Martel had to repeat the question, speaking slowly and mouthing his words before the young Scanner could understand the comment. The young man tried to make his face smile, and twisted it into a comic mask. But he took up his tablet and scribbled:
Yr rght.
Chang broke away from his friend and came over, his half-Chinese face gleaming in the warm evening. (It's strange, thought Martel that more Chinese don't become scanners. Or not so strange perhaps, if you think that they never fill their quota of habermans. Chinese love good living too much. The ones who do scan are all good ones.) Chang saw that Martel was cranched, and spoke with voice:
"You break precedents. Luci must be angry to lose you?"
"She took it well. Chang, that's strange."
"What?"
"I'm cranched, and I can hear. Your voice sounds all right. How did you learn to talk like—like an ordinary person?"
"I practised with soundtracks. Funny you noticed it. I think I am the only Scanner in or between the Earths who can pass for an Ordinary Man. Mirrors and sound-tracks. I found out how to act."
"But you don't....?"
"No. I don't feel, or taste, or hear, or smell things, any more than you do. Talking doesn't do me much good. But I notice that it cheers up the people around me."