to be a war. Actually I was already a participant in this war. I was even one of the key participants, and yet even now it was not entirely clear whether I was on the right side. Well... That tho-ught... Where had it come from? Why wouldn’t I be on the right side? What sort of doubt… I already knew something about all of this, that was true

robot, to pa se mi je zdelo

nesprejemljivo. Tega pre-

prosto nisem mogel spre-

jeti, kakor tudi tega ne,

da bi bila le duh. Čeprav

mi je kakšen pomislek le

ostal… Celo vznejevoljil

sem se. Vsaj po svoje. In

zdaj mi je še navrgla, da

je razmišljanje o vsem

tem zanjo zabavno. Hja.

Morda. Če bi o vsem

tem lahko razmišljal kje

na Zemlji, na kavču, bi

najbrž res lahko bilo

zabavno. Toda jaz moram

tukaj sodelovati.Tu bodo

spopadi, tu bo vojna.

Pravzaprav sem že med

udeleženci te vojne. Celo

eden ključnih udeležen-

cev sem, pa mi še zdaj ni

popolnoma jasno, ali sem

na pravi strani. No, da…

Ta misel… Od kod se mi je

vzela? Zakaj naj ne bi bil

na pravi strani? Kakšen

dvom… Nekaj že vem o

vsem skupaj, to vsekakor.

565

at any rate. But I couldn’t be completely sure, since after all some of the expla-nations of that Acutin had seemed quite pertinent. Very pertinent, in fact. If Honaja had not been there, I probably would not have been able to decide. Even now it was hard. I shook my head to try and get rid of the nagging thought that perhaps I should be helping the Acutins...

“Peter,” began Honaja once again, “don’t worry your-self by thinking too much. It is better to let yourself by guided by your fee-lings, as people usually do when things are not clear in the rational sense.” I nodded and looked doub-tfully at Honaja: “You know, relying on your feelings is also more...” I paused. “Even thinking about this subject can be amusing. Like your

Ampak popolnoma sto-

odstotno se le ne morem

opredeliti, kajti neka-

tere utemeljitve tistega

Ostrina so se mi vendarle

zdele precej umestne.

Presneto umestne. Če ne

bi bilo Honaje, se najbrž

sploh ne bi mogel odlo-

čiti. Še zdaj se težko odlo-

čim. Med rahlim odki-

mavanjem sem ustavil ta

svoja razmišljanja. Morda

bi vseeno moral pomagati

Ostrinom . . .?

»Peter,« je spet spregovorila

Honaja, »nikar se ne obre-

menjuj s pretiranim razmi-

šljanjem. Raje se prepusti

ravnanju po občutku, kot

običajno počnete ljudje,

ko vam stvari niso v celoti

razumsko jasne.«

Prikimal sem in se dvou-

mno zazrl v Honajo: »Veš,

to razmišljanje na osnovi

občutkov je tudi bolj tako…

tako…« Malce sem pomol-

čal. »Tudi razmišljanje na

to temo je lahko zabavno.

566

consideration of various possibilities. You never get to the end of them... How many stupid decisi-ons people make just like that – on the basis of fee-lings.”“And important ones too.” A smile continued to play on Honaja’s face. “At least when you have no other possibility left than to trust your feelings, it is easier to do so.”“That’s true. If you can.”“Of course, sometimes there is no other way.”

* * *

Lost in thought, I obser-ved the distribution of the various conflicts shown in the holo-display. Thou-sands of battles were alre-ady taking place across all the boundary areas separating the Sensins and

Kot tista tvoje razmišlja-

nje o različnih možnostih.

Zlepa jim ne prideš do

konca. Koliko neumnih

odločitev sprejmejo ljudje

kar tako - po občutku.«

»Pa tudi pomembnih.« Na

Honajinih ustnicah se je

še kar naprej poigraval

nasmešek. »Vsaj ko ti ne

ostane nič drugega kot

odločanje po občutku, se

lažje odločiš po njem.«

»Hja, no, da. Če se že

moraš.«

»Seveda, včasih ne gre dru-

gače.«

* * *

Zamišljeno sem opazoval

v holiju prikazano prostor-

sko razporeditev spopadov.

Na tisoče bitk je potekalo

po vseh mejnih ploskvah

med Čutini in Ostrini, a

567

Acutins, and new conflicts continued to flare up in hitherto calm areas. Fla-shes and sparks appeared in the holo-display and spread out rapidly in all directions. These sparks meant the explosion of powerful nuclear weapons or energy bombs made of antimatter. Thousands or perhaps millions of them must have exploded in these mutually destructive battles between Sensins and Acutins. And before the glow of an individual explosion had time to die down, new flashes appea-red next to it in the form of brightly shining sphe-rical lights – or at least that is how they appeared in the holo-display. Each of these lights, with the release of its enormous energy, could have destro-yed all life on Earth. Both Sensins and Acutins have more than enough of these bombs. Judging from the flashes in the display, bil-lions of them had already

so se še vedno vnemali

novi spopadi na dotlej

mirnih področjih vesolja.

Zaiskrilo se je v holiju in

iskrenje se je bliskovito

razširilo v vse smeri. Te

iskre so pomenile eksplo-

zije močnih jedrskih ali

energetskih bomb, ver-

jetno iz antimaterije. Na

tisoče, morda na milijone

jih je moralo eksplodirati

v tej medsebojno uničujo-

čih se bitkah med Čutini

in Ostrini. In še preden

je ugasnil sij posamezne

eksplozije, se je v neposre-

dni bližini prikazalo novo

iskrenje v obliki močno

svetleče kroglaste lučke,

tako je bilo videti v holiju.

Vsaka od teh lučk bi lahko s

sprostitvijo svoje ogromne

energije uničila vse življe-

nje na Zemlji. Tako Čutini

kot Ostrini so imeli več

kakor dovolj takih bomb.

Sodeč po svetlikanju v

holiju, jih je najbrž eksplo-

diralo že na milijarde. Mili-

568

exploded. A billion didn’t mean much at this scale. And the Earth meant even less. It was so vulnerable.

* * *

I brushed Honaja’s cheek with my lips and moved down her neck with slow kisses.“Honaja!”“Yes, Peter?”“If the opening of your energy fields leads to a re-establishing of the balance of power and, consequen-tly, to peace...”“…everything will be like before, Peter.”“Like before?”“Yes. What’s troubling you?”“Us, Honaja. Will we go our own way too?”Honaja did not answer, she

jarda ima v teh vesoljskih

razsežnostih bolj majhen

pomen. Zemlja pa še manj-

šega. Tako ranljiva.

* * *

Z ustnicami sem se dota-

knil Honajinega lica tik

pod ušesi in s počasnimi

poljubi zdrsnil po njenem

vratu.

»Honaja!«

»Da, Peter.«

»Če bo odprtje vaših

energetskih polj prineslo

ponovno vzpostavitev rav-

novesja sil in s tem mir . .

.«

»… bo vse po starem,

Peter.«

»Po starem?«

»Da. Kaj te moti pri tem?«

»Midva, Honaja. Bova šla

tudi midva vsak po svoje?«

Honaja ni odgovorila, le

569

just moved a little closer. I pulled her towards me.“What about your hus-band?”“My husband?”“And this similarity between me and him? It still isn’t clear to me how this is possible.”“Peter, you know, as I have already told you, that in our civilisation we devote the greatest attention to building personality.”“Yes, that’s interesting. With us on Earth this is merely something that sort of forms itself. Some indi-viduals talk loudly about it, there are even “experts” on it, although as far as I can tell they don’t meet with much of a response. But it is certainly some-thing that people think about.”“I know, Peter. I know your conditions. The basic struggle for survival is still too present among you for you to be capable of self-building in a more natural way.”

malo bolj se je privila k

meni, pa sem jo še sam sti-

snil k sebi.

»Kaj pa tvoj mož?«

»Moj mož?«

»In ta podobnost med

mano in njim? Še vedno mi

ni jasno, kako je to sploh

mogoče.«

»Peter, veš, kot sem ti že

povedala, mi posvečamo

izgradnji osebnosti v naši

civilizaciji največ pozor-

nosti.«

»Hm. Zanimivo, da. Pri nas

na Zemlji je to zgolj nekaj,

kar se tako ali tako samo

oblikuje, čeprav neka-

teri posamezniki glasno

govorijo o tem, tudi stro-

kovno, vendar brez mno-

žičnega odziva, ki bi ga

jaz zasledil. Gotovo pa se

o tem precej razmišlja.«

»Vem, Peter, poznam vaše

razmere. Osnovni boj za

preživetje je pri vas še

vedno premočno priso-

ten, da bi bili zmožni bolj

sproščenega samoizgraje-

vanja.«

570

“I don’t know. It would be hard for me to say anything more definite about this. And then there is the fact that to date no-one has ever complai-ned to me about their own personality. As far as I can tell, we are more bothered about the shortcomings of the people around us than about our own.” Tickled at my own wit-ticism, I carried on in the same vein: “Well, of course, if we asked an individual on Earth about the personalities of the people around him, he would certainly agree they urgently needed further development or even a complete overhaul, since most of them are hope-less cases. Everyone on Earth could immediately provide you with a list of acquaintances who are sui-table candidates for a total overhaul.” I laughed at my own wit but stopped when

»Ne vem, glede tega bi

težko rekel kaj bolj dolo-

čenega. Poleg tega se mi

doslej še nihče ni pri-

toževal nad svojo oseb-

nostjo. Kolikor vem,

nas bolj motijo slabosti

raznih oseb v naši bli-

žini kot naše lastne.«

Posmejal sem se svojemu

duhovičenju in ker je bila

ta moja ugotovitev zame

zabavna, sem moral še

dodati: »No, seveda. Če bi

posameznika na Zemlji

vprašali, kakšne osebno-

sti so ljudje okoli njega, bi

se prav gotovo strinjal, da

je nujna njihova nadaljnja

izgradnja ali da je pripo-

ročljiva celotna prenova,

saj gre večinoma za brez-

upne primere. Vsakdo

na Zemlji bi ti prav hitro

naštel nekaj svojih znan-

cev kot kandidate za

celotno prenovo.« Skoraj

užival sem v svoji duho-

vitosti, temu primerno

sem še sproščeno zasme-

571

I saw Honaja’s serious face. “Perhaps we are too flippant about this issue, but it is evidently difficult to change anything in this sphere. We don’t actually know how to,” I added.

“You could do a lot more, although a small percen-tage of you have already achieved something.” Honaja smiled for a moment and then became serious again: “You said that the affinity between my husband and you inte-rests you.”I nodded: “Yes, of course.” I had thought about the possible connection between their practice of building personality and the similarity between me and Honaja’s late hus-band, but I hadn’t found anything I could really get hold of.“You know, Peter, unlike the Acutins we are a lot more open to accepting different forms of life.”

jal, nato pa sem se spričo

Honajine zadržanosti

ponovno umiril. »Vem, da

smo glede tega vprašanja

nekoliko preveč neresni,

toda na tem področju je

očitno težko kar koli spre-

meniti. Tega pravzaprav

niti ne znamo,« sem dodal.

»Lahko bi naredili dosti

več, čeprav vam je nekaj

že uspelo, sicer v manjših

odstotkih.« Honaja se je

nekaj trenutkov smehljala

in se spet zresnila: » Soro-

dnost mojega moža s tabo

te zanima, si rekel prej.«

Prikimal sem: »Da, seveda.«

Pomislil sem na morebitno

zvezo med njihovo prakso

izgradnje osebnosti in

podobnostjo med mano

in pokojnim Honajinim

možem, pa nisem našel

ničesar res oprijemljivega.

»Veš, Peter, v nasprotju z

Ostrini smo mi dosti bolj

odprti za sprejemanje raz-

ličnih oblik življenja.«

572

“Different forms of life?” I repeated. Perhaps this was what it was really about. Honaja was clearly dif-ferent from, for example, that female Sensin there in “purgatory”, or whate-ver it was, but at the same time equating Honaja with some robotic form was not something I could accept. There was no possible comparison either with robots or with ghosts. I couldn’t have done it even if I had wanted to. It was all very complicated. And then there was this que-stion of Honaja’s husband. And building persona-lities. Perhaps it was all connected somehow.

“When it comes to under-standing different forms of life, problems most commonly arise because we are too isolated, and on the basis of experience and specific knowledge we leap too quickly to superficial conclusions. It’s a pity we don’t have

»Različnih oblik življe-

nja?« sem ponovil. Res

bi lahko šlo prav za to.

Honaja je bila izrazito dru-

gačna na primer od one

Čutinke tam v Vicah ali

karkoli je že bilo tisto, pa

tudi kakršno koli enače-

nje Honaje z nekakšnimi

robotskimi oblikami

zame ni bilo sprejemljivo.

Ne z roboti in ne z duhovi

se je ni dalo primerjati.

Tudi če bi načrtno hotel,

ne bi mogel. Je pa vse

skupaj zapleteno. In tu je

še vprašanje Honajinega

moža. Pa izgradnja oseb-

nosti. Vse skupaj naj bi se

morda medsebojno pove-

zovalo.

»Pri razumevanju raz-

ličnih oblik življenja se

najpogosteje pojavljajo

težave zaradi naše preve-

like odmaknjenosti, ko na

podlagi izkušenj in dolo-

čenega znanja prehitro

prihajamo do površnih

sklepov in ugotovitev.

Škoda, ker nimava dovolj

573

enough time. I would love to initiate you in our art of building the personality.”“Won’t it be possible later?”“It will, but I wish I could give you a closer under-standing of our civilisation now, so that you can love it as I love it.” “Well of course if you belong to this civilisation, that already means a lot to me. In a way your civili-sation is already dear to me...”Honaja smiled: “We have grown very close to each other in this short time, haven’t we?”“We’ll be able to see each other once peace has been re-established, won’t we? If the opening of your energy fields can re-esta-blish peace...”“Of course. In our case they will have to make an exception.”“And what does your late husband still mean to you?”“Actually, it is getting

časa. Prav rada bi te vpe-

ljala v našo umetnost

izgrajevanja osebnosti.«

»Ali kdaj pozneje ne bo

možno?«

»Bo, toda želela bi ti že zdaj

približati našo civilizacijo,

da bi jo imel rad, kot jo

imam rada jaz.«

»No, seveda, če ti pripadaš

tej civilizaciji, to zame že

veliko pomeni. Po svoje

mi je vaša civilizacija že

blizu. «

Honaja se je nasmehnila:

»Zelo sva se zbližala v tem

kratkem času, kajne?«

»Gotovo se bova lahko

dobivala tudi po vzposta-

vljenem miru, kajne? Če

bo odprtje vaših energet-

skih polj lahko zagotovilo

mir...«

»Seveda, v najinem pri-

meru bodo morali dopu-

stiti izjemo.«

»In kaj tebi še vedno

pomeni tvoj pokojni

mož?«

»Pravzaprav vaju vse težje

574

harder and harder for me to distinguish between the two of you. You are very similar. We Sensins inter-pret the building of perso-nality very freely. We have the necessary knowledge for this, and also enough experience. But every individual makes his own decisions about how to continue building his per-sonality. This is something in which we differ signifi-cantly from you Earthmen, although we still have an unbelievable amount of things in common. For you Earthmen your perso-nality is built on the basis of wishes and abilities, but also passions and the given circumstances into which you are thrown. We Sensins know all this. But with us it is different: besi-des our basic self, deter-mined by evolution, other living beings live in us. We transfer most of these into ourselves after their death,

ločujem. Zelo podobna

sta si. Mi Čutini jemljemo

izgradnjo osebnosti zelo

svobodno. Imamo sicer

za to potrebno znanj, pa

tudi že dovolj izkušenj.

Toda vsak posameznik

se sproti odloča o svojem

nadaljnjem osebnostnem

izgrajevanju.

Tu se sicer pomembno

razlikujemo od vas

Zemljanov, četudi nam

ostaja še neverjetno

veliko skupnega. Zemlja-

nom se osebnost izgrajuje

na podlagi hotenj in spo-

sobnosti, pa tudi strasti in

danih okoliščin, v katere

ste vrženi. Mi Čutini vse

to poznamo. Toda v nas

živijo poleg našega osnov-

nega jaza, podanega skozi

evolucijo, še drugi živa

bitja. Večino od teh pre-

nesemo vase po njihovi

smrti, nekatere zveze,

575

but we also establish some connections with living individuals – although these are rarer because we are prohibited from distur-bing the evolution of less developed civilisations.”“And your husband esta-blished such a connection with me?”“It didn’t bother you, did it?”“No. I never noticed anything. At least not until you came for me.”

Honaja smiled at this admission. “It’s not so simple. Even for me it was not simple when I lost him. I knew about you, because he mentioned you often. But I did not know how deep the tie was between you, and above all how alive it was. We can transfer into ourselves all the pas-sions and inclinations of the chosen individual, but how much of this we then allow to come to life in us is another question. Often

sicer bolj redke zaradi

prepovedi motenja evolu-

cije manj razvitih civiliza-

cij, pa vzpostavimo tudi z

živimi posamezniki.«

»In tvoj mož je vzpostavil

tako zvezo z mano?«

»Saj te ni motilo?«

»Ne. Ničesar nisem opazil.

Vsaj dokler niste prišli

pome.«

Honaja se je nasmehnila

ob tem mojem priznanju:

»Ni tako preprosto. Tudi

zame ni bilo preprosto,

ko sem ga izgubila. Vedela

sem zate, ker te je pogo-

sto omenjal. Kako glo-

boka je vez med vama, in

predvsem kako živa je, pa

nisem vedela. Vse strasti

in nagnjenja lahko iz izbra-

nega posameznika pre-

nesemo vase, koliko tega

potem pustimo, da v nas

zaživi, je pa drugo vpraša-

nje. Pogosto je odvisno od

576

it depends on the time involved, but we always act according to our arti-stic sense for creating the personality. That means that it was impossible for me to estimate the degree of similarity between the two of you.”

“And what is this degree?” I asked automatically.Honaja looked at me mischievously: “What do you think?”“Did he like you?”“Yes,” she nodded. “Well, you are so beautiful that your husband could have got his liking for you from someone else, not only from me.”“Yes. But he didn’t.”“How do you know?”“I know!”“Hmm.”“Peter, you Earthmen live in us and you live for a good long time. The trans-fer takes place after the death of the Earthman. But in some cases the situ-ation is like this one with you and my husband.”

časovnih obdobij, vedno

pa se ravnamo po našem

umetniškem čutu za

ustvarjanje osebnosti. Zato

je bilo zame nemogoče

oceniti stopnjo podobno-

sti med vama.«

»In kakšna je?« mi je ušlo z

jezika.

Honaja me je hudomušno

pogledala: »Kaj misliš?«

»Si mu bila všeč?«

»Ahm,« je prikimala.

»No, ti si tako lepa, da bi

tvoj mož nagnjenje do tebe

lahko pobral tudi od koga

drugega, ne le od mene.«

»Ja. Pa ni.«

»Kako veš?«

»Vem!«

»Hm.«

»Peter, Zemljani v nas

živite in tudi preživite kar

lep čas. Prenos se izvrši po

smrti Zemljana. V nekate-

rih primerih pa je zadeva

taka kot s tabo in mojim

možem.«

577

“Ah!” Various doubts nagged at me again. That purgatory of theirs kept troubling me. It couldn’t be the real purgatory. Although it was hard to say what it actually was. “Honaja, you know, that business of yours in the asteroid cloud… it’s hard for me to call it ‘purga-tory’...”She giggled, slightly awk-wardly, it seemed to me. “It’s a kind of halfway sta-tion. No-one has complai-ned so far about their stay there. Quite the opposite. Most of them called it a very interesting idea. We have succeeded quite well in all of this, at least in the opinion of people from Earth.”“A halfway station? Why halfway?”“Peter, we Sensins do not own all the truth in the universe. But we do know how to do quite a number of things. We have already done a lot.”“Oh yes?”

»Huh!« Spet so me obšli

razni pomisleki. Tiste nji-

hove Vice so me vedno

znova vznemirjale. Prave

Vice že ne morejo biti.

Čeprav bi težko rekel,

kaj sploh so. »Honaja, veš,

tisti vaši zadevi v astero-

idnem oblaku bi težko

rekel Vice…«

Zahehetala se je. Kar malo

poredno. In rekla: »Neka-

kšna vmesna postaja so.

Nihče se doslej še ni prito-

ževal nad postanki v njih.

Celo nasprotno. Večina jih

je označila kot zelo zani-

mivo pogruntavščino. Kar

precej se nam je vse to

posrečilo, vsaj po mnenju

ljudi z Zemlje.«

»Vmesna postaja? Zakaj pa

vmesna?«

»Peter, Čutini si ne lastimo

vse resnice vesolja. Znamo

pa kar nekaj stvari narediti.

Že dosti smo jih naredili.«

»A tako?«

578

“Peter…” Honaja looked me in the eyes: “we are going to have to get going. They are waiting for us. The path to the energy fields will still be in our hands for a little longer, but then the fighting will overwhelm these sectors too.”

“Yes, of course.” I nodded. The danger appeared all too convincing. It would be good to hear what the Acutins had to say about all of this, but now there was clearly no more time. But how convinced they were that they were right! On the grounds that this was wrong. Things like these experiments of the Sensins. In their own way, the doings of the Sensins were unusual to say the least. How I wished I could just think things over for a little longer. But according to Honaja most people con-sidered the Sensins’ opera-tions “an interesting idea”.

»Peter,« Honaja se mi je

zagledala v oči, »morala

bova iti. Čakajo naju. Nekaj

časa bo pot do energetskih

polj še v naših rokah, toda

potem bodo boji zajeli tudi

te predele.«

»Da, seveda.« Prikimal

sem. Presneto prepri-

čljiva nevarnost se je

nakazovala. Sicer bi bilo

dobro slišati še Ostrine,

kaj pravijo o vsem tem,

toda zdaj očitno ni več

časa. Ampak kako hudir-

jevo so tudi oni prepri-

čani, da imajo prav! Češ

da se tega ne dela. Takih

stvari, kot so eksperi-

menti Čutinov. Po svoje je

početje Čutinov vseeno

nenavadno. Ko bi lahko

vsaj še malo premislil o

vsem tem. Toda po Hona-

jinih besedah je večina

ljudi označila delovanje

Čutinov kot zanimivo

pogruntavščino. Ostrini

579

And the Acutins continue to call them robots. On the other hand the Acu-tins are so self-sufficient that for this reason alone they could be dangerous to Earthmen. Because we Earthmen held no value for them. They had recon-ciled themselves to the fact that we were harmless to them. And what will happen once I have got through all those tests and barriers and opened the way into the energy fields? I will probably be on my own at that point. I will be able to decide according to what seems most reaso-nable. But no. Honaja was too convincing. In the end there really was enough room for everyone in the universe; as far as it was possible to judge, before all the present complicati-ons at the entrance to the energy fields, peace rei-gned in this part of space. It lasted for a long time. A very long time. And it was very possible that it would

pa jih vztrajno zmerjajo

z roboti. Po drugi strani

pa so Ostrini tako samo-

zadostni, da so že zgolj

zaradi tega lahko nevarni

za Zemljane. Saj Zemljani

nimamo zanje nobene

vrednosti. Le s tem, da jim

nismo v škodo, so se spri-

jaznili. In kaj bo potem,

ko bom prišel skozi tista

vhodna preverjanja in

skozi vse zapore ter spro-

stil vhod v energetska

polja..? Takrat naj bi bil

brez nadzora. Odločil

se bom lahko, kot se mi

bo zdelo najpametneje.

Toda ne. Honaja je bila

preveč prepričljiva. Na

koncu koncev je v vesolju

res za vse dovolj prostora;

kolikor je mogoče preso-

diti, je pred vsemi seda-

njimi zapleti na vhodu

v energetska polja v teh

predelih vladal mir. Dolgo

je trajal. Zelo dolgo. In

prav lahko, da bo kmalu

580

soon reign again, and for even longer. That was it: I had to open up the entran-ces to the energy fields. I had to do this for them. And for myself. And for Honaja…

THE END

spet trajal še dlje. Prav,

sprostiti moram tiste nji-

hove prehode do ener-

getskih polj. To moram

storiti zanje. In zase. In za

Honajo . . .

KONEC

thy came to get me(eng) - prisli so pome(slo)

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