"Is it some sort of taboo or what?" Lloyd demanded irritably of Craig. It was three hours since he and Kroner had returned from the ship, and communication with Ulkay and his bunch had been established—but with one annoying and unexpected feature.
"I can't seem to find out, sir," Craig said miserably. "He's responsive on almost every other topic, but when I ask him about the city here, he says he can't tell me. I've asked him why, but his answer escapes me."
"When he says he 'can't' tell you, does he mean he is physically unable to, or forbidden to?"
"I'm not even sure if it's 'can't.' It might just be 'won't.' But I am sure it's a negative of some sort. They shake their heads and nod same as we do for yes and no."
"Let's see that list," Lloyd said, his voice tired.
Craig held it out, but Kroner took it. "You've looked at it ten times in the past hour, sir," he apologized. "Let me have a whack at it."
Lloyd started to argue the point, then gave it up. "Okay, Sergeant. See what you can make of it. If you can ask a clear question of Ulkay and Company with those choice bits of language, I'll put in your name for a decoration."
Kroner scanned the list, noting with fading hope the vocabulary he had to work with. "Wish we had more verbs!" he said.
"They're the hardest, always," said Craig. "Active ones are easy enough, though the tenses and irregularities can be tough, but the non-active—the intransitive—can't be demonstrated the way actions and things can."
"Well, we've got Mars, and city, and—that's a good one—men. That's them?"