15
Mr. Wing was not merely interested; he was enthralled by the youngster’s report. He was sensible enough to realize that nothing any of his family had done could possibly be responsible for the aliens’ starting to make personal exploration of the earth, but the fact that they were doing so seemed likely to be very helpful to his plans. The evening meal consisted very largely of conversation, for all attempts to keep the details from any of the family were abandoned. Mrs. Wing, of course, had known everything from the beginning; Roger and Edie had been pretty well briefed that morning; but Billy and Marge lacked both specific information and basic knowledge to appreciate the situation. Their questions tended to break up the general train of thought, but only Roger showed any impatience. Since even he did not dare become openly contemptuous of their ignorance, the general tone of the conversation remained peaceful, and several important decisions were made.
“It seems to me,” Mr. Wing said, “that these things— maybe we can think of them as people, now that we have some idea what they look like — must at last have some scientists on the job. I can’t even guess at the reason for the delay—”
“Look at an astronomical photo of the Milky Way some time, and you might guess,” cut in Don.
“Reason or no reason, the fact itself may be useful. There will be both explorers and apparatus coming down, beyond reasonable doubt; and they must expect to lose a certain amount of the latter. I don’t mean to encourage dishonesty in my offspring, but if we could acquire some of that apparatus long enough to perform dissection I would be very pleased.”
“I take it you are no longer afraid of scaring them off?” Mrs. Wing stated rather than asked.
“No. Whether they continue trading or not is out of my hands — it will probably depend on the results that their scientists get. I am not worried; they obviously want tobacco badly, and I doubt very much if it grows on any other planet. I could be surer of my ground, of course, if I knew what they wanted it for. I used to think they smoked it as we do, but this knowledge of their normal temperature makes that sound a trifle unlikely.
“But back to the original point. Anyone who talks to them from now on might well suggest that another transmitter be brought down, so they can home on this house. I see no point in walking five or six miles out and the same distance back just for a daily conversation. Incidentally, Rog, I’m wondering whether we mightn’t have made a better impression if we’d tried learning their words for things instead of teaching them ours.”
“Maybe. I didn’t think of that.”
“How about the trading, Dad?” asked Don. “Are you going to keep it up as usual, or try to get these investigators to take our stuff?” His father considered for a moment.