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English edition
Boris Cherin L evy
Battl e s a n d
Con f l i cts
be tw e e n
Sens i s a n d
A cu t i n s
THEY
CAME
TO GET ME
Slovenska izdaja
Boris Čerin L evy
Spor i in
bit k e m ed
Č u t in i in
O s r in i
1
PRIšLI
SO
POME
Boris Cherin
Levy
Boris Čerin
Levy
THEY
CAME
TO GET ME
PRIŠLI SO
POME
Translated by
Hugh Brown
Lektor
Ivo Antič
First published 2004
Copyright © Boris Čerin
Prva izdaja
Ljubljana, 2004
Copyright © Boris Čerin
CIP - Kataložni zapis o publikaciji Narodna in univerzitetna knjižnica,
Ljubljana CIP - Kataložni zapis o publikaciji
Narodna in univerzitetna knjižnica,
Ljubljana
821.163.6-312.9(0.034.2) 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 ČERIN, Boris
Prišli so pome [Elektronski vir]
: udeležil sem se spopada Čutinov
z Ostrini / Boris Čerin Levy. - El.
knjiga. - Ljubljana : Quark, 2014
Prevod dela: Prišli so pome ISBN 978-961-91100-6-5 (pdf)
ISBN 978-961-91100-7-2 (ePub)
Udeležil sem se
spopada Čutinov z
Ostrini
ISBN 978-961-91100-2-7 (pdf) ISBN 978-961-91100-3-4 (ePub) 273915392
--------------------------------------------
273600768
-------------------------------------------Published by
QUARK d.o.o.
Lizike Jančarjeve 14
1000 Ljubljana
e-mail: [email protected]
Izdajatelj in založnik
QUARK d.o.o.
Lizike Jančarjeve 14
1000 Ljubljana
e-mail: [email protected]
2
Chapter I
I. poglavje
I stretched out on the grass
of the alpine meadow and
breathed deeply. Peace,
silence and the pure mountain air filled me with a
comfortable feeling of
lazy contentment, a drowsiness in which images
of the nearby mountain
peaks drifted into the
foreground and then disappeared 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
Zleknil sem se na travo
visokogorske
planjave.
Mir, tišina in globoko vdihavanje 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 zadremal sem, najbrž, se na pol
zbudil ter se ponovno
pogreznil nazaj v vse globlji dremež, ko mi je rahel
drget stresel telo. Odprl
sem oči, a me je sonce s
svojo pripeko znova potisnilo 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
3
of movement, of some
vivid event, intruded so
rapidly into my slow-moving 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 prihajalo 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 pretegovali na travi. Le Rok
in Janja, srednješolca pred
maturo, sta se pomenkovala. 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 nasmihanjem in odkimavanjem,
naporen teden je bil za
mano, sem pomislil. Nato
4
athing slowed and once
again I slipped into a doze.
Suddenly, and with increasing insistence, flashing
outlines started appearing
before my eyes. Shapes,
now dark, now light, darting 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 določljivega 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.
5
dream. I propped myself up
on my elbows, still unsure
whether I had simply been
dreaming, and scanned
the peaks of the surrounding mountains.
“Whaa…!” I gasped. The
scene from my dream, or
whatever it was, appeared before me. The gleaming 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 flashed 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 alongside 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 sosednjih 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 predmeta z delta krili ob straneh
se je svetlikala in spet izgubljala barvo do nevidnosti,
nato pa se nenadoma obrnila 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, sovražnem preletavanju. Toda
vse skupaj je trajalo komaj
kaj dlje kot nekaj bežnih
trenutkov. Tedaj se je
6
were some more flashes,
the two craft glowed redhot, collided and bounced
back. The second exploded and the first, evidently
damaged, spiralled downwards, appeared to rally,
lost height again, rallied
once more and flew to the
forest, where it landed noisily 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 scattered 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, zažarela 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 hruščem pristalo med drevjem 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 planincev, da so potem pogledovali v smeri prašnega
oblaka in se med seboj
spraševali, kaj se je zgodilo.
»Glej!« je vzkliknil nekaj
metrov od mene slok svetlolas moški koščenega
obraza z roko, iztegnjeno
proti robu jase. »Pilot ali
kaj?«
7
“Were they hit by lightning?” asked John, one of
the kids from our group,
before shaking his head.
“He looks hurt.”
This triggered an avalanche 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 climbers over there!” I said out
loud.
“Yes!’ confirmed my
neighbour. “He’s not interested 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. Everyone 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 približeval. Pa tudi dokaj naravnost 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 naslednjo 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
8
and we could make out his
unusual outfit with increasing 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. Suddenly he staggered. He
had no visible wounds but
he must have been injured.
A few paces still separated
him from the neighbouring group when he raised
his hand in greeting and,
without stopping, continued past the group of teenagers and older climbers,
and marched on with increasingly frequent glances
in my direction. This was
becoming so evident that
even the other climbers
began looking at me. My
only response was growing astonishment and
more frequent glances at
the approaching figure. I
shook my head in confusion, because the whole
thing was really quite
strange, and forced a
in vse razločneje je bilo
videti nenavadno oblačilo,
verjetno letalski kombinezon, oprijet, nenavadno
krojen, kot ga nihče še ni
videl dotlej. Možak pri štiridesetih, nekaj takega je
kazal. Nenadoma se je opotekel. Ran ni bilo videti,
toda moral je biti poškodovan. Še nekaj korakov
ga je ločilo od sosedne
skupine, ko je dvignil roko
v pozdrav in brez ustavljanja nadaljeval pot mimo
fantov, deklet in starejših 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 začudenjem ter vse pogostejšim oziranjem v prihajajočega, zbegano odkimaval 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
9
smile. Then I looked more
closely at the stranger’s
face and into his eyes. v oči. V hipu je med nama
zletelo nekaj hitrih, a zelo
zgovornih pogledov.
“Huh?” I gasped. A single
moment was enough for
us to exchange a series of
rapid but apparently meaningful glances. I started
in surprise. Or was it fear?
The realisation that this
stranger was rapidly reading my thoughts made
me shiver. I looked appraisingly 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 desperate 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
Narahlo sem se zdrznil.
Skoraj ustrašil. Spoznanje, 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 izmikanjem daljšemu srečanju
pogledov in hkrati v vse
močnejšem
naprezanju
po hitrejšem dojetju položaja. Tujec je bil mojih let,
prijateljskega videza. Nič
sovražnega ni kazal, ko je
po pristopu k meni spregovoril v resnem, vendar
pomirjujočem tonu.
10
»Nič časa ni ostalo. Vem,
da vam je težko zaupati
neznancu. Toda z nami
ste v pomembni navezi.
Mi potrebujemo vas, vi pa
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 doubtfully. It was true: I did
feel something like trust.
I stood up slowly, still not
really believing what was
11
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 umakniti,« 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 pogledal. Res sem občutil nekaj
podobnega.
Počasi sem vstal, še vedno
v nejevernem premišlja-
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 salutation – 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 practically 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 consciously made my own decision 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
12
nju, vendar je bil boleč,
nestrpen izraz na obrazu
tujca zame že dovolj zgovoren. »Prav! Do roba jase
torej.«
Privzdignil sem roko v
pozdrav oziroma v slovo
svojim dodobra presenečenim 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 prisile, da moram to nujno
narediti, pa čeprav sem
zavestno sprejemal svoje
odločitve le kot nekaj, kar
je bolje, da naredim kljub
vsem dvomom o smiselnosti svojega početja. Razumsko seveda, kajti notranji
vzgib v meni je rasel z vso
odločnostjo, dokler me
internal impulse continued to grow in force until
the first pine branches brushed my face and two figures 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
13
niso prve smrekove veje
ošvrknile po obrazu in sta
pred mano vstali postavi,
oblečeni podobno prejšnjemu 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
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 stepped into it and crawled
past a rounded wall and on
into a damp cave. We reached a kind of open doorway 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 started crying. She was really
beautiful. Incredibly beautiful. I caught her glance:
it was gentle, with pain
14
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 izginjajoči obris.
»Tja, tja!« mi je tujec za njim
kazal z roko proti razpoki
v skali.
Stopil sem vanjo ter se
ob zaokroženi steni splazil 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 nenavadnem 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
in it, but it was also questioning. 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 understand 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 slightly 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
15
tudi vprašujoč je bil. Je
kaj iskala v meni? Prijazno
sem se ji nasmehnil, ker
česa več nisem vedel narediti. 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 nerazumevanjem položaja.
Prijazno, z občuteno prizadetostjo, se mi je še enkrat
nasmehnila. »Seveda. Moje
ime je Honaja. Mi smo
Čutini iz civilizacije Čutinov. Smo sicer na nekoliko
višji tehnološki ravni od
vas, vendar naj vas to nič
ne moti. Smo sosedje. Prijateljski sosedje.«
Zasledil sem celo odtenek
veselja ob ponovnem srečanju najinih pogledov,
nakar mi je dejala: »Prav
explanation,” she went on.
“We realise this, and we
also want to avoid misunderstandings and unnecessary 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 important 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, although they will have spotted 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.
16
gotovo vam dolgujemo
pojasnilo. Tega se zavedamo in tudi nesporazumov z nepotrebnimi razhajanji si ne želimo. Pomagati
si moramo. Saj ste videli,
kako so Ostrini zasledovali
naše letalo. S tako vztrajnostjo, 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 pomemben za nas. Ko bi ugotovili
še razlog, bi vas takoj ubili.
Oziroma, bolje rečeno,
razlog posebne pomembnosti nekega Zemljana so
že ugotovili, vsaj približno, 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
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 combination of circumstances
have further increased
your importance. And a
mere suspicion could be
enough to make the Acutins 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 increased, you say? In what
sense? Actually, I still
don’t understand what this
is all about.”
Her smile grew even friendlier: “As I said, we
owe you an explanation,
naturally. We will explain
everything to you. But
since we cannot afford
17
opravljena ponoči ali čez
dan. Toda splet okoliščin
je vaš pomen še povečal.
Prav lahko bi Ostrini ubijali zgolj na podlagi suma.«
Druga za drugo so mi
zastajale besede na jeziku.
Toliko pomembnih informacij s težko sprejemljivo
vsebino sem dobil v tako
kratkem času, in kar je
bilo še huje, z nič kaj zanemarljivo grožnjo. Vprašujoče sem se zazrl v lepo
neznanko.
»Pomen naj bi se mi še
povečal, pravite?
V kakšnem smislu? Pravzaprav še vedno ne razumem, za kaj gre.«
Lepa neznanka se mi
je še bolj prijateljsko
nasmehnila: Dolgujemo
vam pojasnila, kot sem
dejala, seveda. Vse vam
misunderstandings,
we
are compelled to establish
trust on the basis of reciprocal 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, serious technical failures no
longer exist. You will
simply have a little rest, a
little sleep, and we will be
there.”
18
bomo pojasnili. Toda
ker si nesporazumov ne
moremo privoščiti, smo
prisiljeni vzpostaviti zaupanje na osnovi medsebojnega 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 pripravljeno,« je z roko, iztegnjeno v smeri hodnika,
dejal neznanec tik ob njej.
»To bo prijeten in tudi
varen let, saj na naši tehnološki ravni ni več usodnih
tehničnih okvar. Le malo
se boste spočili, malo
zadremali, pa bomo tam.«
Chapter II
II. poglavje
The journey to the space
station was over very quickly. In fact I had hardly
settled into my reclining
seat when I was woken by
a light touch on my shoulder.
“Oh, was I asleep?” I asked
in surprise.
“We all slept for most of
the flight,” came the reassuring 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 throughout the journey.
“Yes, we slept too!”
“And how long did we
sleep?” I asked with an incredulous smile. I seemed
to be having difficulty
grasping even apparently
simple facts. “You certainly have all this organised
in a very practical way.”
“Our transports are com19
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 prebujali 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 nejevernim nasmihanjem oziroma bolj v smislu nakazanega težjega dojemanja
sicer preprostih dejstev.
»Vsekakor imate to zelo
praktično urejeno.«
fortable, aren’t they?”
another Sensin replied.
“At our level of technology, transport is a remarkably efficient operation.
We also know how to
take care of our passengers’ 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. “Interesting.”
“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.”
20
»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 namenjen 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 informacijah. Tudi posadka za vaš
let je že zbrana na poslovilnem srečanju. Najbolje, da
gremo kar tja, saj nas verjetno že pričakujejo.«
***
***
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 supposed to be “already assembled” or something like
that. The relaxed atmosphere offered no hint of
any impending risky mission. It looked as though
the official part of the briefing – speeches and that
sort of thing – was already
over.
“Welcome!” said a female
Sensin dressed in figure-hugging overalls with
accessories of the kind
usually found on women’s
clothes. I couldn’t decide
whether this was a designer outfit based on uniform overalls or a pair of
21
Velika dvorana z visokim
stropom je še najbolj spominjala na lepo urejeno
kavarno. Vsaj tak vtis sem
dobil ob vstopu vanjo. Tu
naj bi torej bili »že zbrani«
ali nekaj takega. Sproščeno vzdušje pa ni kazalo
na kakšno bolj tvegano
odpravo. Tudi uradni del
srečanja z nagovori je bil
verjetno že mimo.
»Dobrodošli!« me je pozdravila Čutina, oblečena
v oprijet kombinezon z
nekaterimi dodatki, značilnimi za ženska oblačila.
Bolj težko mi je bilo opredeliti, ali je ta obleka izdelana na podlagi uniformiranega kombinezona ali
overalls with some of the
characteristics of a designer 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 expedition are all present and correct. 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, slightly surprised at the spontaneity 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 reached 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
22
pa je to kombinezon z
ohranjenimi značilnostmi
obleke. Zelo lepo ji je pristajal. 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 verjetno želite spoznati.«
»Seveda,« sem odvrnil
z nakazano samoumevnostjo te moje želje ter
potem zastal v rahlem
presenečenju nad svojim
spontanim
odzivanjem.
Hja, verjetno zaradi prijateljskega 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 opozorili nase, tako da sem
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 engrossed in their own conversations. My arrival had only
been a temporary interruption. 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 considering 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
23
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 nagrbančil 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
added: “We don’t seem
particularly alien to you,
do we?”
“No, no,” I replied hurriedly. “No, not at all, although…”
“Well, yes, of course, the
different level of technology 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 similar 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 something else he wanted to
tell me, but he couldn’t
24
vam ne delujemo pretirano 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 prilagoditi.«
»Hja, različna tehnološka
raven, ja. To sem že opazil.
Na kakšni tehnološki ravni
pa je nasprotna stran?«
»Pravzaprav smo na primerljivi ravni, verjetno
smo mi celo v prednosti.
Bolj pomembno je trenutno stanje naših medsebojnih 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 predirnim pogledom, hotel je
sicer še nekaj povedati, pa
find the words. At least
that was my impression.
I got the feeling that he
wanted to explain something else to me. But what
could it be, to make an
individual from such a
highly developed civilisation 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 experienced since the arrival of
that stranger. I still didn’t
know anything about
them. They were certainly
a superior civilisation, with
an extremely highly developed intelligence. I could
sense that. And yet their
behaviour towards me…
I tried to marshal my thoughts. 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 together in the formation of a
25
so mu besede zastale. Vsaj
tako je bilo videti. Občutek sem pač dobil, da mi
je želel še nekaj razložiti.
Toda kaj bi lahko bilo to,
kar spravlja posameznika
iz tako visoko razvite civilizacije v obotavljanje?
»Hja, ‘visoko razvite’ civilizacije,« mi je v mrmranju
prišlo iz grla. Besede z njihovim pomenom so se mi
pojavile v bežnih slikah
vsega, kar sem srečeval in
doživel po tistem nenavadnem prihodu tujca. Pravzaprav še nič nisem vedel
o njih. Vsekakor so superiorna 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
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 strangers, 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 uncomfortable 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
26
mi je ob tem zastalo. Ta
misel. Od kod se mi je
rodila? Zakaj? Na osnovi
česa se je pojavila? Spontano, 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 obnašali do mene. Delovali so
prijateljsko, kot da jim pripadam, 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 razmišljanje ali celo sklepanje.
»Upam, da vam med nami
ni neugodno,« je z uglajeno
zadržanostjo spregovoril
tujec.
»Ne, nikakor ne,« sem odvrnil z izrazom hvaležnosti.
Lepo so me sprejeli, to je
bilo res, in gostoljubnost
neznancev mi je bila prijetna, pa še pomembna je
bila.
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 conceal my curiosity, as my
brain made an effort to
penetrate this unknown
world, with all my conjectures and questions.
“Naturally it will take you
a little time to get accustomed 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 continued to gaze in front of
him for a few moments,
in a sort of meditative
27
Čutin se je nasmehnil.
»Lepo. To mi je v zadovoljstvo. Prav vesel sem vašega
dobrega vživljanja v našo
družbo.«
Vrnil sem mu nasmeh.
»Bolj malo vem o vas,« sem
odvrnil z nakazano radovednostjo in se z mislimi
poskušal pomakniti v
meni neznan svet, skupaj
z vsemi svojimi ugibanji in
vprašanji.
»Nekaj časa je seveda
potrebno, preden se posameznik 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 prevzemala do vznemirjenja.
Nisem pa vedel, kje naj
začnem, čeprav to morda
niti ni bilo najpomembneje, najbrž. Čutin je še
nekaj trenutkov zrl predse
z neko zamišljeno odso-
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 difficult to understand the
need for rapid action. But
I was unable to arrive at
any more tangible conclusion 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 civilisation.
“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 skirmishes, and everything except
a full-scale engagement.
But the marshalling of
forces in order to secure
an advantage has already
28
tnostjo, potem pa se je le
spet obrnil k meni.
»Problem je v pomanjkanju časa. Ukrepati pa
moramo takoj. Druge
izbire nimamo.«
Razumevajoče sem prikimal. Seveda, iz tega, kar
sem videl, ni bilo težko
sklepati o nujnosti hitrega
ukrepanja. Toda iz vsega
skupaj nisem mogel narediti nobenega bolj oprijemljivega zaključka. Nisem
imel ne približne razlage
o vsem tem dogajanju ne
osnovne predstave o njihovi civilizaciji.
»Pravzaprav smo na pragu
vojne!« je nadaljeval Čutin.
Prikimal
sem.
Nekaj
takega se je res moralo
dogajati. »Oziroma, bolje
rečeno, začele so se sovražnosti, tudi spopadi, pravzaprav vse, le spopad z
vsemi silami je še pred
vrati. Toda razvrščanje
sil z namenom zagotoviti
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’ because 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 awakened doubts in me. Indistinct doubts and vague
notions. I sensed a kind of
29
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 povrnemo. Le en podrobnost
nam ostaja odprta.
Utrnil se mi je preblisk,
da bo v tem njihovem problemu najbrž tisto, zaradi
česar so me poiskali. Toda
kaj bi lahko naredil jaz,
česar ne morejo sami?
»Vaše sodelovanje bomo
potrebovali,« je po kratkem premoru dejal tujec z
mirnim glasom in se spoštljivo nasmehnil.
»Aja,« sem dejal z rahlim
namigom glave, »seveda«.
Nato pa po kratkem premisleku dodal: »Najbrž je
tudi zame smiselno, da se
vam pridružim?«
Nekaj v tujčevem glasu
mi je vzbujalo rahle pomisleke. Nedoločene, z nejasnimi predstavami. Občutil sem neko nasprotje in
conflict and incongruity in
the vague contours of my
perception. But nothing
more definite, not yet.
The stranger was still looking 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 yourselves.” 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
30
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 nasmehnil. 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 pojasnila,« je mirno nadaljeval
Čutin
»Lepo,« sem se strinjal,
this expedition will probably be a war, is that correct?”
“Well, you could say so.
Perhaps you are familiar
with the concept of special forces? It is not quite
the same. It involves weapons that are very different from yours on Earth.
The purpose is of course
the same, and the individuals are also trained in
this sense. They are specialists, yes.” For the first
time the Sensin smiled
with something like animation. “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 pronounced with something
like enthusiasm. And yet
his comment about a carefully planned action by
special forces nevertheless
contained some uncertainty. I couldn’t help thinking about the possible
31
»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 drugačna od vaših na Zemlji.
Namen je seveda isti in
tudi posamezniki so usposobljeni v tem smislu. So
specialisti, da.« Tujec se je
prvič malo bolj živahno
nasmehnil. »Tudi vi boste
specialist. Eden pomembnejših. Naj vas ne bo strah.
Vse je dovolj dobro premišljeno za ta podvig. Ne bo
se vam ponesrečil.«
Slednje je bilo že izrečeno
z nekaj navdušenja. Pripomba glede dobro premišljene akcije specialcev
pa je vseeno nosila v sebi
nekaj negotovosti. Vsaj
meni so misli zastale v premišljanju o možnih tvega-
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 estimates the risk is quite acceptable. 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. Evidently 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…
32
njih, saj sem premalo vedel
o vsem skupaj. Premalo za
bolj določene sklepe.
»Tveganje je po naših
ocenah
dokaj
sprejemljivo. Pogojeno pa je s
pravočasnim prihodom.
Zato ne smemo izgubljati
časa, sicer lahko postane
nevarno. Pravzaprav prenevarno. Glede na okoliščine pa je to tveganje
vseeno nujno. Enota mora
takoj na pot. Med potjo pa
vas bomo seznanili z našo
civilizacijo v celoti oziroma kolikor vas bo zanimalo.«
»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. Nasprotniki, da, nasprotniki...
But who were these enemies?
The Sensin shook my hand
in a friendly manner and
bade me farewell.
33
Toda kdo hudiča so ti njihovi nasprotniki?
Tujec mi je prijateljsko stisnil roko in se poslovil.
Chapter III
III. poglavje
The pain in my chest and
shoulders was accompanied by a tremendous
downwards pressure. And
then an upwards pressure.
Waking up suddenly, at
first I couldn’t understand this buffeting. I gripped the armrests tightly
and noticed with confusion 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 comprehension 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. Benesens – that was his name –
34
Bolečino na oprsju in
ramenih
je
spremljal
strahovit potisk navzdol,
potem navzgor, pa še premetavanje, ki mu ob nenadnem prebujenju nisem
našel razlage, le s prsti sem
se krčevito oprijel naslonjala za roke in z zbeganim
pogledom zaznal, kako se
mi jermen zajeda v telo, pa
me je že v naslednjem trenutku prešinilo, da bi me
brez teh jermenov odneslo
s sedeža. Skozi zavest mi
je hitro prešlo nekaj spominskih vtisov iz zadnjih
dogodkov, skupaj z dojemanjem danega položaja,
in iz razpršenih misli so
mi prišle v ospredje vse
bolj jasne in razumljive
podrobnosti
trenutnih
okoliščin.
Čutin ob meni. Na sosednjem sedežu. Dobročut,
tako se mi je predstavil,
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 neighbour 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 trajectories 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, apparently. The craft flew so close
to us as to practically skim
the surface of our ship,
but evidently there was no
35
se je oziral k meni. Na njihovi ladji sem bil, v naši
misiji, z vsemi specialci.
Tako miren let je bil sprva,
potem pa nenadoma silovito obračanje med poletom.
»Ne sodite po tem, kar
se nam trenutno dogaja,«
mi je ohrabrujoče navrgel moj sosed. »To ni tako
pomembno, kot je morda
videti. Ni nevarnosti.«
Pogled skozi prednje dvajsetmetrsko okno mi je otrpnil na bližajočih se letalih, s krivuljami njihovih
letov usmerjenimi naravnost v nas, v veliko okno
našega poveljniškega prostora. Krčevito sem je oprijel 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
contact. Then for a hundredth 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 unimportant?”
“Well, we would need to
know the whole picture.
All I can say is that in all
probability it is unimportant.”
I looked at him incredulously. “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.”
36
od njih prekrilo skoraj vse
okno poveljniškega prostora 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 nepomembnosti trenutnega dogajanja?«
»No, morali bi poznati
celotno dogajanje. Lahko
rečem le, da je po vsej verjetnosti nepomembno.«
Nejeverno sem ga gledal.
»Po vsej verjetnosti, pravite. Torej je določen dvom
vseeno prisoten.«
»Dvom že, vendar ne o tehniki.«
»Kako mislite - ne o tehniki?«
»Tako, tehnično vzeto, je
vse dovolj dobro preračunano in dognano, da do
trka ne more priti, dokler
ta ni načrtovan.«
That was good to hear. I
forced a smile.
“Let’s assume that I understand. 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 ordered 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’sland.”
“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 introduces 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.
37
To je bilo lepo slišati. Še
nasmehniti sem se moral.
»Recimo, da razumem. Na
Zemlji sicer nimamo vaše
tehnologije, velja pa pravilo, da na nasprotnikova
letala ne streljaš brez povelja za sestrelitev ali kršitve 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 spremenila, in to vnaša negotovost.«
Tudi o njihovih vojaških
izkušnjah nisem vedel
ničesar. »Kdaj pa ste pravzaprav bili zadnjikrat v
vojni?« sem vprašal.
»Mi?«
V potrdilo sem molče
gledal. Nekam veliko časa
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 something 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
38
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 Dobročutovem pogledu so zaplesale 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 prepričanja. Po drugi strani
pa nam logistične analize
kažejo prav nasprotno.
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 disagreeable, isn’t it? One is filled
with uncomfortable sensations.”
“I see.” A thought struck
me. “What in your opinion 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.”
39
Da je vojna namreč neizbežna. 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 različni, ne pa tako močno,
da bi se morali zaradi tega
vojskovati. To stopnjevanje
napetosti res vnaša negotovost na tukajšnje nikogaršnje področju. Že kar
neprijetno, kajne? Nelagodni občutki prevevajo človeka.«
»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 verjetnosti še vedno na višji
tehnološki ravni od njih.«
“Can you predict where
they will attack?”
“That is clear.” Benesens
smiled at me. “In the vicinity of the Earth.”
“The Earth?”
“Yes. So you see, you do
have a good reason to cooperate 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 conversations immediately started
up all around us and there
40
»Predvidevate morda, kje
bodo napadli?«
»To je jasno.« Dobročut se
mi je nasmehnil. »V območju 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. Uničenje Zemljanov bi oslabilo
nas.«
»Zaradi tega? To mi je pa
težko razumeti. Kakšno
prednost bi s tem dosegli?«
»Ne vem. Toda glede na to,
kako se vedejo, so o tem
prepričani. Vaš problem
je predvsem v vaši nepomembnosti. Vsaj glede na
pomen, ki ga pripisujejo
svojemu početju.«
Tedaj smo zaslišali kratko
sporočilo o prekinitvi
alarma, to pa je takoj sprožilo živahne in bolj sproščene pogovore. Še sam
was a palpable easing of
tension. Even I reconciled myself to the fact that
there was no real danger.
I soon caught the cheerful
mood and began engaging
my companions in conversation in an effort to find
out something more about
the situation. I was, however, only partially successful. As regards the technical 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 conversation on this topic. They
weren’t in any hurry to
reveal themselves to me.
Nevertheless my mind
kept returning to the comment 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
41
sem se sprijaznil z dejstvom, 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 tehniko, sem sicer dobil nekaj
zanimivih odgovorov in
pojasnil, pogovor o njih
samih, o njihovi civilizaciji pa jih v tistem trenutku ni najbolj zanimal.
Vsaj nobenega med njimi
nisem mogel zaplesti v
pogovor na to temo. Bolj
po malem so se mi razkrivali, da. Tudi to je bilo res.
Pripomba, da bi uničenje
Zemljanov pomenilo oslabitev tudi zanje, pa se mi
je vseeno pogosteje vračala v ospredje. Hudičevo
pomembna je bila! Če je
zadeva res taka, seveda!
Da bi še kaj več izvedel
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 talking about the chances of
war breaking out. Someone 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 logistical 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
42
o njih, sem zaokrožil s
pogledom po bližnjih
obrazih. Še vedno so se
živahno
pomenkovali.
Skupina, ki sem se ji pridružil, 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 logističnih analizah, o katerih
je par metrov stran glasno
govoril neki Čutin, bodo
Ostrini poskušali najprej
z nekaj manevrskimi potezami onemogočiti našo
ekspedicijo, potem pa nas
še uničiti. »Če bi vedeli za
Zemljana oziroma če bi
vedeli, zakaj ga potrebujemo, bi to že prav gotovo
storili.«
Te besede skoz vrsto živahnih pogovorov so vame
ponovno vnesle nemir.
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 blindly 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 particularly interested in it. At
least that was the impression 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
43
Zakaj naj bi bila moja prisotnost tako pomembna,
pa še vedno nisem mogel
uganiti. Dobil sem celo
občutek, da me po nepotrebnem 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 pomikal 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 pritegnil. Vsaj občutek sem
dobil tak. Stala je tiho, s
sklenjenimi rokami pred
sabo in z narahlo upognjenim vratom. Bila je lepa.
Preveč mikavna za nepri-
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 meeting. I ran my eyes over
her long, wheat-coloured
hair and imagined a caressing 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 completely. A slight backwards
tilt of her raised head revealed 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
44
zadet odmik pogleda od
nje. Dih se mi je upočasnil
v porajajočem se hrepenenju. Obrnjena stran, je
zrla predse, in tisti otožni,
zaskrbljeni pogled ob najinem 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 božajočim poljubom. Ponovno
sem se zazrl v njen obraz.
Povsem drugo razpoloženje je zavelo iz nje. Privzdignjeno glavo je narahlo
pomaknila nazaj, da me
je ob pogledu na njen razkriti vrat prevzela želja po
dotiku, po drsečem pomikanju 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.
at first, but then her eyes
seemed to light up and her
smile widened. I smiled
too, although I was slightly 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 sensations 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 breasts 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 shoulders. This excited me.
45
Rahlo se mi je nasmehnila.
Sprva nekoliko otožno,
potem pa ji je zaplesal v
očeh živahen lesk, ustnice
so se ji raztegnile v samozavesten 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 - razumel 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 vzvišenega prihajalo iz njenih
gibov? Menda vendar ne!
Saj tega ni mogla videti!
Umaknila je pogled, stisnila sklenjene roke, da so
se ji rahlo privzdignile prsi,
potem pa pomaknila glavo
nazaj, v nekakšni čutni predanosti, in globoko vzdihnila. Vrat se ji je razkril kot
ob mirnem prepuščanju
božajočim poljubom vse
do njenih ramen. To me
je vznemirilo. Je to name-
Was this for my benefit?
A demonstration of her
perception? Was it an invitation or was she merely
teasing me? I didn’t know
anything about these Sensins. I would have to be
careful. There was something 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 watching me. A woman, two
or three metres away, staring at me with a look of
melancholy yearning. She
immediately looked away,
with a barely perceptible
glance at Honaja. I continued to stare at her as
she walked past me with a
sensual smile.
“You have wakened
memories in me”, she said
quietly. “Beautiful memories.” And she walked off.
I stood there feeling embarrassed. That’s all I needed!
Where had she come from?
How could she have stood
46
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. Pogledal sem naokrog. Še en
pogled sem zaznal. Neka
ženska, dva, tri metre
stran, je zrla vame s hrepenečo otožnostjo. Takoj
je umaknila pogled, pri
tem pa je komaj zaznavno
pogledala Honajo, in ko
še naprej nisem odmaknil pogleda z nje, je stopila mimo mene s čutnim
nasmehom. »Vzbudili ste
mi spomine,« je dejala tiho,
»lepe spomine.« In odšla je
mimo.
Zastal sem v prav neprijetni zadregi. Še ta povrhu!
Kje, hudirja, se je vzela?
Kako je lahko stala tako
there watching me without
me seeing her? How dare
she? Damn! And what a
piercing, sensual look she
had given me.
47
blizu in me gledala, ne
da bi jo bil videl? Kako si
drzne? Prekleto! Pa kako
hudičevo prediren, čuten
pogled je imela!
Chapter IV
IV. poglavje
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 wondering just how in control 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 Sen48
Naslednji sunek nam je
spodnesel tla pod nogami,
da smo si s samodejnimi
gibi rok pomagali ohraniti 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 varnostnega pasu in se ozrl naokrog. Čutini očitno niso
bili nič bolje pripravljeni
na taka presenečenja,
čeprav bi morali biti. Vsaj
meni so se prikradli pomisleki o njihovem obvladovanju 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
sins seemed to confirm
my doubts. Their calm
complacency had been
replaced by an air of panic
and they stared in confusion, 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 interpret the expression on his
face. But Benesens’s serious 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.
49
govorili nekaj takega, saj
je njihovo umirjeno samozavest zamenjalo hitenje
in begajoče oziranje zdaj
k osrednjemu hologramskemu
prikazovalniku,
zdaj v veliko okno hologramskega prostora. Kako
naj bi se ta njihova vojna
začela, jim ne more biti
pretirano jasno. »Superiorna 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.
“What was that?” I asked.
“They are attacking us,”
Benesens replied.
There was silence, but tension 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 informed 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 persuade us to leave by promising 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 explanation for what is happening
now.”
50
»Kaj je bilo to?« sem vprašal.
»Napadajo nas,« mi je odvrnil Dobročut.
V prostoru je bilo vse tiho,
toda napetost je zajela ves
prostor, vso posadko.
»Se je torej začela vojna?«
»Ne, ne.« Dobročut je premišljujoče
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
Benesens frowned as he
considered the possibilities. 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 commanding 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 slammed 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 smithe51
je nagrbančil čelo ob premišljanju o odprtih možnostih. Pa le za nekaj trenutkov. Nov sunek je stresel
celotno našo ladjo in že
nas je strahovit pospešek
prilepil na sedeže.
»Kapitan posadki,« se je
zaslišal miren glas poveljujočega. »Vstopamo v mrežo
zaščitnih asteroidnih polj.
Pripravite se na močne
bočne pritiske v spiralnem
letu.«
Streslo nas je novo zaporedje 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
reens, everything stopped.
The walls and the window
hung there, as though
held by opposing forces
of enormous power. Everything 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 searching for cracks in the
wall. It suddenly occurred to me that there was a
danger of a vacuum. Some
of the Sensins had already
reached for the emergency
buttons to close the security cells on their seats:
airtight transparent cylinders that surrounded the
whole seat and its occupant. 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
52
zastalo v strahovitem prenapenjanju sil, vbočene
stene in okno.
Vse je utihnilo. Pred očmi
so se nam pomikale zmečkane stene in zvito vbočeno okno. Vse je bilo skrivljeno, tako močno zmaličeno, da so oči samodejno
lovile preklano steno,
razpoke. V hipu me je prešinila misel o nevarnosti
brezzračnega
prostora.
Nekateri so že udarili po
alarmnem gumbu za zaprtje varnostne sedežne
celice, prozorne valjaste
tube, ki obda ves sedež z
ovojem, neprepustnim za
zrak, vse to se mi je v bliskovitih 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-
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
53
sar zmečkanega, nobenih
gub, predvsem pa nobenih
razpok ni bilo videti. Nejeverno sem gledal predse,
v okno, stene, dokler se
končno nisem ozrl k svojemu 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 eksplozije ne morem predvideti,
explosion, can I?” Benesens laughed lightly at his
own witticism. “Both are
important, you see?”
“Message from the commander.” The amplified
voice of the main computer interrupted the lively
chatter. “Stand by to receive instructions!”
The crew waited expectantly. 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 communication from their commanders, they will not
permit us to pass and they
are maintaining this prohibition 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
54
kajne?« Dobročut se je
sproščeno zasmejal svoji
duhovitosti. »Oboje je v
igri, veste?«
»Poveljnikova beseda,« je
skozi ozvočenje presekal
živahno pomenkovanje
glas osrednjega računalnika. »Sprejmite navodila!«
Posadka je obstala v pričakovanju. Vsi pogovori
so se že bili usmerili v
ugibanje o najboljši rešitvi, čeprav je večina ugotavljala nemoč oziroma
premalo podatkov za
dokončno sklepanje.
»Za nami je ladjevje Ostrinov, katerega predhodnica
nas je napadla. Po sporočilu njihovega poveljstva
nam ne dovolijo prehoda
in vztrajajo na prepovedi
kljub mojemu opozorilu na
veljavna pravila. Na kratko
so zavrnili nadaljnja pogajanja z mano. Grozijo, da
nas bodo ustavili na zunanjem pasu asteroidnega
of the asteroid cloud. If we
go beyond this belt, they
are ordered to act immediately 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 already 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 roborockets. We can fall back into
their protective fields at
any time. I have also received additional instructions 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 penetration through the asteroid
clouds. These asteroids are
rocks several kilometres
in diameter, containing
55
oblaka, če prekoračimo ta
pas, pa jim je ukazan takojšnji ukrep - naše uničenje.
Potem so prekinili pogovor. 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 njihova zaščitna polja. Dobil
sem tudi dodatna navodila našega poveljstva. Vsa
flota in vse eskadre v naši
bližini nas morajo podpirati med našim prebojem
do energetskih skladišč in
planetov za robotizirano
proizvodnjo, tudi za ceno
lastnega uničenja.
Dal sem pobudo za naš
preboj skozi oblake asteroidov. Tisoče milijard
teh več kilometrov velikih vodikovih, železnih in
hydrogen, iron and other
elements. We transported 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 asteroids 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 asteroid cloud.
“The Acutins are now dispatching units to try and
outflank us with an encircling manoeuvre and prevent our retreat or escape.
But the vicinity of the asteroid haze is to our advantage. We will be faster
but we must be ready for
56
drugosnovnih skal smo mi
že pripeljali sem, ko so bili
Ostrini še daleč na svojem
planetu. Potem smo jim
sicer dopustili dovoz njihovih asteroidov. Zdaj pa v
svoji nadutosti in po precej
površni analizi vidijo pred
sabo le po naključju nametan material.
Mi pa lahko te asteroide,
na videz naključno razmetane, razmaknemo v prehodne 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 spremljevalne enote, ki naj bi
nas obšle v obkolitvenem
manevru ter nam onemogočile umik ali pobeg, naša
prednost pa je v ugodnejši
bližini asteroidne meglice.
Hitrejši bomo. Toda pripraviti se moramo na zasle-
a pursuit. Flying through
the densely packed asteroids is extremely difficult 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 probably 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 instantly 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
57
dovanje. Let mimo gosto
razmeščenih asteroidov je
izredno težaven in nevaren. Vse bo na meji vzdržljivosti 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 prikazovalniku so se zasvetile
odštevalne lučke, ugašajoče v razmaku ene
sekunde. Sprostil sem se
v svojem sedežu, naslonil glavo na oblazinjeno
zglavje in stisnil držala ob
svojem sedežu.
»Zdaj!« je odjeknil oster
glas in v hipu je na nas
deloval tako silovit pospešek, da nam je skrajnostna
sila spačila obraze, nekaj
sekund pozneje, še vedno
v krožnem obračanju, pa
je osrednji računalnik
naznanil napad ostrinovskih lovcev in že so nas
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 protective 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 fighters, though of limited
power, were dangerous
above all because of their
great numbers. They were
more like robot-controlled
guided missiles. A ship
58
začeli zadevati njihovi
energetski izstrelki. Tudi
naši laserski topovi so
takoj udarili po napadalcih, 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 drugega in zatem še vse preostale iz prve manjše skupine napadalcev. Robotizirani lovci niso imeli dovolj
oklopljenih plovil za zavarovanje pred močnejšimi
topovi z laserskimi žarki.
Toda to še ni pomenilo
ničesar. Ti robotizirani
lovci, sicer manjših zmogljivosti, so bili nevarni
predvsem zaradi svojega
izjemno velikega števila.
Torej naj bi bili bolj robotizirano vodeni izstrelki.
like the GNAT could not
be destroyed by a single
fighter, or even by several 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 completely used up. We were
still more than ten minutes away from the asteroids: the first large chasing
squadron of fighters would
need the same amount of
time to catch us. The hologram display showed their
position. The fighter squadron 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 computer had completed its calculation. Silence fell once
again.
“Hold your course!” came
the voice of the commander. “We’ve done it!”
59
Ladje, kot je bila KOMAR,
posamezen lovec ni mogel
uničiti, tudi več lovcev
skupaj ne. Toda večje število je pomenilo stalno
porabo goriva in streliva,
izčrpavajoče
zasledovanje do končne porabe
energetskih zalog skupaj
s strelivom. Do asteroidov pa je bilo še dobrih
deset minut, enako, kot
je potrebovala tudi prva
večja eskadra zasledovalnih lovcev. Hologramski
prikazovalnik je ponazarjal njihov položaj. Eskadra
lovcev nas bo dohitela, to
je bilo očitno. Toda to bo
tik ob robu meglice. Tedaj
bomo sprožili svoje laserske topove.
»Nasprotne sile so premočne!« je podal svoj izračun osrednji računalnik.
Spet je nastala tišina.
»Drži smer!« se je spet oglasil poveljujoči glas. »Uspelo
nam je!«
The crew exchanged astonished 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-controlled 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 fighters will still have to encircle us, and that will mean
losing vital time.”
Everyone looked back at
the main hologram display, 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
60
Posadka se je med začudenim
spogledovanjem
ozirala zdaj k poveljniku,
zdaj v holi. Nič ni kazalo
na uspeh. Iz vsega prikazanega se ni dalo tako sklepati.
»Da, šestnajst sekund pred
vstopom nas bodo dohiteli,« je nadaljeval poveljnik, »na tej razdalji pa nam
vodeni asteroidi že lahko
priskočijo na pomoč, vsak
čas se morajo začeti premikati. 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 osrednji hologramski prikazovalnik, kjer še vedno ni
nič kazalo na premikanje
asteroidov, katerih prepozna sprožitev bi bila lahko
za nas usodna. Vse več
vse bolj glasnega mrmranja sem lahko zaznal. »Kaj
waiting for?” came a shout
from the background.
The countdown lights
appeared on the holo-display: 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 minutes’ 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 fighters. The battle had begun.
Were we going to make it,
or was this merely hopeless resistance in the face
61
čakajo, hudiča?!« je priletel
vzklik iz ozadja.
V hologramskem prikazovalniku so se prižgale
odštevalne lučke, šestnajst
rdečih za sekunde in deset
modrih za minute. Mrmranje je utihnilo. Vse dogajanje se je razgrnilo v hologramskem prikazovalniku.
Vse, kar je mirovalo, in vse,
kar se je gibalo. Približevanje 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 prižgale 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
of their superior strength?
Then, from somewhere
inside the asteroid cloud,
an object appeared, something 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 clearly: 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 protective 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
62
spopad z njihovo premočjo? 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 pridobiti znotraj asteroidnega
oblaka, kjer ga nihče ni
mogel zaznati. Še je morda
čas, so govorile oči med
spogledovanjem. Hrup je
utihnil. Dihanje se je umirilo. V hologramskem prikazovalniku se je nazorno
kazalo dogajanje: mi, lovci
ter orjaški dolgi jezik.
Rdeče lučke so začele ugašati... sedem, šest, pet…
Zdaj so vžgali po nas lovci,
več sto hkrati, s tako silovitostjo, da so naša zaščitna polja razpadala eno
za drugim in je zažarel
oklep našega KOMARJA.
Tisoče stopinj vročine je
uplinjalo zgornje plasti.
“Oklep popušča,” je odje-
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 fighters’ 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 enormous number of robot-guided 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 immediately: “There will be
plenty of ours too!”
63
knil krik... Še tri sekunde,
dve, ena… Orjaška senca je
zletela mimo in zajela nas
je tišina popolnega miru.
Zleteli smo tik ob površini jezika. Varni! Hua! Za
laserske topove lovcev
smo
bili
nedosegljivi
vsaj do vstopa v asteroidni oblak. Preden bodo
uspeli zleteti okrog jezika,
bomo mi že na varnem.
Lov se bo seveda še nadaljeval. Toda to bo na
našem območju. Lovcev
je na tisoče, pa tudi mi
smo lahko računali na
veliko število naših robotsko vodenih izstrelkov.
Da, na veliko število.
Pogledi so spet zrli v hologramski
prikazovalnik.
»Hudičevo dosti jih imajo,
ti Ostrini,« sem zaslišal
glas skozi vse močnejše
mrmranje.
Toda tedaj je že priletel
odgovor: »Tudi naših bo
dosti!«
“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 asteroids and on, along the
giant tongue to its root.
And then we were flying
freely, past the massive
bulks of asteroids measuring several kilometres 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
64
»Na obeh straneh nas bo
veliko!« je v nič kaj zmagoslavnem tonu dodal
rdečelasi Čutin ob hologramu in se takoj dopolnil
z nekoliko prisiljeno radoživostjo. »Možnosti pa zdaj
le imamo. Ne bo lahko.
Najbrž nam bo uspelo.«
Sledilo je še nekaj trenutkov pomišljanja in pomislekov v živahnih pogovorih. Nevarnost nam je še
vedno sledila, bila je tudi
pred nami, a leteli smo v
varnem zavetju dolgega
ščita, speljanega v notranjost asteroidnega oblaka.
Zleteli smo mimo prvih
asteroidov, nato naprej
vzdolž orjaškega jezika do
njegovega korena, in že
smo bili prepuščeni prostemu letu mimo masivnih
gmot z več kilometri premera ter mimo meglic iz
drobnih delcev, nevarnih
za let v njihovi bližini, ker
bi si ob njih lahko poškodavali trup ladje. Na pogled
pa so bile te meglice zani-
see. Very interesting. The
gleam of neighbouring
stars fragmented into various colours on their surface sso that blue, green,
yellow layers blended one
into the other and intermingled to form a surprisingly 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 admiration 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 patronising tone, but then the
features of his face hardened and his eyes grew
65
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 umetnino, ki sem jo moral opaziti kljub vsej napetosti ali
pa morda prav zaradi nje.
»Da, ta meglica je v naših
katalogih,« mi je v pojasnilo odvrnil Dobročut.
»Med najboljšimi umetniškimi deli graditeljev tega
asteroidnega oblaka je.
Tudi meni je všeč.«
»Zanimivo.« Moje občudovanje se je zlilo v premišljujoče pomisleke. »Umetnost v vesolju,« sem pogledal soseda - zdaj smo bili
torej na varnem - in znova
meglico.
»Hm, tudi Zemljani boste
nekoč
ustvarjali
kaj
takega.« Dobročut je govoril z nasmehom v nekoliko
pokroviteljskem
tonu,
potem pa so poteze njegovega obraza med krajšo
zamišljenostjo
dobile
cold. “Provided, of course,
that we succeed with our
breakthrough and re-establish a connection with our
energy production fields.
Failure to do so would
make it difficult to predict
the course of your development or, rather, your very
existence.”
Once again I was filled
with doubts. What actually 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 presence was so important?
Extremely important, by
the look of things. And
then this quarrel between
these two superior civilisations. 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
66
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 energetsko 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 povezavo z osrednjim dogajanjem. 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 civilizacijama. Tudi glede tega
spora sem dotlej dobil
preveč skope odgovore, da
bi si lahko izoblikoval oprijemljivo predstavo. Razen,
seveda, glede ogroženosti
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 production fields, about which
they still hadn’t told me
anything.
The warning that we were
about to leave the shelter
of the giant tongue silenced the cheerful enthusiasm 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 against the logistical precision
of the enemy’s moves. But
enough for a breakthro67
Zemlje, ki naj bi bila pred
uničenjem. Ali pa tudi ne?
Še tega nisem mogel razvozlati. Kaj pa, če je izvor
spora med njimi kaj drugega, globljega? Če je vse
skupaj sproženo iz povsem
drugega vzroka? Nekega
pomembnega
vzroka,
pomembnejšega od energetsko 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
ugh and an outburst of
happiness. And at least it
would be easier from now
on, since we could already 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 development. A visual representation 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. Thousands 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!
68
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 prepričani o tem. S pogledi smo
v hologramskem prikazovalniku spremljali nov razplet dogajanja. Vizualna
upodobitev vseh razpoložljivih informacij nam je
nakazovala naš let mimo
gosto posejanih asteroidov in razkrivala naše
zaledje. Tja je privlačila
našo pozornost. V oblak
asteroidov se je pogrezal drug oblak. Tisoče, na
tisoče lovcev iz ladjevja
Ostrinov se je v tako velikem številu gnalo v zasledovanje 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-
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 concentration of power must
have surprised them. That
was certainly my impression – an impression that
was growing ever stronger. 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 continued to stare at the hologram without moving.
“Do you have similar
forces at your disposal?” I
blurted out impatiently.
“Hmm.” He seemed to be
having difficulty appra-
69
vilo! Mar bomo res dobili
pomoč, okrepitve za blokado te neverjetne sile?
Čutini so še naprej, vendar
brez živih vzklikov, opazovali prostorsko ponazorjeno razporeditev zasledovalcev. 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 nestrpnost.
»Hm.« Očitno premišljanje
o nastalem položaju zanj
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 unobserved. 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.
70
ni bilo tako preprosto.
Dosti več kot zgolj lokalno
dogajanje se je tu razpletalo ali, bolje rečeno,
zapletalo. Nič od tistega,
kar so predvidevali o prisotnosti zgolj lokalnih
sil v tem delu vesolja, ni
moglo držati. »Poznali
smo gostoto, moč in razporeditev oboroženih sil.
Za vsak del celotne galaksije smo vedeli. Prikaz v
hologramskem prikazovalniku pa nikakor ni v
skladu z mojim vedenjem.
Taka koncentracija sil. Od
kod se je vzela? Premiki
tako velikih oboroženih
sil niso mogli biti neopaženi. Ali pa…« je v odgovor razmišljal Dobročut.
»Ostrini naj ne bi imeli
sposobnosti za kaj takega.
Morda pa . . .« je spet umolknil.
»Kaj morda?« Pazljivo sem
zrl vanj in v njegovo odkimavanje.
“I don’t know. Perhaps
headquarters is no longer
giving us all the information.”
“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 arrangement of forces. It is probably nothing important.
But that only applies to the
arrangement at the galactic level.”
“Why only at the galactic 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.”
71
»Ne vem. Lahko, da poveljstva ne dajejo več vseh
informacij.«
»Kaj to pomeni?«
»Več stvari.«
»Katere?«
»Da so že bili opravljeni
premiki in nove koncentracije 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 razporeditev. Najbrž nič posebnega.
Toda to velja samo za razporeditev 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.«
“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 comprehend 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 irreplaceable. Or at least difficult to replace. And this is
what I don’t understand.”
Benesens seemed to consider 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
72
»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 prisotnost?«
»Ne vem. Potrebujemo
vas. Dovolj jasno mi je bilo
povedano o vaši pomembnosti 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 dogajanje kaže na vašo nenadomestljivost. Ali vsaj težko
nadomestljivost. Tega pa
ne razumem.« Dobročut
je po kratkem premišljanju pogledal vame ter
spet v hologram, potem
pa se je zastrmel predse.
Toda pogled mu je rahlo
odsotno uhajal prek pri-
over the display; I could
see that he was deep in
thought. He was pondering 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.”
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.«
***
***
Our flight through the densely 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
73
Vožnja mimo gosto razporejenih gmot je pomenila
vratolomno vijuganje, med
katerim so omejitev hitrosti postavljali bočni vztrajnostni pritiski v zavojih.
Dobročut mi je pojasnjeval nastali položaj. »Kmalu
nas bodo dohiteli,« je dejal
with us,” he said, before
going on with a confident
smile: “But they are going
to have other problems.
This asteroid cloud contains a labyrinth of traps,
security barriers and
guided missile stations,
which in normal circumstances would certainly
be enough. The problem is
this incredible concentration of forces.”
“So what are our chances?” I asked, beginning
to feel anxious again.
Benesens looked me up
and down with an expression of calm self-possession.
“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 chasing fighters. In this display, which ran the entire
width of the command
bridge window, we could
see everything as though
through a giant telescope.
74
ter nato z dokaj samozavestnim nasmehom nadaljeval: »Bodo pa imeli druge
težave. V tem asteroidnem
oblaku je labirint pasti,
varnostnih zapor in postojank z vodljivimi izstrelki,
kar bi nam v normalnih
okoliščinah prav gotovo
zadostovalo. Problem je
bolj v neverjetni koncentraciji sil.«
»In kakšne so po novem
naše možnosti?« sem vprašal s porajajočim se tesnobnim občutkom.
Dobročut me je z izrazom
mirne prisebnosti premeril s pogledom. »Tega pa
zdaj res ne morem predvideti,« je odvrnil.
Vsi so utihnili. V osrednjem
hologramskem prikazovalniku se je kazal celoten prostor asteroidnega
oblaka z zasledovalnimi
lovci vred. V tem prikazovalniku, prek celotnega
velikega okna v poveljniškem prostoru, smo vse
videli kakor skozi orjaški
daljnogled. Vse asteroide
We were able to see all
the asteroids in our path
before we got near them.
The GNAT shuddered. 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 succession. Then our powerful
laser cannon opened fire.
Some of the leading fighters 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 ammunition. Despite all the
power of our laser cannon,
the fighters were already
starting to outflank us in
a pincer movement, and
even the simulated prediction on the main hologram
display suggested the
worse. Meanwhile a large
swarm of fighters had
appeared beneath us and
75
v smeri našega leta smo
lahko videli, še preden
smo se jim približali.
KOMAR se je stresel. Pogledal sem Čutina. »Lovci?«
»Da, dohiteli so nas.«
Zadetki robolovcev so nas
stresali v kratkih presledkih. 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 nadomestili drugi, v še bolj
besni strelski vnemi. Varčevanje 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 simulirana napoved v osrednjem
hologramskem prikazovalniku nam je kazala
slabo. Medtem se nam je
od spodaj prikradla večja
jata lovcev in se začela dvi-
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 perhaps in the top right quadrant 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
76
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. Umaknili 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 nadaljevanje leta, razen morda
zgoraj desno, kjer je bila
nekoliko manjša gostota
lovcev. Takoj smo se usmerili tja, toda tudi zasledovalni 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 presenečeno vzkliknil Čutin
ob hologramu. »Tudi oni
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 display confirms it. Look,
you can see it already.
Help is coming. Our roborockets!”
“It’s going to be a free-forall. Thousands of dogfights.”
“We’ll all be in it together.
That is clear. Our breakthrough 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 speculations about our chances. “We are about to begin
our breakthrough through
the weakened part of the
encircling forces.”
The holo-display showed
77
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 bližini dosega naših roboraket!«
»Da, hologramski prikaz to
dopušča. Da, saj se že vidi.
Pomoč prihaja. Naše roborakete!«
»Nastal bo metež tisočerih
dvobojev.«
»Vsi bomo na kupu. To je
očitno. Milimetrske razdalje 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 presekal pogovore o naših
manevrskih možnostih.
»Začenjamo preboj skozi
oslabljeni del obkolitvenih
sil.«
V holiju se nam je kazala
the distribution of the
fighters in the area selected for the breakthrough.
Everything was illustrated very precisely, with all
distances and sizes properly 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 fighters we will cut a way
through the barricade.”
The laser cannons locked
onto the highlighted fighters, tracing a cut through
the blockade on the holodisplay.
The visual simulations
generated on the basis of
the computer’s predictions 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 fighters approaching from our
flank and the pursuing
fighters on our tail. This
78
razporeditev lovcev na
območju
predvidenega
preboja. Zelo natančno je
bilo vse ponazorjeno v razmerju 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 usmerili v izbrane obarvane
lovce, ki so v hologramu
začrtali rez skozi našo
zaporo.
Hologramski prikaz leta
našega KOMARJA je v
simuliranih
napovedih
računalniško
izračunanega predvidevanja obstal
na presečišču vseh smeri:
naše, naših roboraket, z
boka prihajajočih lovcev
in zasledovalnih lovcev
tik za nami.
is where the impact would
occur: thousands and thousands of individual engagements of uncertain outcome, a blizzard of ships
in single combat, a swarm
of enemies joined together
in a giant conflict, and our
planned
breakthrough.
The hologram image disappeared. “Impossible 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 compartments 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 breakthrough. Even if the whole
front section of the ship is
destroyed, we still have a
chance, because our warships or robot-controlled
rescue rockets will pick us
up on other side.”
79
Na presečišču bo nastal
nalet, na tisoče spopadov z nejasnim izidom,
metež dvobojev, vrvež v
orjaškem spopadu ter naš
nameravani preboj. Prikaz
holograma se je razblinil.
»Napoved nadaljnjega razpleta ni možna,« je kratko
zaključil osrednji računalnik.
»Prosim za tišino!« se je
oglasil osrednji računalnik, kapitan pa je nadaljeval: »Oblecite skafandre,
ker bomo iz vseh prostorov 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 roborakete.«
“Spacesuits give us mobility and enable us to fall
back from a danger zone.
If part of the ship is destroyed, 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 robotic 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 attacking the Acutin fighters.
80
»Skafandri
omogočajo
gibljivost, umik z ogroženega 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 oblekle robotske roke, deset
rok hkrati, od nog do
glave. »Huh, to je bilo pa
hitro!« sem lahko samo še
ugotavljal.
»Lovci na dosegu laserskih 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-
Thousands of crisscrossing
laser beams, striking their
targets and heating the
ships’ armour until they
exploded. All around us
the blinding light of exploding fighters and roborockets. There were ships
everywhere we looked
and countless explosions,
and we were flying straight 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 incandescent whiteness, and an
even greater danger now
threatened from ahead:
the front section of the hull
would not be able to withstand all the collisions.
“Fall back, to the escape
pods! Fire control and
navigation to automatic!”
We all rushed back immediately. It was our last
81
skih žarkov se je križalo,
zadevalo cilje in razžarevalo oklepe do eksplozije. 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 računalnik!«
Vsi smo se takoj pognali
nazaj. Bil je zadnji čas.
chance. The fragments
of shattered fighters and
roborockets ahead of us
were getting denser all the
time. A powerful explosion shook the floor beneath 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 tripped over a Sensin on the
floor and as I fell I caught a
fleeting glimpse of a fighter 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.
82
Ostanki razbitin razstreljenih lovcev in roboraket na naši poti so bili
vse gostejši. Tedaj nam je
močna eksplozija spodmaknila 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 izhodom sem se še sam spotaknil 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 bežečimi Čutini. Sledil je nov
sunek, novo spodnašanje
tal pod nogami, spet smo
se spotikali, padali in se
ponovno pobirali. Krčevito sem se oprijemal sten,
se plazil in v gneči skupaj
s Čutini končno dosegel
reševalno raketo, v katero
smo takoj poskakali drug
za drugim.
“Ready to launch!” shouted a visibly shaken Sensin
with his finger on the trigger of the rocket drive,
but a shout stopped him:
“Wait! Not so fast! Damaged or not, the ship’s armoured hull is still protecting
us from all the flying wreckage. We’re in the middle
of a battle!”
Our escape pod, one of
four, remained in readiness 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
83
»Pripravljeni za izstrelitev!«
je vzkliknil vidno pretresen Čutin s prstom na sprožilcu raketnega pogona, a
ga je zadržal vzklik:
»Čaaakaj! Ne prehitevaj!
Razbita ali ne, z oklopljenim trupom nam še vedno
daje zaščito ob naletu v
razbitine. V sredini spopada 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 najgostejši bojni metež. Pri
optimalno izbranem trenutku izstrelitve je beg
naših reševalnih raket
lahko uspešen. Želim vam
srečno pot! Zbogom!«
Oprijel sem se ročaja svojega sedeža. Izstrelitev bo
hitra. Lepo od osrednjega
računalnika, da se žrtvuje
za nas, sem še pomislil.
Sledil je silovit sunek.
whole front section of the
launch bay flew off, opening such a large gap that
we had a view of a group
of asteroids in front of us.
Then the powerful acceleration 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 holograms by our seats soon
showed the explosions of
the pursuing craft as they
smashed into the asteroids. There now came a few
nerve-racking minutes of
dizzying turns that sent the
blood rushing to my temples, 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
84
Ves sprednji del prostora
pred reševalnimi raketami 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 reševalne 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 umirjeno lagoden. Bili smo
varni. Tudi v hologramu
ni bilo več videti zasledovalcev. Otresli smo se jih.
had shaken them off. At
last! We cheered enthusiastically at the sight of
the clear route through the
remainder of the asteroid
belt. This part of the asteroid 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 unexpected. 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 situation.
“Well that really is something!” said the Sensin
who had provided the
commentary by the holodisplay on the ship. “So
that’s how things stand
now.”
His neighbour nodded.
85
Končno! Navdušeno smo
vzkliknili ob pogledu
na odprto pot skozi preostali del asteroidnega
pasu. Vsaj ta del asteroidnega 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 spregovoril Čutin, ki je izrekal
pripombe ob hologramu
na ladji. »Torej je zadeva
zdaj taka.«
Njegov sosed je prikimal.
“Yes!” His voice sounded 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 possibility. And yet they could
have imagined it. The Sensins, with all their intelligence, could surely have
predicted this. Or perhaps
not?
Thousands and thousands
of warships floated in a
variety of geometric figures around a giant space
station bathed in an iridescent glow. It must have
measured several tens of
kilometres across: a veritable city. I caught my
breath and exhaled slowly.
Those were Sensin and
Acutin warships, in equal
numbers. At least that’s
86
»Da!« To je izustil bolj odsotno, nakar je nenadoma
prišlo iz njega še nekaj več
življenja. »Kakšna pravzaprav? 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 pričakovanji. Nihče ni omenil te
možnosti. Pa vendar bi
lahko pomislili nanjo. Vsaj
Čutini bi to s svojo bistrostjo lahko predvideli. Ali
pa tudi ne?
Tisoče in tisoče bojnih
ladij je bilo v raznih geometrijskih likih razvrščenih okrog orjaške vesoljske postaje, razsvetljene s
prelivajočim se barvnim
sijem. Več deset kilometrov 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
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 display came to life and
showed a group of Sensin
commanders – so I gathered 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 successful breakthrough. Congratulations!” A bright
smile flashed spontaneously across his face. “A job
well done!”
There was something foxy
about this man, it occurred to me. Nevertheless
I was happy to share the
satisfaction of the Sensins
in the pod.
87
videti je bilo tako. Zasidrane 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 pripombah Čutinov, z možakom
dostojanstvenega videza v
ospredju, ki nas je nagovoril:
»Pozdravljeni! Izvedli ste
uspešen preboj. Čestitam!« Na njegovem obrazu
je zaplesal spontano živ
nasmeh. »Dobro opravljeno delo!«
Nekaj lisjaškega je na tem
možaku, se mi je utrnil
pomislek. Vseeno pa sem
rade volje delil zadovoljstvo s Čutini v raketi.
“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 experienced, with all the risks
and the emotions that went
with them, were to be followed by a social gathering
and a dinner. Wonderful!
“Naturally we will also
have to invite the Acutins.”
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 cooperation with the Acutins. Even
now. But some things, as
you yourselves have seen,
go their own way, no?”
88
»Priredili vam bomo svečano večerjo z večjim številom gostov!«
Sledil je živ in odobravajoč
odziv. Zadnjim dogodkom,
z vsemi tveganji in s spreminjajočimi se občutki, bo
sledilo družabno srečanje
z večerjo. Krasno!
»Seveda bomo morali povabiti 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 zgovorno samozavestjo: »Kot
veste, smo z Ostrini vedno
v dogovorih o sodelovanju. Tudi zdaj. Nekatere
stvari, kot ste sami videli,
pa gredo svojo pot, kajne?«
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.
89
Čutin se je narahlo priklonil. »Na svidenje na
večerji!« je še dejal v slovo
ter se umaknil iz holija.
»Kot ste slišali,« je s poudarjeno 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.
Chapter V
V. poglavje
The speech by the representative of the Sensins
was respectfully official, just like the Acutin’s
thanks for the invitation to
the dinner. Once the introductory words were over,
the conversation between
the Acutins and Sensins
moved to the tables. I
watched them with interest. Both groups. A certain 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 comments about the comfort of
our journey. Conversation
flowed among the Sensins
themselves and with the
Acutins.
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 opazoval. 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.
Once the dinner was over,
my attention was attracted by a group of Sensins
Kmalu po večerji pa je
mojo pozornost pritegnila
skupina Čutinov s svojim
90
who seemed to be looking
more and more frequently
in my direction. The way
they bent their heads together as they talked seemed
to reveal some secret purpose. 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 noticed 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 original 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 pro91
vse pogostejšim pogledovanjem proti meni. Neka
prikrita namera se mi je
razkrivala v njihovem sklanjanju glav med pomenkovanjem. 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 nakazovali pomembnost nadaljnjega 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 dvorani, toda zaman. Nisem ga
več mogel najti. Ponovno
sem se ozrl v prvotno skupinico. To prijateljsko srečanje ob večerji je bilo po
vsej verjetnosti pri koncu.
Vsaj sodeč po tem, kar sem
lahko dojel iz vsega skupaj.
Pogledal sem še k Ostrinom. Njihovi pogovori s
Čutini so potekali v miru,
ceeding peacefully and
quietly. If anything they
seemed even more relaxed.
That was my impression.
Nothing about this evening event suggested that
there was a serious quarrel
between them. Oh yes: that
old question of this quarrel of theirs. What was it
about? Whatever it was,
after everything I had just
experienced on my journey here, this social gathering 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 wai92
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 zaostritvami.
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 namenjen, 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
ting for us. Slip out unobserved and make your
way towards the structure
marked with a double ‘W’.
One of our people will be
waiting for you there.”
že čaka. Neopazno se
izmuzni skozi izhod in
naprej do zgradbe z dvojnim W, kjer te bo že čakal
eden naših.«
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 spontaneous
conversation.
Things were getting increasingly sociable, and some
Acutins were already
looking curiously in my
direction, although their
looks were slightly different: 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
Prikimal sem. Spet je
kazalo na hitrejši potek
dogajanja. Celo malo prehiter, 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 radovedno pogledovali proti
meni, čeprav je bil njihov
pogled nekoliko drugačen,
bolj ocenjujoč.
93
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
smiling Acutin – about
my height but of a slighter build – came up to me,
looked at me with curiosity 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 differences. 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 learned?” I asked, to avoid
giving a direct answer
about my connection with
the Sensins.
“No, no. There’s nothing
94
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 sposobnosti preverjanja me
zanimajo.«
»In kaj ste ugotovili?« sem
dejal v izogib odkritemu
odgovoru glede pripadnosti Čutinom.
»Ne, ne. Nič ni narobe.
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 question really well intentioned, and was this conversation really so innocent?
“But something must have
led you to your conclusion,” I continued with slightly heightened curiosity,
while pretending to enjoy
an entertaining conversation.
“Of course.” The Acutin
was becoming increasingly confident. “We Acutins
respond to events more
directly, more appropriately to the current mood.”
He laughed knowingly:
“Sensins are a good deal
more absent in their conversations.”
“Oh yes?” “Your tradition
derives from a military
upbringing, but the Sensins are more sensuous,
95
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 dobronamernosti njegovega vprašanja oziroma z dvomom
o nepomembnosti tega
pogovora.
»Toda nekaj vas je moralo
navesti na vašo ugotovitev,« sem nadaljeval z rahlo
poudarjeno
radovednostjo med igranim zadovoljstvom nad zabavnim
pogovorom.
»Seveda.« Ostrin je postajal 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 odsotni.«
»Aja?« sem zategnil. »Vaša
tradicija izhaja iz vojaške
vzgoje, Čutini pa so bolj
čutni, z nekaj več umetni-
with something of the
absentmindedness of the
artist. So do I seem more
combative?”
“No, no, you seem perfectly normal.”
Two Sensins standing
nearby, who must have
overheard our conversation, 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 civilisations.
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
96
ške odsotnosti. Torej delujem bolj militantno?«
»Ne, ne, delujete povsem
normalno.«
Tedaj sta se primaknila
sosednja Čutina, ki sta
morala ujeti najin pogovor. Z vidno živahnostjo,
pravzaprav že kar razposajenostjo, je eden od njiju
omenil zadnje dogodke z
namigom na ‘strelsko prireditev’ 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-
will find out why you need
him. You have miscalculated somewhere.”
The Acutin moved away.
In fact he had been looking somewhat uncomfortable 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.
97
vili, zakaj ga potrebujete.
Nekje ste se ušteli.«
Nato se je Ostrin umaknil. Sicer se je pred tem
nekam neodločno prestopal, kot da mu še nekaj leži
na jeziku, in pri tem ocenjujoče pogledoval zdaj
mene, zdaj Čutina z vse
manj veselja nad nadaljnjim pogovorom, kot sem
lahko jasno razbral, dokler
se končno ni poslovil.
»Gremo! Čakajo nas, « je
med oprezujočim oziranjem po morebitnih pritajenih pogledih dejal Čutin
ob meni ter mi z namigom dal znamenje, naj se
skrivoma pomaknemo k
izhodu.
Chapter VI
VI. poglavje
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 slightly 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 certain skills and special knowledge are required.”
Meanwhile the Sensin in
the foreground had already come to a halt outside
the first closed door and
98
Čutin pred mano se je
nagnil naprej in se odgnal
proti hologramu vrat, skozi
katera je zletel z dolgim,
sprva s težnostjo obremenjenim letom, takoj na
drugi strani hologramsko
prikazane prozorne pregrade pa je najprej obstal v
lebdenju z upočasnjenimi
gibi, se še nekoliko zravnal 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 reševanjem zastavljenih nalog,
za katere moraš imeti tako
določene sposobnosti kot
posebna znanja.«
Medtem je Čutin v ospredju
že zastal pred prvimi zaprtimi vrati ter nas z zamahom roke pozval, naj
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 translucent 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 mate99
mu sledimo. Potem smo
zbrani v polkrogu, tri ali
štiri korake stran od vrat,
sporočili svoj prihod.
»Dobrodošli!« nas je pozdravil presojni hologramski 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 izgubljanja 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-
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 robotcontrolled missiles, which
we cannot allow the Acutins to reach no matter
how hard they try.” The
Sensin smiled slyly: “And
that is of course very hard
indeed.”
Have they already attempted 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 secu100
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 temeljito in zahtevno, ker je
tu vhod na naša največja
energetska polja, zavarovana z milijardami orjaških robotiziranih izstrelkov, do katerih Ostrinov
ne smemo pustiti, pa če si
še tako prizadevajo.« Čutin
se je prebrisano nasmehnil: »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 varnostni zaščitni sistem. Prave
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 development. 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 circum101
neprehodne in neprebojne
lupine so v plasteh postavljene okrog in okrog. Po
njih so razporejeni laserski topovi silnih energij.
Kdor bi hotel prebiti te
lupine, bi moral imeti vsaj
enake energetske zmogljivosti, 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 močnega ladjevja s sicer nam
znano preprosto tehniko,
ki pa se jim je zaradi spleta
stances, actually succeeded. They disintegrated
their ships into tiny particles and, moving them in
at a carefully calculated
speed in order to deceive us, they guided them
to the entrance in apparently random clusters.
Everything was arranged so that they could be
reintegrated at a specific
moment in the vicinity of
the entrance. Some particles flew more slowly,
others more quickly, over
quite large distances. They
managed to create a misleading exterior which confused our computerised
analysers into seeing different, peaceful vessels. And
so their warships gathered 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 through the security system
at the entrance and made
their way to where we are
102
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 sestavitev 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 analizatorje 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 diverzantskim napadom vdrli
skozi varnostni sistem ob
vhodu vse do sem, kjer
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 managed to get hold of all the
codes and the knowledge
necessary to open the
doors. They almost made
it.”
“But surely you had security protection inside?” I
asked.
“We did, and that is in fact
why their plan failed. They
stopped outside the seventy-fourth door because
they couldn’t get through
it. There are seventy-seven 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
103
sedaj stojimo, in še dosti
naprej. Kar skozi 73 preverjanj so se prebili in le še
štiri so jih ločila od komandnih 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 njihova namera vendarle ni
uspela. Pred 74. prehodom
so obstali, ker niso prišli
skozenj. 77 zaščitnih vrat
je tukaj, toda proti zunanjim vdorom jih je namenjenih samo 73. Ostala
štiri so za preprečevanje
zlorab z naše strani, ker
tako pomembnega sistema ne moremo zaupati
nobenemu posamezniku,
pa naj bo še tako ugleden
suspicion. We also had an
entire garrison stationed
outside the seventy-fourth
door along with their commanders.”
“And what happened to
them?”
“The raiding party got as
far as the seventy-fourth
door.”
“Did they take them prisoner? 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 authentication. Otherwise they
would be able to get their
hands on the whole com104
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 morebitne 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-
puter system controlling
the energy fields and production processes that also
controls the energy dumps
and the production of all
types of weapons and
robots with powerful logistical capabilities for autonomous warfare. For military 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 control panel. Otherwise it’s
no good. The Acutins must
have reconciled themselves 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 nevertheless it was quite some time
before they arrived. Subsequent analysis revealed
that before the incursion
the Acutins had carried
out a series of simulati105
nalniškim miselnim sistemom energetskih polj in
proizvodnih procesov, ki
ima nadzor tudi nad skladišči in izdelavo vseh vrst
orožij ter tudi robotov z
močnimi logistično računalniškimi 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 razpoložljivi 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
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 seventy-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
106
vdor v energetska polja
in na njihovi osnovi predvideli tako čas za dešifriranje 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 njihovo nadutost. Neomajno
so bili prepričani o hitrem
sprehodu skozi naše varovane 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 nezmanjšanem navdušenju nad neuspehom Ostrinov mirno
nadaljeval: »Ušteli so se.
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 problems because of a lack of
energy? On Earth we have
seen quite significant differences 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
107
Z neuspehom diverzantskega vdora jim je spodletel tudi poskus prevlade
nad nami oziroma, da bom
bolj natančen, kljub vsem
skrbnim pripravam jim je
vse skupaj spodletelo. To
je tisto, kar je najpomembnejše.«
Z nasmehom sem pogledal
Čutina. Hudo prednost bi
lahko tovrsten uspeh prinesel Ostrinom, sem sklepal po Čutinovem odzivu,
tak občutek sem namreč
dobil.
»Ali imajo Ostrini težave
zaradi pomanjkanje energije? Na Zemlji smo imeli
precej občutnih razhajanj glede postopnega ali
hitrega prehoda v vojno,«
sem dejal v smislu nakazanega razumevanja spora
teh dveh civilizacij, o katerem še vedno nisem vedel
prav veliko.
Čutin je umolknil, se zagledal vame ter nato z rahlim
odkimavanjem umaknil
pogled: »Ni stvar v tem. Bilijonkratno imajo pokrite
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 hostility between your civilisations?”
“The differences between
us arose from the incomprehensible desire of the
Acutins for predominance, 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 entitled to precedence and to
control us and, consequently, the Earth too. Their
predominance would not
be very propitious for you
Earthmen either, since
for them you are merely
beings at a lower intellectual level. They believe that they can allow
you to evolve, but you do
not represent any greater
value to them. They would
108
potrebe, skoraj tako kot
mi. Oboji je imamo več kot
dovolj.«
»Torej energetska polja
niso vzrok sovražnosti
med vašima civilizacijama?«
»Razhajanja so nastala iz
že kar nerazumljive želje
Ostrinov po prevladi,
kljub bilijonkratnemu presežku vseh potreb, tako
njihovih kot naših, ker je
tu vsega dovolj. Imajo se
za večvredno civilizacijo,
ki ji po njihovem mnenju
pripada prvenstvo z nadzorom nad nami in posledično 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 dopustijo evolucijski razvoj,
toda večje vrednosti zanje
ne predstavljate. Nič vas
not miss you if you were
to disappear or be destroyed.”
“And you have a different 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 acquainted 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 explanation 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.”
109
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 posameznik ne bi razumel oziroma bi nas prav verjetno
razumel napačno. Pa niti
ni potrebno tako veliko
časa za malo bolj poglobljeno 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 poznavanje zagotovljeno že sedaj.«
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 understanding of your civilisation?”
“Yes!” agreed the Sensin
immediately, as he gestured 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 forwards like a gymnast. She
clearly had a very elastic
physique. With a smile,
she span round on her fingers, bent over backwards
all the way to the floor,
stood on her hands and
110
Nagrbančil sem čelo v
znak ne najboljšega razumevanja in narahlo zmajal
z glavo: »Dva do tri tedne
bi potreboval za osnovno
razumevanje vaše civilizacije?«
»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 poigravanjem 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 cirkuški rokohitrc ali čarovnik. Povsem na levi se je
pripogibalo v kombinezon oblečeno dekle, vitke
postave in očitno zelo prožnega telesa. Z nasmehom
se je zavrtela na prstih, se
upognila nazaj, vse do tal,
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 coordination 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-fourth 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 usklajenosti naših gibov gre, ker
so Ostrini za nekatere spretnosti bolj okorni od nas
in imajo težave s posnemanjem 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 Čutinovega samozavestnega
nasmeha, »tja do 74. in do
111 vaše posadke?«
“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 requirements that are sufficiently varied, the crucial
ones become easier. As a
rule one of these tests will
cause difficulties for an
individual. And the passage through each successive 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 reassuringly.
“Energy systems manager?” I had to smile.
112
»No, ja, imajo tudi bolj spretne posameznike z nekaj
dodatnimi sposobnostmi.
Pa tudi predvideli so tovrstna testiranja.«
»Glede na njihov uspešni
prehod skozi vse zapore
bo že tako,« sem mu pritrdil, »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 premisleku.
»Ne skrbite. V naši ekipi
imate mesto upravnika
energetskih sistemov,« me
je pomiril Čutin.
»Upravnika energetskih
sistemov?« sem se moral
nasmehniti.
“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.” Something in his voice seemed
to betray a slight uncertainty. At least that was the
impression I got.
In the meantime the
first Sensins had already
walked up to the “doorkeepers” and were proving their identity by imitating all those skills one
113
»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 nobenih večjih pooblastil od
tistih, ki so vnaprej določena zanj.« Čutin je s pogledom preletel moj odziv na
njegovo obrazložitev.
»Prav,« sem se strinjal, »saj
nimam nobenih posebnih želja po vaših energetskih poljih. Tudi če bi se
znašel sam za komandnim
pultom, bi deloval po
dogovoru.«
Čutin me je ponovno ocenjujoče 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 »vratarjev« in s posnemanjem
vseh tistih spretnosti drug
za drugim dokazovali svojo
after the other. It was very
interesting to watch. They
were amazingly good at it.
Perfectly at ease, with the
tranquillity of a specialist 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 vaulting 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 requirements from the most
diverse spheres, which
somehow added up to an
agglomeration of individual abilities. The Sensins
satisfied all the requirements 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
114
identiteto. Prav zanimivo
jih je bilo videti. Presneto
dobri so bili pri tem početju. Povsem brez nervoze, z
mirnostjo, kot jo lahko ima
o sebi prepričan specialist,
so izvajali vse zahtevane
trike ter se pridružili žonglerju v skupni igri z vsemi
tistimi kroglami, kockami
in ostalimi predmeti,
potem pa so v teku in preskakovanju ovir v zaključnih 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
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 overcome. 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
115
vzpodbudno potrepljali.
Dobra ekipa naj bili vsi
skupaj, so mi sporočali
njihovi zgovorni pogledi,
pa tudi sam sem se že ves
čas veselil vsakega opravljenega testa kot uspešno
premagane ovire, čeprav
me je še vedno motilo prepričanje 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 razumeti, da mi je doslej še
niso predstavili v celoti?
Zgolj o neki njihovi naklonjenosti do nas Zemljanov so mi povedali, to naj
bi bilo iz vsega skupaj,
recimo, vsaj delno tudi razbrati. Recimo. In da Ostrini
ne potrebujejo Zemljanov?
Povsem možno.
Po vstopu skozi 73. vrata
smo se znašli v velikem
found ourselves in a large
room, a hexagonal chamber 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 stepped towards an archway
on the other side. It was
actually the largest one,
so the others must have
been secondary entrances. This must be the most
important route, the one to
the control panels, I imagined. 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 details I needed to know.
116
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, pravzaprav k največjemu, vsi
ostali so morali bili stranski. 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 sprostiti 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.
“Of course. That too.”
The Sensin went on with
his explanation: “But
unlike all the tests so far,
in your case your emotional response will be more
important. And if you are
relaxed, you will undoubtedly be more convincing.”
“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 encouragingly: “As I have already 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 seventy117
»Seveda. Tudi to,« je Čutin
nadaljeval začeto razlago,
»toda v nasprotju z dosedanjimi preverjanji bo pri vas
pomembnejše čutno odzivanje. In sproščenost vam
bo pri tem prav gotovo
povečala prepričljivost.«
»No, ja. Lepa reč. Po
kakšnem kriteriju pa sem
bil prav jaz izbran za najprimernejšega? 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 odmikanja dvomov sprejel Čutinovo 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
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 tranquillity 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 fur118
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 njihovo trdno prepričanje o
delovanju tega našega podjetja oziroma sistema ali, z
drugimi besedami, o uspešnosti 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 pogovorom z gosti, ter z dvema
naslanjačema in še s tremi
stoli, najbrž prinesenimi iz
kuhinje, ker vsekakor niso
bili v stilu ostalega pohištva. Nekam znano mi je
bilo vse skupaj. Pred leti
smo tudi pri nas doma, v
času mojega študija, imeli
tako pohištvo. Še natanč-
niture like this at home. I
started to look more carefully 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 automatically, 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 already fixed it up,” shouted
Jim above the din the
others were making. They
whooped enthusiastically
119
neje sem si začel ogledovati 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 zvonjenje.
»Da!« sem vzkliknil kar
samodejno ter v odgovor
zaslišal neko glasno govorjenje, 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 presenetilo. Tedaj pa so drug
za drugim začeli vstopati
moji prijatelji iz gimnazijskih 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 odgovor dobil prav tako navdušeno pritrjevanje. Mirno
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 happening 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!” protested Mal. John immediately 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
120
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 steklenico 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 opravičeval Slavc, to pa je Janez
takoj zanikal in zatrdil, da
ni res. Po nadaljnjem Malčkovem zvračanju krivde
nanj pa sta tako kot nekoč
ostala vsak pri svojem.
Šel sem po metlo in sme-
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 exactly 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 recording 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 originals, so that you too can sit
comfortably on the couch.
Your friends are merely
121
tišnico, pometel vse na
kup ter nato še v časopisni
papir. »V smeti bom odnesel. Kar nadaljujte!« Tudi
takrat sem naredil enako.
Toda to pot sem takoj za
»vhodnimi« vrati stopil k
Čutinom.
»Vse to je iz mojih gimnazijskih let,« sem jim dejal.
»Da, ves ta posnetek je prav
iz tistega časa, vse po originalnem 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 preteklost, posneta na hologramski film, in vse je računalniško obdelano, razen
pohištva, ki je natančna
kopija originalov, tako da
se tudi vi lahko mirno usedete na kavč. Vaši prijatelji
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, because we are missing the
recording of your original
responses.” The Sensin
continued to look encouragingly at me. I continued to smile at him. For
the first time I had found
out something more specific 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 immersed in events of which I still
had a vivid memory. Even
moments I had nearly forgotten came back to me,
or at least enough for me
not to cause any delays or
122
so le hologramski prikazi.
Vse, kar od vas pričakujemo, je le enako obnašanje in čutno odzivanje.«
»Nič drugega?« Zazrl sem
se v nasmehljanega Čutina
in se nato še sam nasmehnil. »To bom menda že
zmogel.«
»Lepo. Pri tem pa vam
bomo bolj težko pomagali,
ker nam manjka zapis o
vašem takratnem odzivanju.« Čutin me je še naprej
gledal spodbudno. In tudi
jaz sem ga gledal z nasmehom. 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 dogajanje, 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-
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 recording, 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 arguments and discussions that
I remembered as though it
were yesterday, and laughed so heartily along with
the others that I risked
overdoing it and ruining
everything. A momentary doubt about this possibility 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
123
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 posnetek, 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 pridruževal sprotnim izbruhom
smeha, da bi zadeva lahko
propadla
prav
zaradi
mojega preveč okrepljenega podoživljanja. En sam
utrinek pomisleka glede te
možnosti mi je šel v preblisku skozi možgane. Celo
rahel razposajeni »heh« mi
je ušel. Kakor koli, ta del
bom opravil po vseh pravilih, to bom lahko uredil,
sem čutil, pa čeprav mi
je bilo še marsikaj iz celotnega dogajanja precej ali
was still unclear to me.
And so it went on, right
up to the moment when
I turned round and suddenly there was no-one in
“my” room.
“Let’s go! The way is
clear!” Benesens was
gesturing me in the direction of the next door. I had
done it. The smiling faces
of the other Sensins confirmed it. Another test was
behind us and now there
were only three doors left
to go.
Benesens gave me a friendly 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.
124
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 smehljanja ostalih Čutinov. Še
ena preizkušnja je bila za
njimi in le še troje vrat nas
je čakalo.
Dobročut mi je s trepljanjem po rami izrazil prijateljsko 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 Dobročutove besede povsem umesten in zabaven dovtip.
Še sam se je smehljal. In
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 responses 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 contradicted my impression
of the Sensins. They radiated such a sense of infallibility 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 circumstances was unfavourable. It’s not a question
of forgetting. Technically,
125
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 družabnih zabav, brez pretiranih
čustev,« sem rekel, nakar
sem ga vprašal v rahlo zresnjenem tonu: »Kako pa,
da vam en del manjka?«
»Izgubili smo ga,« je odvrnil z nejevoljno odsotnostjo in zmignil z rameni.
Vendar je to delovalo le
malo preveč v nasprotju
z mojim razumevanjem
Čutinov. Tako nezmotljivost so izžarevali, da mi je
bilo izgubljanje zanje tako
pomembnih stvari milo
rečeno bolj težko razumljivo.
»Ali ste tudi vi pozabljivi?«
sem vprašal s poudarjenim začudenjem.
Dobročut je odkimal: »Ni
stvar v tem, le splet okoliščin je bil neugoden. Ne
gre za pozabljanje. Teh-
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 understanding his answers.
“Well,” he went on, in
view of my evident lack
of comprehension, “I have
already told you about
the incursion of the Acutins to the seventy-fourth
door and the slaughter of
the control panel garrison.
That was when the recordings were destroyed,
although we could have
stored a copy somewhere
else.”
“Oh yes?” This sounded
a little more likely, although I couldn’t dismiss a
number of nagging doubts.
I nodded and was about to
126
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 razumevanja, »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 sprejemljivih pomislekih. Zato
sem mu po rahlem prikimavanju hotel zastaviti še
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 perfectly 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 ste127
vprašanje, kako to, da tega
niso storili, a je nadaljeval:
»Glejte! Tu so zdaj naslednja vrata in po vsej verjetnosti 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 prostor za preverjanje, zastali
v pričakovanju pred lesenimi vrati, povsem navadnimi, 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
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 remembered the face but I couldn’t
think of her surname. If
I had ever known it. She
128
pa sem ob pritrjevalnem
kimanju vseh naokoli zakoračil naprej, pred vrati še
nekoliko postal, ter nato
vstopil.
»Hej!« sem zaslišal iz sobe.
»Takoj pridem. Kar v kuhinjo stopi za ta čas!«
Ženski glas je bil to, in
čeprav mi ni bil znan, se
mi je nekaj majhnih prebliskov 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 nerazločno 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-
had probably told me. Probably. It was the mad girl!
That time in the mountains, 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 atmosphere. 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
129
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 študirala 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 večerjali, sledila je glasba, bilo
je kar zabavno vzdušje, po
dveh ali treh urah pa smo
se že začeli v parih razgubljati po kavčih ali kotih.
Vsak par posebej, seveda.
Tudi midva. Toda že naslednjega dne sva se že začela
razhajati. Nisva se ujela. In
nato jo je kar nenadoma
nekaj pičilo. Dobila je
napad igralskega zanosa
started acting all offended. 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 compete for her attentions.
He probably wasn’t any
keener on her than I was.
But anyway she managed 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 emotional 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 feelings on that occasion were
very muddled, and then
there was that fight with
Ben too. And of course
130
oziroma nam je kar uprizorila neko predstavo, trapasto, ter pristala v naročju mojega znanca in med
plesom z njim začela napeljevati, kako da se midva
s tem znancem potegujeva 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 tolikem času bom moral tako
kot pri prejšnjih vratih v
hologramskem posnetku
ponovno odigrati svojo
vlogo, z ustreznimi časovnimi in čustvenimi odzivi.
Toda to bo bolj težko, ker
kolikor sem se lahko spomnil, sem tistikrat imel
pravo zmešnjavo občutkov, potem je prišlo še do
ruvanja z Benom. Nekaj
the excessive quantity of
wine I had drunk had probably 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
131
malega, morda tudi ne tako
malega, pa je prispevalo še
preveč popitega vina. Vse
skupaj je bilo dokaj zmedeno.
»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, pravega imena se nisem več
spomnil, se je ozrla naokrog 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 odvrnil tako kot nekoč. Tega
sem se lahko še spomnil.
»Prav, saj jih niti ne pogrešava,« se je zahihitala Gica.
Tudi sam sem se zasmejal
tako kot tistega dne med
najinim začetnim spoznavanjem. To je bilo namreč
naključje, da sva bila sama.
Poskušal sem se zbrati. Na
začetku sva se namreč kar
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 studying 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 spectators aren’t supposed to
talk among themselves.
But back then her fondness for extemporaneous acting at the slightest
provocation still seemed
quite amusing. Less so
132
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.« Pravzaprav je imela celo predstavo o študiju na njihovi
fakulteti.
»A si me poslušal?«
V odgovor sem ji prikimal.
Takole nazaj, z vsem sedanjim vedenjem, bi ji najbrž
odvrnil, da pravzaprav
nihče iz tiste skupine ni
imel nobene druge možnosti. Saj je imela kar pravi
nastop, podobno kot v
gledališču, ko medsebojni
pogovori gledalcev niso
zaželeni. Toda tedaj je bilo
zame njeno veselje do sprotnih igralskih nastopov ob
vsakem malo močnejšem
preblisku v njeni glavi še
dokaj zabavno. Pozneje
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 something in that,” I said, flatteringly. 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 smoothly. Just like that evening,
although I had already forgotten 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 glas133
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 pritrdtve ni ostalo nič drugega.
Vsaj takrat je bilo tako in
sedaj naj bi to vse skupaj,
kolikor je mogoče zvesto
ponovil. Potem se je nadaljnje dogajanje odvijalo brez
večjih zastojev. Enako kot
tistega večera, pa čeprav
sem vse skupaj že precej
pozabil. Pravzaprav sem
se močneje spomnil le njenega 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
ses. That’s right, I’d almost
forgotten about him, because 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 against me. Actually she had
treated him in exactly the
same way she treated me
later. The more he looked
at her, the more she pressed 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 similar 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
134
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 smučanje, in na nič drugega,
kot mi je pozneje pojasnila med prižemanjem
v mojem objemu. Pravzaprav 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 nadaljevati, 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 njegovem bebastem mnenju
speljal, kar pa sploh ni
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 automatically 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 helplessly: “I made a mess of it.”
“How?” The Sensins were
looking at me with evident
disappointment. Clearly
because of my mistaken
135
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 objemanju 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 razočaranjem. Očitno zaradi
mojega napačnega odziva,
response, and so I started
apologising.
“I remembered how that
scene developed, “ I said,
“and a detail that happened a good hour later came
back to me with such force
that I suddenly got upset.
For a moment my composure 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 proceed. 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-ac136
tako da sem se začel opravičevati.
»Spomnil sem se nadaljnjega
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 dogajanje se ne moreš čustveno
odzvati. Zato sem se spustil v čim bolj zvesto podoživljanje. Prav trudil sem
se. Toda tisto dogajanje je
bilo v celoti ena sama zmešnjava z neverjetno tra-
ting and stupid situations.
That woman was capable
of being extremely cunning, despite all her silliness. 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 hologram 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 actually really enjoyed it. She
really enjoyed the circus
she had triggered with her
intrigues.”
Benesens patted me reassuringly 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 thirtythree days’ time. Till then
the best thing will be to
think over the whole thing
137
pastimi sprenevedanji in
situacijami. Tisto je bila na
trenutke do skrajnosti prebrisana ženska, kljub vsej
njeni prifliknjenosti. Po
moje je tedaj imela fiksno
idejo, da nastopa na gledališkem odru, če že ne na
filmu.« Zastal sem z zadržano 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 pomirjevalno 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
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 considered for a little while,
weighing up my doubts,
and went on: “Actually
she was more pretending than acting, and that
complicated things even
further. Forgotten details 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.”
138
in predvideti morebitne
spodrsljaje pri naslednjem
poskusu.«
»Tudi to ne bo tako preprosto. To njeno neprestano
sprenevedanje.« Še nekoliko sem se zamislil ob
tehtanju svojih pomislekov ter nadaljeval: »Pravzaprav se je bolj sprenevedala. kot pa igrala, in to
je še dodatno zapletlo vso
zadevo. Res pa se mi vračajo 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.«
“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 conditions surprises are more
frequent. But your knowledge of the current conditions 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 meeting her again would make
it easier for you to remember 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,
139
»Z nekaj tveganja?« sem
zategnil s pomenljivim
naglasom. »Sem smo se
odpravili, kot pravite, z
zanemarljivo majhnim tveganjem. Preživeli pa smo
s kar precej sreče, in še to
komaj.«
»No, ja. Z Ostrini smo pač
na pragu vojne in presenečenja so v tako napetih razmerah pogostejša. Da vas
po nepotrebnem ne bomo
izpostavljali tveganju, pa
lahko že sami dovolj zanesljivo sklepate iz vsega
vašega poznavanja nastalih razmer in dogodkov.
Če bi vam uspelo srečanje
s to… kako ji pravite?«
»Avša prifliknjena.«
»Ja, če bi ob ponovnem srečanju z njo lažje obudili v
spomin tisto dogajanje in
vse podrobnosti iz tega
vašega doživetja, vas odpeljemo do nje in nazaj.«
Nekoliko sem še pomišljal. To o nujnosti ponovnega srečanja zaradi lažjega obujanja spomina
sem sicer navrgel bolj kot
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 spontaneously, 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 conversation, 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
140
izgovor, vendar se mi je
ob ponovnem premisleku
kazalo precej smiselno. Še
posebej, ker je na trenutke
nastopala precej nepredvidljivo, sam pa sem se v tem
času že zelo spremenil,
tako da se povsem spontano, brez predhodne priprave, ne bi mogel odzvati
povsem enako kot tistikrat. Še zlasti ne ob tistih
njenih nenadnih izpadih.
»Potem pa ob njej obudite svoj spomin, če je to
najboljša pot. Nekaj srečanj 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 razumel, vam sprva niti ni bila
zoprna. Le vaši čustveni
is merely that your emotional responses when you
met differed quite considerably from your later
emotional responses when
you parted. But during
the test you must not mix
up these different emotional 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 forgotten, 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 startingpoint 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
141
odzivi ob vajinem spoznavanju so se precej razlikovali od kasnejših med razhajanjem. Vi pa med preverjanjem ne smete mešati teh
različnih čustvenih stanj.
Enkrat se nam je že ponesrečilo in, kot vse kaže, se
nam spodrsljaj prav lahko
ponovi.«
»To pa prav gotovo. Ker pri
tej njeni igri zlepa ne ugotoviš, kdaj misli resno in
kdaj se spreneveda.« Obhajali 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
back will be more accurate than the ‘guaranteed
safe journey’ we had on
the way here.”
142
in nazaj, bolj natančna
od tiste tako imenovane
zagotovljene varne poti do
sem.«
Chapter VII
VII. poglavje
The first part of the journey, as far as the space station that we had secretly
left that evening during
the get-together with the
Acutins, was as peaceful as predicted, with no
attacks by Acutin rockets
or pursuits by their ships.
The landing itself attracted no attention. I would
later learn that meetings
between the Sensins and
the Acutins were very
common – one of the Sensins 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 strengthen efforts to find mutually acceptable solutions.
But in Benesens’s opinion
there was far too little of
143
Prvi del poti, vse do vesoljske postaje, iz katere
smo skrivoma zapustili
tisto večerno srečanje z
Ostrini, je potekel v predvidenem miru brez napadov 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 besedah 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 rešitev. Toda po Dobročutovem mnenju je bilo tega
daleč premalo za nekoliko
this to have any serious
effect, let alone to prevent
the outbreak of war. The
two sides apparently allowed these meetings as an
excuse for their intransigence 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 happened 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 progress. There was quite a
lot of laughter to be heard,
and I found myself glancing increasingly frequently round the table. There
was something slightly
unspontaneous if not even
forced about that laughter.
But since both sides were
144
resnejši vpliv, kaj šele za
preprečitev izbruha vojne.
Obe strani naj bi ta srečanja 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 primerna, 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 pogosteje oziral v navzoče,
čeprav mi je ta smeh učinkoval nekam nespontano,
če že ne prisiljeno. Toda
ker je obojestranska spod-
making a conscious effort
to contribute to the cheerful atmosphere, it seemed
to work. Cross-table conversations 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, depending on the point that was
being made or the cleverness of the comment. Dialogues like this must have
been quite common throughout 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 columns containing the lifts.
Crowds of figures were
strolling among the tables.
At that moment I was distracted by a slightly louder
shout, which I ignored,
assuming it was nothing
to do with me. At the next
145
buda prispevala h krepitvi 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 pritrjevalnimi klici ali z nasmejanim
odkimavanjem, odvisno
od navzkrižnega razmišljanja ali bistroumnosti pripombe. Tako vzpostavljeni
dialogi so morali biti kar
pogosti po vsej dvorani.
Ocenjujoče sem se sprehodil 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 vodnjakov in stopnišč ob stebrih
z dvigali. Videl sem pravo
gnečo sprehajalcev med
omizji. Tedaj me je zmotil
malo glasnejši klic, na katerega se nisem odzval, ker
nisem pričakoval nobenega znanca. Po nasle-
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 shaking 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,
146
dnjem klicu pa sem se le
ozrl in zagledal smehljajočega 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 skladišča moral prekiniti dialog
kljub nakazanemu zanimivemu 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 sprehajanje k njim bi Čutini
težko sprejeli. Zastal sem
ob Dobročutovem pritrjevalnem
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
for a clearly defined purpose and with an objective
that they are able to achieve through skilful manipulation. We must not talk
to them about our mission, 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 reestablish 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 superiority. Too many of them,
perhaps.”
“That’s very possible,” I
began, intending to mention my theory about
sudden outbreaks of war,
when I was interrupted by
a light touch on my shoulders.
“Hey, I heard you were
back.” The smiling face
of the beautiful Honaja
147
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 podvojeno vnemo.
»Vzpostavljeno ravnotežje
sil je še najboljši garant
miru in če v dovolj kratkem
času ne bomo ponovno
sprostili prehoda do komunikacijskih 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 namenom navreči svoje ugibanje 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
was bent towards me. She
was even more beautiful
than at our first meeting.
She was also dressed slightly more provocatively,
in a manner more suitable for an evening function, 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 problems, 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
148
narahlo sklanjal k meni.
Zdaj se mi je zdela še lepša
kot ob najinem prvem srečanju. Pa še napravljena je
bila malo bolj izzivalno,
povsem primerno večernim prireditvam, četudi
ji je njen takratni vojaški
kombinezon prav tako
zelo lepo pristajal. Bila pa
je tokrat bolj veselo razpoložena. Brez tiste zadrževane bolečine v rahlo
objokanih očeh. Le igrivo
razposajenost sem lahko
zaznal v njih, brez skrivanja 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 predvidevanja so zdaj potrjena, to je
najpomembnejše. Dovolj,
da zadeva deluje. Tudi
works. You’ll be able to do
the rest, too. I know you
will.”
That was nice to hear.
“Thanks for the encouragement.” 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 ability 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
149
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 smehljanjem, »lahko mi verjamete.« Ponovila je moj
namig na omizje: »Precej
bolje od njih.«
Vrnil sem ji nasmeh, sicer
z rahlo zadrego zaradi težjega razumevanja njenih
besed, čeprav nisem imel
nič proti tako prepričanemu zaupanju vame in
očitno tudi v njene sposobnosti ocenjevanja. Toda
bolj ko sem gledal njen
lepi obraz, primaknjen
k meni, bolj sem občutil
nenavadno močno navezanost nanjo, ona pa je, kar
je bilo nenavadno in prijetno hkrati, gledala vame
zdaj z mehkobo, zdaj spet
and now with a sly teasing
look, apparently convinced 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 teasing 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?”
150
s prebrisano nagajivostjo,
vse z nakazanim prepričanjem o samoumevnosti
najine medsebojne pripadnosti. Pa tudi sam sem
enako občutil, in to je bilo
zabavno na prav nenavaden način.
»Tista avša pa vas je le
spet zmedla!« me je med
hehetanjem rahlo podražila. 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 pripomnil 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 razumel zaradi nepoznavanja
ozadja ali nekaj takega;
tako sem ugibal v prepletu
raznih pomislekov.
»Ste poročeni?« mi je ušlo
iz ust.
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 already regretting my over-hasty curiosity.
“Actually, they killed him.
He was one of the supervisors of the energy fields.
When the Acutins broke
in, he was with the garrison behind the seventythird door. He was killed
in the fight with the Acutins.”
“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 surprise. At least for me. “So
he…” I stopped. Several
things occurred to me all
at once. “So he was the
one who got me involved in this business?” I
151
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 nadzornikov 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 postavil 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 spodbudilo domišljijo. »Torej me
je on vpletel v to zadevo?«
asked finally, and after a
pause, in which she remained 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 certainly wouldn’t have done
anything bad to you.”
Honaja looked at me affectionately. “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 getting excited. “He wasn’t
your biological clone, and
you weren’t his either, if
that’s what you are thinking. And we do not have
the ability to travel through time either. There is
152
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 globokem 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 naklonjenostjo. »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-
nothing from the future or
the past here.” Honaja gripped my hand with a kind
of urgent intimacy. “All
of us Sensins have friendly 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 development, 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 benevolent feelings towards
you.”
“I’m happy to hear it,” I
replied, under the influence
of her humorous playfulness. I could sense considerable emotional benevolence in the way she looked
at me, and at a deeper level
153
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 primitivni razvojni stopnji,
preveč nizko na evolucijski spirali, da bi vas resno
upoštevali. Mi pa razmišljamo povsem drugače,
in prav tu je tudi zametek
spora med nami in Ostrini.
Do vas gojimo zelo naklonjena čustva.«
»To mi je všeč,« sem odvrnil še sam pod vplivom
njene humorne igrivosti. V
njenih pogledih vame sem
občutil precej čustvene
naklonjenosti, in to celo
globlje, ne zgolj spoštljive,
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 benevolence. Quite a lot more, if I
wasn’t mistaken. Meanwhile, my feelings were growing stronger too.
“Come on, let’s go and
dance,” she said, offering
me her hand. My neighbour, Benesens, was in
the middle of a lively conversation with an Acutin
from the next table. I
looked at the others. They
were talking among themselves. No-one was paying
any attention to Honaja or
me. Right then, I thought 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
154
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 pogovoru z Ostrinom od sosednje mize, pogledal sem
še ostale, pa so se tudi ti
pomenkovali med sabo,
brez kakršnega koli zanimanja 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-
in fact revealing themselves to me gradually, but
all things considered they
now seemed stranger or
perhaps more mysterious
than at our first encounter. 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-
155
zaprav so se res sproti razkrivali, 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 spremljanju 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 . . . oziroma, kot da sem . . . pravkar porojena primerjava
se mi nikakor ni hotela
zaokrožiti v zaključno ugotovitev. 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
thing they were apparently
not capable of, and that I
was not a clone of her husband 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, pointing 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 imagining her dancing with that
husband of hers. She must
have loved him. But she
156
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 plesiščem. »Greva tjale,« mi je
dejala med namigom na
malo manj nagnetene plesalce, 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 zašepetal 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 njenega plesa s tistim njenim
možem. Rada ga je morala
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 Sensins 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 eloquent 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 stopped 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 inter157
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 njenega pogleda. Čutini so
mi prikrito, z rahlimi gibi,
kazali na odhod in da naj
čim bolj neopazno zapustim te prostore.
Stisnil sem Honajo v rahlo
močnejšem objemu, si z
njo izmenjal še nekaj prijetno zgovornih pogledov
ter se po rahlem stisku
rok in zadržanem prepletu
najinih prstov podal s plesišča, najprej do naše skupine, ob kateri sem se ustavil, izmenjal nekaj povsem
nepomembnih besed, bolj
zaradi vzbujanja vtisa sproščenega vzdušja, nakar
sem se podal za ostalimi,
ki so se že drug za drugim
v kratkih časovnih razmi-
vals, and then following a
path lined with ornamental shrubbery to the next
building, whose groundfloor rooms appeared to
contain several groups of
Sensins and Acutins. Our
group quickly re-assembled 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 journey. Once again in small
groups and at carefullytimed 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
158
kih po dva ali trije odpravljali k izhodu in potem po
poti skozi okrasno grmičevje do sosednje zgradbe
s številnimi skupinami
Čutinov in Ostrinov v pritličnih prostorih. Tam se je
naša skupina kar hitro zbirala 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 razdaljo ter se po komaj opaznih namigih sprehodili
proti našemu letalu. Toda
še preden je prišla vrsta
name (že sem se spogledoval v pričakovanju namiga
na moj odhod), je prihitel Čutin iz naše skupine
in se v mimohodu komaj
opazno zadržal s kratkim
sporočilom ob posameznih Čutinih naše enote:
»Šest omizij Ostrinov je
takoj po našem odhodu
as soon as we left. I have
just received the message
that they are heading for
their pursuit ships. They
suspect something, although they do not know the
true importance of our
flight to Earth. Therefore
we should not discuss this,
not even amongst ourselves.” 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 neighbour: “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
159
zapustilo svoja mesta.
Pravkar pa sem dobil sporočilo, 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 zresnjeno zazrl vame ter se po
mojem nakazanem strinjanju s pritrdilnim »v redu«
podal naprej do sosednje
trojice iz naše enote.
Z nič kaj prijetnimi občutki
ob zaostritvi našega položaja sem se nagnil k svojemu sosedu: »Kaj pa to
pravzaprav pomeni?«
»Da nas bodo zasledovali,«
mi je ta odvrnil v pojasnilo. »In verjetno tudi vas,
morda vas še posebej, tako
se mi vse skupaj pač dozdeva. Vsekakor pa si bodo
želeli izboriti to bližnje
spremljanje za čim natančnejše predvidevanje. Da,
predvsem to, kot vse kaže.
In razkriti vso zadevo v
celoti ter nenadno ukre-
business and then take
decisive action. It appears
that your presence is starting 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, whenever 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 comparison here between Acutins and Sensins, but I was
unable to reach any more
definite conclusions about
their abilities.
160
pati. Vaša prisotnost jih,
kot vse kaže, že vse bolj
vznemirja.«
Narahlo sem se nasmehnil: »Manjkajočih podrobnosti že ne bodo uspeli
sami sestaviti. O tem sem
prepričan. Saj jih tudi vi
niste, ne sami in ne skupaj
z mano. Moja avšasta prijateljica se je tistega večera
preprosto sproščala, brez
logike v obnašanju. Oziroma, kadar koli je zgubila
nit dogajanja, je improvizirala 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 dogajanje.« Potem se mi je vsilila
še primerjava med Ostrini
in Čutini, pa glede njihovih sposobnosti nisem
mogel narediti nobenega
bolj določenega sklepa.
“Those Acutins seem quite
self-confident in their dealings with you,” I said.
“Ha! Self-confident? Arrogant, 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, continued: “Well, perhaps for
us, here, this arrogance of
theirs is actually desirable.
We welcome it. At least I
do. Because if their arrogance didn’t make them
believe that they had an
advantage over us in forecasting 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
161
»Se pa Ostrini precej samozavestno vedejo do vas,«
sem dejal.
»Hja! Kaj samozavestno!
Naduto! Najprimernejša
beseda za njihov značaj
je nadutost.« Toda tudi
Čutin se je pri tem vzravnal v malo bolj vzvišeno
pozo ter z rahlo odsotnim
pogledom nadaljeval razmišljanje: »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 predvidevanju 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 strmenju vanj.
»Torej je varnost tega
poleta vendarle malo bolj
pogojna?« sem počasi pripomnil s poudarkom na
on the questionability of
the notion of conditionality.
“Well, that’s not exactly 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 encouraging 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
162
vprašljivosti pojma pogojnosti.
»No, ni čisto tako. Tudi
mi znamo predvideti njihove namere in, kot ste že
lahko spoznali, se v takih
manjših spopadih kar lepo
kosamo z njimi, kajne? In
tudi v spopadu vseh oboroženih 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 najbolj všeč, vendar mu tega
nisem omenil, ker najbrž
ne bi bilo primerno.
Tedaj nas je brez prikrivanja in z odločnimi zamahi
rok pozval Čutin, ki je
pravkar pritekel. »Gremo!
Z vso naglico do asteroidnega pasu!« nam je
zaklical ter se po zamahu
roke v smeri našega letala
pognal v tek, mi pa za njim
we followed him in a straggling 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 sucking us up into itself, one
by one. Or at least that’s
what it looked like.
“Wha…!” I said in surprise, and suddenly found
myself being pulled vertically 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
163
v sproti izoblikovani razpotegnjeni 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 navzgor. 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 zasledovanju.« Tedaj smo po dvigu
s silovitim pospeškom zleteli v ostrem loku proti
izhodnemu koridorju in
se pognali z vso močjo
the direction of the asteroid belt I already knew so
well.
Through the window I
could see two more of our
ships in the foreground,
and the hologram display showed our immediate 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 planning something else. There
are many possibilities.”
Benesens considered for
a moment. “At the galactic 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
164
motorjev v smer meni že
dobro znanega asteroidnega pasu.
Skozi veliko okno sem med
tem spremljal v ospredju
še dve naši letali in v hologramskem 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,
balance is established,
with an increasing amount
of brute force. Wherever
there is any gathering of
forces of whatever kind –
military, energy production 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 everywhere where no-man’sland 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.”
165
in to z vse več brutalne
sile. Kjer koli, ne glede na
razlog, je že samo zbiranje
kakršnih koli sil, vojaških,
energetskih ali intelektualnih, dovolj močan razlog
za enako delovanje nasprotnih 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 normalno, 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-
Benesens smiled as though
admitting that despite all
his cleverness this question 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 presence 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 gathered here are considerable.”
“Could our clashes with
their forces along our
route to the Earth merely
be part of the ongoing
166
čut se je nasmehnil v priznanju, da kljub vsej svoji
bistroumnosti ni kos temu
vprašanju ter nadaljeval:
»Toda kot ste videli, je asteroidni pas posejan tako
z našimi kot z njihovimi
asteroidi. In kar dobršen
del so to vesoljske postaje,
kljub vsej svoji prepričljivo asteroidni zunanjosti. Tam bomo šele videli,
kak pomen pravzaprav ti
Ostrini dajejo naši skupini
in vaši prisotnosti med
nami.«
»In po čem boste to spoznali?« sem vprašal.
»O tem lahko za sedaj
samo ugibam. Najbrž bo
vse odvisno od obsega in
intenzivnosti udeležbe njihovih sil na asteroidnem
pasu z namenom zaustavitve 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-
mutual demonstrations of
strength?”
“Yes, of course. Because
of the major redistributions
of forces and the powerful military concentration
in this part of the galaxy,
even in the case of minor
skirmishes all the armed
forces from the surrounding 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 confidence in your technical
abilities and the accuracy
of the computerised guidance systems. But from
what you say…” I paused.
Benesens raised his eyebrows. Then with a gesture
of his head, a slow movement of his arm and finally
two spread palms, he indicated his belief in the need
to accept the facts as they
were. He ran an appraising
eye over me: “Perhaps
after this new redistribu167
vanja ob stalnem medsebojnem merjenju moči?«
»Da, seveda, ker so zaradi
velikih prerazporeditev
in močnega osredotočenja vojaških sil v tem delu
vesolja tudi ob manjših
spopadih takoj na kupu
vse oborožene sile iz okolice.«
»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 tehnike z natančnim računalniškim 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 dejstev, nato pa me je ocenjujoče preletel s pogledom:
»Morda pa se je po tistem
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 probable risk of our flight past
Acutin gun emplacements
disguised as asteroids.
168
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.
Chapter VIII
VIII. poglavje
When we reached the asteroid 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. Suddenly 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 managed to avoid it but then the
next asteroids began opening too. We were going to
be trapped inside a kind of
giant shell. At that moment
169
Ob prihodu v asteroidni
pas so se nam zasledovalna letala približala na
vzporedno
spremljanje,
takoj zatem pa so v ostrih
lokih zaokrožila okoli
prvih asteroidov, ki so to
bili videti po svoji zunanjosti. In tudi sami smo
storili enako, tako da se
nam je po letu mimo prve
masivne gmote letalo zavrtelo okoli vzdolžne osi in
se nam je ravna črta leta do
asteroidnega pasu spremenila v zbito vijačnico z vse
bolj vozlasto obliko, asteroid 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
we picked up a signal from
an asteroid that had suddenly 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 barriers 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
170
smo dobili pozivni znak iz
nenadoma priletelega asteroida, 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 sporočil. 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. Pogledal sem Dobročuta: »Kako
pa se mislimo prebiti?«
»Najbrž je lupina pretanka
za tako velik asteroid,« je
pojasnil Čutin med opazovanjem hologramskega
prikaza naleta našega asteroida iz notranje strani v
lupinasti ovoj naše nenadoma nastale kletke.
Samodejno sem se oprijel
the handle on my seat.
What would such a collision 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 excitedly 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 contact 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, however, the ceiling arches
immediately
straightened themselves again. All
eyes turned to the three171
držaja svojega sedeža. Kaj
pa lahko pomeni tako trčenje? Še asteroid se lahko
razleti. Ali Čutini res vedo,
kaj delajo? »Torej bomo
trčili,« sem dejal.
Tudi Dobročut je vznemirjeno 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 bližanje lupini, vse dokler se
ni zalesketalo ob stičišču
orjaških mas in se je stresel ves asteroid skozi vso
svojo notranjost, da smo
še skozi okno lahko videli
drhtenje sten in upogibanje orjaških lokov nad
pristajalnim hangarjem,
v katerega smo se umaknili. Toda po silovitem
upogibu so se stropni loki
ponovno zravnali. Takoj
so se vsi pogledi usmerili
v tridimenzionalni prikaz
dimensional display of
the computer simulation.
The asteroid was sinking
deeper and deeper into the
collapsing shell, crushing
it and pushing the shattered 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 barriers put up by the Acutins.
These were probably capable 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 constant measuring themselves against the Sensins
than with the importance
172
računalniške
simulacije
položaja. Asteroid se je vse
bolj in bolj pogrezal v vdajajočo se lupino ter drobil
in potiskal predse odletele
kose. Vse je kazalo na uspešen preboj, tudi posadka se
je začela vse bolj živahno
odzivati. Prebili smo se.
»Asteroid nas bo prenesel
še del poti. Ostanite v pripravljenosti!« se je skozi
vse glasnejše vzklike zarezal kapitanov glas.
Spet smo se vsi ozrli v hologram, kjer se nam je kazal
let našega asteroida skozi
manjše zaporne pregrade
Ostrinov, verjetno uspešne pri ustavljanju manjših plovil, za asteroide, kot
je bil naš, pa premajhne.
Vse je tudi kazalo na bolj
rutinsko delovanje Ostrinov, bolj v smislu stalnega
merjenja moči s Čutini kot
zaradi pomena naše misije.
of our mission. But when
we found ourselves trapped 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 invasion.
“Battle stations, everyone!” ordered the commander. “We are caught in
a flexible shell which for
173
Toda po ponovnem zajetju
s tistim njihovim sprožljivim odpiranjem dežnikov
v zaporne lupine je pri
našem poskusu preboja
lupine nastal povsem spremenjen položaj. Lupina se
nikakor ni hotela zdrobiti
niti je nismo uspeli razklati. Kot padalsko krilo,
poveznjeno na glavo pravkar pristalega padalca, je
obvisela na našem asteroidu 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 plovila 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
the time being is obstructing 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 asteroid 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 flashing energy bolts lit up
the whole area like fireworks, and metal hands,
feet, heads and body parts
flew through the air. Yet
although these explosions
174
lupino, ki sedaj zakriva vpogled 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 asteroida in prve spopade napadalcev z roboti posadke
našega asteroida.«
»Približaj spopade!« je
kapitan ukazal računalniškemu prikazovalniku.
Pokazala se nam je površina asteroida s tako silovito razvnetim bojnim
metežem med roboti obeh
strani, da so me zajeli
tesnobni občutki ob gledanju teh neizprosnih dvobojev med stroji s človeško 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-
revealed the metal structure of the robots, much of
their bodies looked remarkably similar to living,
human flesh. They were
probably made of some
kind of plastic, or perhaps
even from living muscle
and skin grown in laboratories. 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 relentless mutual destruction;
the presence of a powerful intellect and a decisive 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,
175
krivale kovinsko sestavo
robotov, je bil dobršen del
njihovega telesa videti presneto podoben živemu,
človeškemu. Najbrž so bili
iz neke plastike, morda
celo iz živih, v laboratorijih vzrejenih mišic in
kože. Vse je bilo v gibanju,
tudi moje misli, skupaj
z občutki, ki so se mi ob
nenadnem preboju napadalcev skozi obrambne
črte povzpeli prav do grla.
Pa ne le človeška zunanjost teh robotov in neizprosno medsebojno uničevanje, ampak tudi prisotnost mogočnega razuma
s trdno odločenostjo je
bilo zaznati v hitrih prehajanjih iz kaotičnega v
urejeno premikanje, tako
na eni kot na drugi strani.
In ko so napadalne diverzantske skupine robotov
prebile obrambno črto
posadke asteroida, so naši
roboti takoj vzpostavili
naslednjo obrambno črto.
In spet je sledil preboj
napadalcev,
kar
sem
something I perceived as
the inexorable advance of
the entire civilisation of
the Acutins. At the sight of
the asteroid’s garrison falling back ever more rapidly, even my Benesens,
who until now had been
calmly observing the battles of the robots and the
individual advances of the
enemy forces in individual
sectors, began shifting in
his seat with growing nervousness, 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 pierced 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, immedia176
zaznal kot trdo napredovanje celotne civilizacije
Ostrinov. Še moj Dobročut, ki je dotlej z mirno
zavzetostjo
opazoval
tako dvoboje robotov kot
posamezna napredovanja
nasprotnih sil na posameznih odsekih, se je ob tem
vse hitrejšem umikanju
posadke našega asteroida
začel čedalje bolj nelagodno presedati in ozirati
zdaj v hologramske prikaze, 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 prikazovalniku, pa je kar pometlo po
tleh. Eksplozija je prebila
našo steno. Vse se je zgodilo 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
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 purposes. 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 managed 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 various directions.
177
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 napadla nova skupina plovil,
neprimerno večja, številčnejša, 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 spuščala na tla skupine robotov, nakar so se takoj obrnila v napad z raketnimi
izstrelki, dovolj močnimi
za preboj ladijskega trupa.
Toda Čutinom jih je na
koncu le uspelo stolči drugega za drugim. Vsa letala
so sproti stolkli. Spuščeni
roboti pa so si med tem že
poiskali zatočišča za orjaškimi stebri ter se, razdeljeni v več skupin, poganjali v razne smeri.
I watched the erection of
a barrier on the site of the
shattered doors of our landing bay. It was too late
for that, though. Before it
was finished, the Acutins
attacked once again with
astonishing speed, breaking through as far as the
barrier builders and attacking 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 thought 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 already broken through to our
exit door. Arm yourselves
with high-powered weapons to hold the robots in
the corridors!”
He then walked over to a
wall decorated with engravings of historical motifs
178
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. Vprašujoče sem se ozrl v kapitana, ki ga je ob zavzetem
motrenju te robotske skupine 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 energetskimi naboji za zadrževanje robotov na hodnikih!«
Nato je stopil k steni z graviranimi reliefnimi podobami zgodovinskih moti-
that were probably terrestrial in origin: medieval
knights in armour, Roman
legions, heroes from Ancient 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 association suggested to me by the
relief, although in themselves the lines and incisions 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 intervene, 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
179
vov, najbrž zemeljskih, s
srednjeveškimi vitezi v
oklepih, z rimskimi legijami, z junaki iz starogrške
in izraelske mitologije, npr.
mladenič v zamahu s starodavno pračo za metanje
kamnov in v ozadju neka
orjaška postava. Vsaj asociacijo 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 pripravljenosti na poseg,
tudi z orožjem, v primeru
potrebe. In zdaj je nastal
tak položaj. Kmalu bodo
odkrili naše zajetje, toda
tudi Ostrini se tega zavedajo. Zato sedaj tako hitijo.
Vse so pripravili za blisko-
lightning attack after closing all the sections of the
shell to form a giant eggshaped 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 presence 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
180
vit napad po sklenitvi vseh
delov lupine v orjaško jajčasto kletko s prožno raztegljivimi stenami. Najprej
na naš asteroid, potem
na ladjo in zdaj že naravnost 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 obnašanja Ostrinov v zadnjem
času pa ne moremo predvideti, ali ga nameravajo
zajeti živega zaradi suma
o njegovi nujni prisotnosti na vhodu v energetska
polja ali pa imajo že tudi
povelje za njegovo uničenje v primeru neuspele
ugrabitve.«
Nastal je trenutek tišine. Še
vedno so vsi zrli vame in v
moje komaj vidno odkimavanje z občasnim požiranjem povečane sline v
cry from the safe journey 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 continued 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 weapons were stored, and then
181
grlu. To je bilo sedaj nekaj
povsem drugega od zagotovljene mirne poti, čeprav
sem si pri svoji oceni varnosti že na začetku vzel
dokaj pridržka. Po tem, kar
sem iz vsega skupaj lahko
dojel, bi bila za Ostrine še
najbolj smotrna moja izločitev iz dogajanja. Ob tem
pomisleku pa mi je zastal
pretok misli še močneje
kot ob kapitanovih besedah.
»Nekaterim
njihovim
robotom je verjetno uspel
preboj v naše ozadje, prav
možno, da celo do hodnikov, po katerih se nameravamo umakniti v notranjost. Toda število naših
bojnih robotov za spopad z
njimi je prav gotovo večje.
Še kakšno vprašanje?«
Kapitan je s pogledom preletel posadko pred sabo, še
enkrat pogledal vame, ki
sem ga ves čas molče poslušal, ter nam nato ukazal,
naj se oborožimo in pripravimo za izpad. Takoj je
nastal pravi vrvež ob steni
za dvig orožja, zatem pa še
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 started 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 corridor 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 gripped my laser rifle, ready
to open fire immediately.
We were all on the lookout. After such a comprehensively planned attack,
they were not going to let
us simply escape into the
182
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 zgornjem 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 pripravljenosti na takojšnji
strel. Vsi smo prežali. Po
tako obsežno zastavljenem napadu nam že ne bi
pustili prostega pobega v
interior of the asteroid. No
way. My brain struggled
to make sense of the situation, 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 diameter, was at the opposite
end of the hall to where
we stood.
“There!” shouted our
commander. He ordered
the robots to set up a protective cordon to the exit
tunnel and they immediately dashed forwards.
But before the cordon had
183
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 stometrski prostor z več izhodi,
nekaterimi tudi večjimi,
z dvajsetmetrskimi krožnimi loki in s skoraj enako
sredinsko višino. Prav na
našem nasprotnem koncu
je bil največji, s skoraj podvojenim premerom.
»Tja!« se je glasil poziv
našega poveljnika, po
katerem je sledilo še povelje robotom, naj vzpostavijo zaščitni kordon do
izhodnega tunela, in tja
so se takoj zagnali. Toda
tik pred končno vzposta-
reached the exit towards
which we were now
moving, at least a hundred robots poured from
the neighbouring doorways, firing at our robots
and rushing at them in a
concerted effort to shatter
their ranks.
“Run!” shouted the commander. 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 counterattack 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 reinforcements. The waves
of reinforcements, first
from one side, then from
the other, merged into
each other. Then the Acutins’ robots struck out
184
vitvijo kordona do našega
izhodnega oboka, proti
kateremu smo se pomikali,
je iz sosednjih vhodov zletelo 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 napadeni enoti v ospredju in
še zadnji hip udarili napadalcem v bok. Samo malo
močnejši protinapad bi
zadostoval za zavrnitev
napada, pripravljeno pa
smo imeli še rezervno skupino 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-
across the centre of the
giant hall, straight for our
column and the protective
escort on our flanks. Our
robots immediately engaged them, in four close
ranks, side by side, their
laser rifles aimed at the
attackers. The first rank
was shattered immediately. 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 Acutins’ robots break through
our defences and pounce
on the nearest Sensin. One
of our robots immediately rushed at it with such
force that the next moment
they were both rolling on
the ground, each beating
its metal hands against the
185
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 usmerjenimi proti napadalcem,
takoj spopadli z njimi. Toda
njihova prva vrsta je bila
takoj prebita. Skoraj enako
tudi druga, napadalci so
šli skoznjo brez izgubljanja 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 najbližjemu Čutinu, ko se mu
je naš robot zaletel v bok s
tako silo, da sta se v naslednjem trenutku skupaj
zavalila po tleh med udarjanjem kovinskih rok ob
prav tako kovinski oklep
metal armour of its opponent. Another Sensin ran
up and fired an energy bolt
that blew off the attacking
robot’s head, thus freeing
our robot, which immediately 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 crashed together. The robots
raised themselves up in
the air and threw themselves 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 defenders as far as the Sensins,
who immediately opened
fire with their laser rifles.
One robot was destroyed 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
186
nasprotnika. Priskočil je še
eden od Čutinov in s strelom energetskega naboja
odbil
napadajočemu
robotu glavo ter tako sprostil 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 drugega, roboti so se dvigali
v zrak in metali v nasprotnike, 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 Čutinov, 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
over the duelling robots
and disappeared with his
victim into the rear of his
own side.
“They are taking prisoners!” 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 Acutins. 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 attracted by a confused jostling
187
pognati nazaj prek bojujočih se dvojic v zaledje
lastne strani.
»Ugrabljajo!« je vzkliknil
Dobročut.
»Zakaj pa?« mi je ušlo.
Toda Dobročut je v odgovor 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 prepustiti Ostrinom kar tako.
In me tudi ne bodo. Še oni
bi me verjetno raje videli
mrtvega kot živega v rokah
Ostrinov. Presneto zaguljeno. 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-
in the foreground. Just in
front of the archway of our
exit, the situation had degenerated 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 commander.
Benesens and I looked at
each other. Did that mean
that the rear of our column
would remain unprotected? 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
188
nje v ospredju. Tik pred
obokom našega izhoda
se je vse skupaj sprevrglo v nepregleden vrvež.
Vsa kolona se nam je ustavljala. Potem smo zaslišali
vzklike, da so nam roboti
Ostrinov prebili kolono
tik ob hodniku, skozi katerega smo se nameravali
umakniti.
»Zaščitni oddelki robotov
iz zaledja takoj na čelno
stran!« je poveljeval naš
kapitan.
Z Dobročutom sva se spogledala. 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 glasilo naslednje povelje.
Pogledal sem Dobročuta.
»Ali se bomo sami spopadali z roboti?« sem vprašal.
»Da. Nisem računal na tako
hitro zaostritev,« je odvrnil
z resno zategnjenimi ustnicami. »Pa še tako ostro.«
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, including the last ones from the
defensive cordon, disappeared under the advancing
Acutin robots. Now the
first Sensins threw themselves into the counterattack, joining battle with
the hostile robots without
189
Nato se je nagnil k meni:
»Čeprav vas po mojem
mnenju ne nameravajo
ubiti, bo vseeno bolje, da
se pomaknete proti sredini. Boj prepustite nam.
V naši enoti smo dobro
usposobljeni zanj.«
»Naše bojne ladje so že
prebile stene naše lupinaste 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 napredujočimi roboti Ostrinov.
V protinapad so se vrgli
tudi prvi Čutini. Zdaj so
še sami sprejeli boj od
blizu s sovražnimi roboti
the protective barrier of
our own robots. They
were incredibly brave,
and surprisingly successful. Their laser rifles were
fitted with special barrels
for firing energy bolts, and
these bolts were powerful 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 difference to their numbers. If
anything, the opposite was
true: they kept on coming
and they were pushing us
into a circle that was growing tighter by the minute.
I looked at the robots and
then back at the Sensin
defenders. They were incredibly courageous and
also extremely skilful.
Suddenly I realised something – something that the
various explosions and
flying fragments of shattered robots had prevented
me from noticing before:
190
brez zaščitne pregrade
naših robotov. Neverjetno
pogumno, in tudi uspešno. 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 razstreljevali trupe. Vedno več njihovih 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 spopadih. Izredno drzni in tudi
izjemno spretni so bili
ti Čutini. Toda tedaj sem
zastal ob nenadnem spoznanju, ki se mi je zaradi
številnih eksplozij in letečih delov razbitih robotov
izmaknilo prvotni zaznavi.
it was true that the robots
were pushing us into an
ever tighter circle, but they
were not killing the Sensins. They were simply
moving forwards, dodging
the Sensins’ energy bolts
and – this was the surprising thing – capturing
individual Sensins in their
steel embrace. They could
have crushed them but
they didn’t. Our powerlessness was becoming
clearer and clearer: at any
moment they could shatter our resistance. Some
individual Sensins realised this and began to fall
back, while their comrades kept up their frenzied
firing. But the robots were
seizing more and more of
them.
Suddenly we heard a piercing whistle. The robots
stopped. A transparent
craft came to a halt some
metres away. It was a kind
of saucer with a transparent dome, and there appeared to be Acutins in it.
We all looked at them.
191
Res, da so nas roboti potiskali 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 posamezne 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 njihovi tovariši še vedno prav
besno streljali. Vendar so
jih roboti vseeno uspevali
vse pogosteje zajeti v svoje
objeme, in to že kar množično.
Tedaj nam je prešel skozi
ušesa prediren pisk. Roboti
so se ustavili. Nekaj deset
metrov stran je obstalo
prozorno plovilo, nekakšna plošča s presojno
kupolo, in kazalo je, da so
v njem Ostrini. Vsi smo se
zazrli vanje.
An amplified voice began
speaking: “Sensins, fighting 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 intention. 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.”
»Gospodje Čutini,« smo
zaslišali zvočno okrepljen
glas. »S toliko besa se boriti
z roboti je vendar nerazumno za našo civilizacijsko 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 pravice 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 pripravljenosti. V nobenem
primeru se ne boste izvlekli, ne glede, kaj naredite.
Raje nam pustite prost
izhod, dokler je še čas.«
“That is not a problem. It
is true that these clashes
between robots have pro-
»To ni problem. Res, da je
nastalo kar nekaj odpadne
kovine po vseh teh spo-
192
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 slightly cynical tone, and our
commander bristled visibly. “What do you want?”
he asked, with the measured 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 questioning of individuals.”
“As far as permission is
concerned, our robots
have already reached agreement. 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
193
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 prizvokom, ob katerem se je naš
kapitan vidno vznemiril.
»Kaj želite?« je vprašal z
odločnim glasom enakopravnega
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 pogovorili, z vsakim od vas.«
»Nobenega izpraševanja
posameznikov ne dovolim.«
»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-
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 commander 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 consideration.”
The Acutin’s tone was still
cynical, but now there was
also a mixture of insolence 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
194
ljati na vas, toda ne zaradi
bojazni. To preprosto ni
bilo potrebno. Kako bi
ravnali v primeru močnejšega 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 nekaznovanega odhoda nimate.
Enako kot ste vi obkolili
našo posadko, so naše
ladje obkolile ta asteroid, in s tem tudi vas.
Ne morete se jim izmakniti. In tudi skoznje se
ne morete izmuzniti. Če
nas pobijete, boste tudi vi
kmalu postali žrtve.«
»Prav,
vaše
opozorilo
bomo upoštevali.« Ostrinov prizvok v glasu je še
naprej ostal ciničen, le da
je bilo v njem zaznati še
neko mešanico nesramnosti in zadovoljstva med
ukazovanjem
robotom.
»Čim bolj nežno odnesite te gospode Čutine.
. . ali kako naj že temu
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 probably already clear. At least
I hope so.”
The Sensins glanced quickly at each other.
“They want him,” said
the commander, indicating 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 surprise, but we are capable
of something similar ourselves.”
Benesens continued to
stare at the floating transparent disc with a glassy
look in his eyes, and then
turned to me: “You must
195
rečem,« se je Ostrin pridušeno zasmejal, po mojem
mnenju s kar precej zlobe.
»Nežno, kolikor je možno,«
je nadaljeval, »nič več,
kajne, gospodje Čutini?
Kolikor si pač lahko privoščimo. Pogovora nam pa
seveda ne morete odreči,
to je najbrž že jasno. Vsaj
upam.«
Čutini so se hitro spogledali. »Njega hočejo,« je dejal
kapitan in namignil name.
»Izprašali ga bodo.« Nato
se je pomaknil do Dobročuta. »Razloži mu,« je dejal,
»naj čim bolj zavlačuje.
Res, da so nas Ostrini presenetili 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 opazovanju ponovno obrnil
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 everything except about the
seventy-fourth door and
our abortive attempt to get
through it. Putting off telling you about our civilisation 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 forwards as though he weighed nothing, and then
led or rather dragged him
away. Other robots did the
same with the other Sensins, 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 meantime 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
196
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 naredili s prelaganjem predstavitve 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
stepping out of the transparent 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
197
ter se po nekaj korakih
ponovno ustavili. In prav
prednje me je na tla postavil robot ter me na ukaz
srednjega Ostrina spustil
iz svojega jeklenega prijema, v katerega sem bil
vklenjen.
»Pozdravljeni!« me je smehljaje se nagovoril srednji
Ostrin, »nikar se nas ne
bojte. Mi vam nismo sovražni. 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 bojujete?«
Ostal sem tiho. Nisem se
mogel domisliti smiselnega odgovora. Ostrin je
bil videti precej prijazen,
brez ostrine v svojem
glasu in tudi brez pri-
and there was none of the
arrogance I had expected. No aggressiveness.
Even the condescension I
had noticed during those
receptions seemed to be
absent. Actually I was slightly surprised by their
friendliness. Or whatever
it was that this unexpectedly 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 situation, or perhaps because
of it, I continued to smile
and shrugged my shoulders 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
198
čakovane nadutosti v
nastopu. Nobene napadalnosti. Celo vzvišenosti, ki sem jo lahko zaznal
med tistimi sprejemi, ni
bilo na njem. Pravzaprav
so me kar malo presenetili s to svojo prijaznostjo.
Ali kar koli je že to bilo,
kar se mi je kazalo pri
tem nepričakovano prijaznem sprejemu.
Vrnil sem mu nasmeh.
»Pa ste prepričani, da glede
tega niste v zmoti?« Ostrin
se je nasmehnil s pokroviteljskim nasmehom, jaz pa
sem kljub nastali nejasnosti 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 nenavadnega, nepričakovanega
ali kaj takega, so nas zmotili nenadni klici in takoj
nato še neko premetavanje
v koloni nasproti nas, iz
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 exaggerated self-assurance
that would achieve him
nothing under the circumstances. Everything was in
the hands of the Acutins.
The Acutins looked at each
other and smiled condescendingly. “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 connections 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
199
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 posmihanjem. »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 pogovore z njimi se nimate pravice vtikati. Doslej je vedno
bilo tako. Eno temeljnih
določil spoštovanja medsebojnih izvirnih posebnosti, tako vaših kot naših,
mutual respect that until
now, despite your impudence, you have always
maintained. We shall not
allow this. You are provoking 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 forearm. 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. Through the yawning gap we
saw a mass of Sensin vessels of various types, some
similar to those used by
the Acutins in their attack,
judging from their external
200
ki ste se jih kljub vsej svoji
nesramnosti doslej vseeno
držali, boste prekršili.
Tega vam ne bomo dopustili. Vojno izzivate.«
»O tem se ne bomo prepirali. Roboti, odstranite ga!
Zdaj res ni čas za tovrstne
razprave.«
Ostrin je stopil korak
nazaj, z migom roke nakazal, 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 svojimi jeklenimi prsti in ga
odvlekel. Tedaj pa nam je
preparalo ušesa strahovito hreščanje, pokanje z
nasprotne strani naše orjaške večstometrske hale.
Nekaj je trgalo steno po
vsej dolžini, dokler ni zazijala ogromna odprtina,
skozi katero smo zagledali
pravo množico čutinovskih plovil, razna letala,
za različne namene, precej
podobne tistim ob napadu
Ostrinov, vsaj na zunaj so
imeli podobno tehniko.
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 conflict, at least judging from
the flashes of the explosions, was taking place
in the background, out of
sight. Meanwhile, the Sensin
craft that had already
managed to penetrate our
hall were beginning to disembark 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
201
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 eksplozij 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, robotov. Toda takoj zatem so
priletela noter še letala
Ostrinov s svojimi okrepitvami robotov. In vsi ti so
se takoj po pristanku spustili v medsebojni boj ob
podpori svojih oboroženih letal in raznih letečih,
samodejno vodenih laserskih topov.
»V takem metežu pa izgubiš glavo, ne glede, na
kateri strani si,« sem izvrgel med pogledovanjem v
at the Acutin in front of
me. The fighting was spreading very quickly in our
direction. At any moment
it would reach us. The
Acutin did not reply. It
was though he were stunned by the violence of the
fighting. The expression
on his face reminded me
of our commander’s reaction to the Acutins’ attack.
So the Sensins had managed to strike back… Each
side was capable of surprising the other with these
sudden and rapid incursions, 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 Sensins who had once again
taken the initiative, or so it
seemed. I wondered whether the Acutins had any
more forces in reserve. I
looked at the three Acutins in front of me. They
were still watching the
202
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 presenečala. Še njegov izraz
na obrazu je spominjal na
odziv našega kapitana ob
nenadnem preboju Ostrinov. Torej je Čutinom res
uspelo vrniti udarec. Drug
drugega so sposobni presenetiti s temi nenadnimi in
hitrimi vpadi, in to s tako
osredotočenim napadom,
da je bilo že kar neverjetno, 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 dogajanju sem moral pomišljati
še na možne rezerve Ostrinov.
Zazrl sem se v svoje sogovornike, ki so še vedno
strmeli v tisti napredujoči
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 secured 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 considerably. We appear to have hit
a soft spot, since otherwise
they would not have reacted so furiously. They are
hiding something.”
The Acutin turned towards
me, still calm and composed, although the Sensins’
robots had already broken
through the hastily placed
barriers made of material
from the shattered walls
and the supporting arches
203
napad Čutinov. Njihove
enote jih niso mogle ustaviti. Ostrini so se spogledali. 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 zagotoviti. To ni res. Naše zunanje sile nas že ne bodo
prepustile tem bebavim
Čutinom.«
»Zadeva postaja jasna, « mu
je odvrnil Ostrin na njegovi 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
of the ceiling, and were
almost through the fortified line that the Acutins’
robots were still constructing. They launched
themselves at the robots
guarding the Sensin prisoners who, on being released, 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 surprising speed, wouldn’t
you say?” The Sensin’s
manner was already
calmer and more self-assured. But there was still
a hint of ebullience in him
when he turned to the Acutins: “Your impudence,
not to say perfidiousness,
has not had the effect you
expected, has it?”
204
pravo utrjeno linijo, ki so
jo roboti Ostrinov sproti
postavljali, ter z naskokom na stražarje zajetih
Čutinov omogočili izpuščenim Čutinom ponovno
ukrepanje. Eni so se pridružili svojim robotom,
druga večja skupina pa se
je pognala k tisti prozorni
polkrogli in k Ostrinom
ob meni.
»Je vse v redu?« me je vprašal 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: »Nesramnost, da ne rečem zahrbtnost, se vam ni povsem
obnesla, kajne?«
But the Acutin looked at
him with such a convincing appearance of bored
resignation that I was
forced to ask myself whether this was normal given
the situation: the Acutin
could simply be pretending. It was perfectly possible that they had this ability 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 embarrassment I looked first at the
Acutins and then at the
Sensins. I had no complaints 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.
205
Toda Ostrin je gledal z
zdolgočaseno zadržanostjo, in to tako prepričljivo,
da sem se moral zamisliti
nad normalnostjo tega
odziva glede na nastali
položaj, ker lahko bi bilo to
le Ostrinovo sprenevedanje. Prav možno, da imajo
tudi tovrstne sposobnosti
dobro razvite. Vendar pa
je s svojo prepričljivostjo
ustavil Čutinovo živahnost.
»In kaj so vam lepega povedali?« me je vprašal Čutin.
»No, ja.« V zadregi sem
pogledoval zdaj Ostrine,
zdaj Čutine okoli sebe.
Nikomur nisem imel ničesar očitati. Tudi ničesar
žalega ne bi mogel reči o
nikomer. Ostrini so me še
vedno gledali s tistim prijaznim vzvišenim smehljajem, Čutini pa so bili že
kar neprijetno sumničavi,
česar jim kljub nekaterim
pomislekom ob Ostrinovih
besedah glede moje pridružitve Čutinom nisem
smel šteti v slabo. Položaj
Putting it simply, the situation 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. Contact your headquarters in
the asteroid cloud immediately. The discussions will
continue in the pavilions
that have just been erected
in the asteroid’s main landing 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
206
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 prostora: »Poziv vsem robotom. Poveljstvi obeh
strani sta se dogovorili
o prenehanju napadov.
Takoj vzpostavite zvezo
s poveljstvom asteroidne meglice. Pogovori se
bodo nadaljevali v pravkar postavljenih paviljonih na osrednjem pristajališču tega asteroida.«
»Torej gospodje Čutini,« je
po krajšem molku začel
srednji Ostrin, »kot ste slišali, nas čaka še prijeten
večer z zabavnim programom. Osebno mi je tak
razplet še najbolj pogodu,
making your acquaintance
has been a great honour
for me.”
All three Acutins smiled
with evident satisfaction
and increasing enthusiasm. The Sensins’ faces,
however, still wore a grim
expression. They did not
seem particularly inclined
for a friendly conversation.
“If our forces had not surrounded you, you would
have killed us, wouldn’t
you?” The Sensin stared
coldly at the leading
Acutin, who at these
words nodded understandingly: “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 already reconciled themselves
to the new situation and
207
saj mi je bila seznanitev z
vami v veliko čast.« Nakar
so se vsi trije Ostrini prijateljsko nasmehnili z
vidnim zadovoljstvom in
v vse bolj živahnem razpoloženju. Toda na obrazih
Čutinov je še vedno ostajal
mrakoben izraz z ne prav
dosti naklonjenosti za prijateljski pogovor.
»Če vas ne bi naše sile obkolile 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 naklonjenostjo: »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-
began telling their colleague 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 Acutins 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 discussion”.
208
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 glasnemu sproščanju pravkar vzkipele jeze v svojih
skupinah počasi odpravili
na, kot rečeno, prijateljsko
dogovarjanje.
IX. poglavje
Chapter IX
The grey rain clouds, from
which a light drizzle was
falling, were darker over
to the northwest and promised heaver rain, if not a
downpour, but those few
drops were not enough for
me to open my umbrella.
Passers-by were already 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 approaching from the other side
of the road. It was nice of
her to respond so quickly.
209
Sivi deževni oblaki, iz katerih je po malem rosilo, so s
svojim še temnejšim ozadjem na severozahodu obetali močnejše padavine, če
že ne plohe, vendar je bilo
tistih nekaj kapljic premalo, da bi odprl dežnik,
pa tudi mimoidoči so jih
že začeli zapirati. Po parkiranju na Kongresnem
trgu, nasproti Nunske
cerkve, sem stopil proti
zgradbi rektorata ljubljanske univerze. Sestal naj bi
se z Marto, Gigino prijateljico, ki mi je po telefonu
razložila, da je Gigo prejšnji večer večkrat zaman
klicala po telefonu. Prav
lahko, da ima izpraznjeno
baterijo svojega mobija, mi
je navrgla eno od možnosti. Skratka, nikakor je ni
mogla poklicati. Zdaj je
Marta prihajala z nasprotne strani. Lepo, da se je
tako hitro odzvala.
“Hey!” I greeted her cheerfully. 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 acquaintances have got her in this
state or whether there is
actually something wrong
with her.”
210
»Hej!« sem jo veselo pozdravil. Stara znanka je bila. In
po vsem, kar sem nedavno
doživel, sem se znanega
obraza še dosti bolj razveselil kot sicer.
»Zdravo! Ne morem je
dobiti.« Martin obraz je
bil resen, brez običajnega
smehljaja ob srečanjih.
»Praviš pa, da je v Ljubljani.«
»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 Matevžem, to je bil že njen tretji
fant v tem letu, ali karkoli
je že bil. Z njim je šla občasno ven. Še sama ne vem,
ali so jo vsa ta poznanstva
tako zmedla ali pa je z njo
tudi sicer nekaj narobe.«
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 situation 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 meaninglessness of life and
saying that she was going
to kill herself.”
211
Zmignil sem z rameni.
Seveda je bila Giga »tudi
sicer« prifliknjena, glede
tega sem imel preveč razčiščene pojme, da bi še kaj
dvomil. »In kaj ima sedaj
na programu?« sem vprašal z nasmehom.
»Na programu?« je zamišljeno 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. Najprej ni dobila vloge v gledališki igri, za katero se je
potegovala, čeprav naj bi ji
bila pisana na kožo. Potem
naj bi zbolela ali nekaj
takega, kot sem lahko razbrala iz tistega njenega
govorjenja, ker se ga je
ob najinem zadnjem srečanju že kar lepo nabrala.
Vsaj kolikor jo jaz poznam,
je bilo to glede na njene
navade malo preveč. Ves
čas se je vrtela okoli nesmiselnosti tega življenja in da
se bo kar ubila.«
“What?” I was immediately serious. “Kill herself?
Has she completely flipped?”
“From the way she was
talking, that would seem
to be the only explanation.
Anyway, that’s the situation. We’ll see. You’ve
certainly picked a good
time to show up. You’re
going to get yourself into
trouble.”
“Trouble?” That was ridiculous, 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 problems.”
“Are you serious about
this suicide of hers?”
“In the state she’s in now,
anything is possible.”
“But she can’t commit suicide! Are you crazy?”
“Not me. Her.” Martha
laughed.
212
»Kaj?« Hitro sem se zresnil.
»Da se bo ubila? Pa se ji
menda res ni popolnoma
utrgalo?«
»Saj, iz tega njenega govorjenja je že kar težko pomisliti 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 narediti samomora! A si nora!«
»Ne jaz. Ona.« Marta se je
zasmejala.
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 suicide. 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?”
213
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 prepričanje 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 ponovila, me pogledala, vseeno
jo je moral izraz mojega
obraza presenečati, in
zmignila z rameni, kot da
vse skupaj ni po njenem
mnenju vredno pretiranega naprezanja možganov.
Prav zmotil me je posmehljivi prizvok v njenem
glasu: »Mar te morebitni
samomor tvoje prijateljice
sploh ne prizadeva?«
“What? Probably not.”
Martha looked at me more
keenly. “Interesting.”
“What?”
“Your interest in her. All
of a sudden.”
“Okay, Martha.” I collected my thoughts and decided to try a calmer approach. I had clearly shown
a little too much agitation
at Martha’s mention of
Zaza’s suicide. “We need
her. Seriously. We urgently need her.”
Martha became more serious. “Who’s ‘we’? I thought 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 telling the truth.”
“I am!” I said, and went
on in a serious voice: “We
have to find her. As quickly as possible. Her suicide
could have very serious
consequences. We have to
stop her.”
“Hmm. Unbelievable! At
214
»Aja? Najbrž res ne.« Marta
me je še bolj živo pogledala. »Zanimivo.«
»Kaj?«
»Tvoje ponovno zanimanje
zanjo. Kar naenkrat.«
»Dobro, Marta.« Poskušal
sem se zbrati v bolj treznem premisleku. Najbrž
sem res pokazal malo
preveč prizadetosti ob
Martinem omenjanju Giginega samomora. »Potrebujemo jo. Resno govorim.
Nujno nam je potrebna.«
Marta se je počasi zresnila.
»Kdo so ti ‘mi’? Sem mislila,
da gre zate? Torej nič osebnega?« 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 samomor. Ne sme ga narediti.«
»Hm. Ta je pa dobra! Nje
our last meeting – in most
of our recent conversations, 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 composure.
“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
215
naj ne bi nihče pogrešal,
mi je jamrala na zadnjem
srečanju oziroma zadnje
čase že na večini najinih
pogovorov, pa sem ji govorila nasprotno, čeprav
so se mi zdele te njene
besede povsem realne.
Pravzaprav so to bile po
mojem mnenju edine kolikor 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 privoščila. 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
everything. If I did, she
would start wondering
about my sanity too. First
Zaza and now me. Damn!
And I had piqued her interest 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 explanations 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 sounded just like those Sensins.
As though I had absorbed
their tactic of evading questions… Martha looked
at me doubtfully for a
moment and then nodded
towards the city centre:
216
povedati, ker bi lahko
začela razmišljati še o moji
prištevnosti. Najprej Gigi
in zdaj še jaz. Presneto. Pa
še zanimanje sem ji vzbudil. 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 govoril enako kot tisti Čutini
meni. Kot da bi mi njihova
taktika izmikanja pri dajanju 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 vztrajanja, naj najprej poiščeva
Gigi, ter z glavo namignila
proti centru mesta: »Morda
“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 followed 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.
217
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 bifejih res odkrila za mizo v
družbi s prijateljicama.
»Hej, Darja!« jo je s pozdravnim vzklikom opozorila 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 drogirala, čeprav po moje še ni
zasvojena, vsaj prej ni bila.
They had some kind of
argument. I think he was
asking for money or offering 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 talkative. 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 carried on in that vein for a
bit until finally as she was
218
Z njim se je nekaj sporekla. 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
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 something 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 ‘tonight’, 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 boyfriends 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,”
219
je namreč še usedla nazaj,
energično izjavila, da je
pač tako vseeno, ker ona
že ne bo nikogar več obremenjevala, in to prej, kot
si mislimo. Pa še smrtno
resno se je držala pri tem.
S prav zagrizeno odločnostjo. 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
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 already more than she could
understand, my concern
for Zaza evidently didn’t
seem any less strange to
her. I realised that immediately. 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.
220
strinjala Marta. »Ko se ti
več nesreč hkrati povezne
na glavo, in to same skrajno
zoprne, tedaj pač potrebuješ 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 trenutkov 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 običajno 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 prehudega tveganja s presneto pomembnimi posledicami.
It was far more important 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 Sensins were unable to reach
their energy fields. But
sooner or later they would
find out, and it seemed
very likely that the Sensins didn’t have much
time left, even though
they claimed that their
forces would be sufficiently powerful even if access
to the biggest energy fields
remained closed. Yes, the
Sensins would give it everything they had. There
was no doubt of that.
But both sides possessed
energy missiles, probably
made of antimatter, which
could destroy entire planets. Both sides had these
weapons. It would only
take one missile to destroy
221
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 porušeno ravnotežje nasprotnih 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 omenjali zadostno moč svojih
oboroženih sil tudi v primeru 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 razstrelijo planete. Oboji
imajo taka orožja. In za
uničenje Zemlje je dovolj
le en tak izstrelek, imajo
the Earth, and they had
thousands of them. Thousands? 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 looking at me – the girls at
Daria’s table and the three
boys at the next table,
who had also been liste222
jih pa na tisoče, kaj tisoče,
milijarde. Le enakost sil
ohranja mir. Samo mir je
tisto, kar lahko Zemljanom
zagotovi preživetje. Ravnotežje sil je treba ohraniti. 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 prepričevanja. Le dobiti moram Gigi.
»Poglejmo, kje bi lahko
bila,« sem dejal v želji po
bolj umirjenem in tehtnem premišljanju, »potem
bomo pa ukrepali. In to
hitro.«
Nihče ni oporekal. Pravzaprav so vsi gledali vame,
tako obe dekleti ob Darji
kot trije fantje za sosednjo mizico, ki so že pred
ning to the conversation.
Partly because of my decisive 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 certain 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, probably. His friends were
all dressed in the same
grungy fashion. The addition 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 unshaven face and his companions. If these were the sort
of people Zaza hung out
with, I thought, then it was
223
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 njihova prijateljica.
»Hej!« se je iz kota oglasil suhljat poba v znošeni
majici in še bolj znošenih izpranih kavbojkah.
Celo strgane so že bile,
čeprav najbrž nalašč, ker
je bila vsa njegova družba
glede zunanjosti v enakem
modnem trendu, zelo primernem 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
perfectly possible that she
had got into drugs.
“I was talking to her flatmate 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 suicidal 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 heartily, although this frank,
open laughter was the last
thing I would have expec224
družila s temi tipi, je prav
možno, da je zašla tudi v
mamila.
»Malo prej sem se pogovarjal z njeno cimro. Spraševala 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 sogovornika, morda je bil le
malo starejši študent, kaj
posebno motilo, celo prav
prostodušno se je na ves
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 standards she has gone a little
too far. And that’s not
good.”
“It certainly isn’t,” I interrupted. I couldn’t waste
any more time. “Where
can I find her?”
His thin face grew serious as he pondered his
answer.
225
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 kocinami, je pod vplivom zaužitega 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 izražati moje pomisleke, da jih
je razbral celo sogovornik
kljub vsej svoji siceršnji,
vsaj na zunaj očitni odsotnosti.
»Da. Tudi po mojih kriterijih 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 tuhtanju možnega odgovora.
“If it was a question of suicide, which Zaza is certainly capable of, there is a
place that she has sometimes dropped hints about.
She mentioned it a few
times. I never really paid
much attention but because 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 prepared 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.
226
»Če bi šlo za samomor, kar
je Gigi prav gotovo zmožna
narediti, obstaja kraj, vsaj
po mojem mnenju, o katerem 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 povrnem 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 njegove druščine pa je bila že
ta vsota za tako uslugo kar
precejšnja. »Je dovolj?«
Koščeni poba je pogledal bankovce, nato mene
in spet bankovce ter
namignil, naj kaj malega
dodam, in ko sem priložil
še dvesto evrov, je namignil, da so naredili nanj
pozitiven vtis, ter se tako
gibčno privzdignil, kot da
bi vsa zaležana odsotnost
padla z njega.
“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.”
***
»No, prav. Toda ne smete
biti razočarani, če po
naključju še ni naredila
samomora. Kajti pri njej je
možno vse.«
»Ne bom razočaran. Pravzaprav se ravno tega
bojim.«
***
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 precipice. If she’s here, that’s
where she’ll be. And now
– I’ll go, or you can, whatever 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
227
Kocina je stopil na stransko 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.
doing. If she hadn’t done it
already. She was the sort
of person whose emotions 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 already have got her talking.”
“Hmm!” Stubble Chin
shot a glance at me. “Interesting.”
That was all he said. The
simplicity of my plan even
enticed a smile of acknowledgement 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
228
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 spominu 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 dejanski verjetnosti naključnega srečanja, jo bom že
zapletel v pogovor.«
»Hm!« Kocina me je ošvrknil s pogledom izpod oči.
»Zanimivo.« Pravzaprav je
bilo to vse, kar je dejal. Preprostost mojega naklepa
mu je celo izvabila nasmeh
priznanja.
Stopil sem naprej, ob drevesu zastal, obris ženskega
lika bi se mi moral vsak
čas pokazati, pa ga ni bilo
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 forwards. I really would kill
myself, in all likelihood.
Involuntarily I drew back,
although the ground beneath my feet was perfectly solid. “There really
is something a bit creepy
about this place,” I muttered to myself and shook
my head to get rid of irrational 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.
229
videti. Previdno sem se
pomaknil naprej, še vedno
nič, nikjer nikogar, vse
do roba prepada sem že
prišel, spet pogledal naokrog, temno je bilo, presneto, pa grmičevje, pod
katerim je bilo vse še bolj
temno. Ozrl sem se navzdol. 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 verjetnosti. Nehote sem se nekoliko
umaknil, čeprav so bila tla
pod mojimi nogami kar
trda. »Povsem nedolžen pa
ta kraj res ni,« sem si zamomljal v brado ter odkimal
v zavračanju meni nerazumljivega samomorilskega
početja.
In tedaj sem v trenutku
močnejšega obrata glave s
kotičkom očesa ujel teman
obris nečesa, kar ni bilo
sestavni del grma. Instinktivno sem se obrnil v tisto
smer. Ona je moral biti.
Vsekakor je nekdo sedel
pod grmom. Čisto tiho me
je ta nekdo opazoval.
“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 different. 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 disturbed 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
230
»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 potrdilo svojega ugibanja.
»Pravzaprav sem že malo
preveč zavil s poti.« Primaknil 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 gledala 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,
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 evening 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 con231
toda potem, ko sem prisedel, je ta moja odločenost
morala postati zanjo že kar
moteče prisotna. Obrisi
ženske v temi so iz čistega
mirovanja prešli v raznoliko 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 pojasnila 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-
tinued in my conversational 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 features 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 comment 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
232
čajnem pogovornem tonu
izletnikov.
»Da,« je spet kratko odgovorila ženska. Vseeno je bilo
pretemno za razpoznavanje 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 vendarle 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 pričakovanju odgovora, to pa je
očitno tudi ona opazila in
se zato namesto odgovora
look at her, she moved forward 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 bruises.” 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 immediate. 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 pri233
nekoliko premaknila ter
se po mojem vztrajnem
motrenju še močneje zganila, sicer še vedno pod
grmom, in potem spet
povsem mirno obsedela.
»Ubili bi se,« me je opozorila z mirno odsotnostjo,
vendar z občutno gotovostjo glede svojih besed.
»Hm,« sem se zamislil. Če bi
ji malo nasprotoval z dodajanjem raznih argumentov, 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 neumnost 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
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 precipice.
“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
234
vdiranja v njeno zasebnost. 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
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 provocativeness 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 provocation 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 theatre, too?” Zaza shifted
nervously from one foot to
the other. “What are you
actually talking about?”
“How do you mean what
235
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 prepričljivo.«
»Jaz?«
»Da.«
»Misliš reči, da se razumeš
tudi na gledališče?« Gigi se
je nervozno prestopala. »O
čem pa pravzaprav govoriš?«
»Kako - o čem? Na tvojem
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 doubtfully, 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 fundamental and most consistent constants of her thoughts 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.
236
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 prepričanje o nesmiselnosti vsega,
in to je moralo biti ena od
temeljnih in najbolj vztrajnih stalnic njenega razmišljanja 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 zamoriti, 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.
“So what’s your connection 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 character of a slightly crazy
woman, in other words.
Yes. I carried on smiling
as I racked my brains to
think of a suitable character 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 especially careful about giving
my own opinions – telling
237
»Kaj pa imaš s temi gledališčniki?« je vprašala
kljub začetnemu molku
med odsotnim strmenjem
vstran od mene.
»Ja, saj veš, da sem precej
let redno obiskoval gledališke predstave.« Nasmehnil
sem se ji. Res sem jih nekaj
časa celo redno obiskoval,
to mi je ostalo še živo v spominu. Zato mi je tudi tako
hitro prišlo z jezika. Dobro
sem začel. Še o tistem ženskem 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 videnih 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-
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 cooperation. 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.
238
jenjem o vlogi, pisani na
njeno kožo, moram biti
previden. Čeprav neka gledališka igra s takim likom
že mora biti nekje in Čutinom tudi ne bo težko pripraviti predstave. Če bo
treba. Nekoliko sem premislil vse skupaj. Za sodelovanje 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 ženskem liku najbolj vznemirilo?« 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 podobnega. Pa tudi česa takega
se nisem mogel spomniti.
In se tudi ne bom spomnil. Kar naenkrat tako
povpraševanje po prifliknjenih ženskih likih. Že
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 everything. 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 mention 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
239
Gigi je bila zame več kot
dovolj težak problem. Ne
le težak, ampak že pretežak. In nenadoma bi
potreboval še en prifliknjen 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 najbolje. Pri vseh teh njihovih
sposobnostih naj jo kar
napišejo! Sicer pa je tisto
preverjanje pri 77 vratih
postavljeno tudi na podlagi 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 značajskih obrisov pa ti res lahko
nakažem.«
Pogledal sem okoli sebe in
somewhere more comfortable to sit and then turned
back to Zaza: “Some details 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 subconscious.”
“From my subconscious? Hmm. Maybe you’re
right.”
“Yes. Let’s go over here.”
Zaza stepped back to a
place more suitable for
240
nazaj po bolj udobni namestitvi 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 nasmehnila.
»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
a relaxed conversation.
There was some grass and
a slight mound, and even a
piece of rock to lean against.
“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 changed 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 ani241
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 Matevžem?«
»Da.«
»Takole.« Gigi se je v trenutku 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 kuhinjo.« Gigi se je razživela.
mated. She was beginning
to relive the whole experience. She remembered
every detail and matched
it so faithfully to the corresponding facial expression 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 enthusiasm. 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 undoubtedly made her even
keener to relive every last
detail of the events at the
party. I was the audience
that Zaza had always dreamed 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 thoroughly absorbed in her perfor242
Pravzaprav je začela vse
skupaj podoživljati. Spomnila se je vsake podrobnosti 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 navdušenje kar samo od sebe
privrelo na površje. Prav
to sem potreboval. Vsak
odtenek izraza na njenem
obrazu sem si sproti vtisnil 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 oživljanju 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
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 forgotten.
I needed to go over it all
again in case I had overlooked something: accuracy
was essential, since even a
trifling error could be disastrous. The sort of detail
that hadn’t even occurred
to me could be enough to
ruin everything. Irrevocably. I pondered everything
once again and then shrugged and gave a cheerful 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
243
sva skozi vse podrobnosti.
Vsaj za zdaj se nisem spomnil nobene pozabljene
podrobnosti. Presneto.
Potem bo sicer treba
še vse skupaj premisliti
zaradi morebitnega spregleda 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, privzdignjenim v nebo. Za
majhen predah.
Gigi pa si je nenadoma,
ponovno zresnjena, potegnila kolena nazaj pod
brado ter se oklenila skrčenih nog. In potem je umol-
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 likelihood – 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 comforting tone. I sincerely
244
knila, meni pa so se misli
še kar naprej vračale na
tisto žurko in na podrobnosti, ki sem jih moral premisliti, 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 pretuhtati. 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 vprašal. »Zakaj pa?« Potem pa
sem se le spomnil njene
sposobnosti hitrega spreminjanja 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 vzpostavitev malo bolj živahnega
vzdušja.
»Kaj je narobe?« sem začel z
bolj tolažilnim tonom. ker
sem ji iskreno želel poma-
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 staring in front of her, although 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 suddenly come to that conclusion? 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?”
245
gati. Moral sem narediti
nekaj zanjo.
»Nič.«
»Saj je kar prijetno tukaj,
ali ne?«
Toda Gigi je še naprej
zrla predse, čeprav ji bližina mojega primaknjenega obraza ni dopuščala
pogrezanja v odsotno osamljenost.
»Nič ni s tem, kar govoriš. 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 drugega.«
»In kaj je ta resnica?«
»Nič.« Gigi si je obrisala
solze z lic. »Tako nepomembna sem.«
»Kako? Nepomembna? Kaj
pa govoriš?«
“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 outbreak of happiness at my
successful progress, I felt
as though I had hit a wall.
This was too much! After
everything that had happened…
Zaza
slowly
turned
towards me and raised her
head until we were looking directly at each other.
She shook her head doubtfully. Then she lowered
246
»Če zdaj umrem, ne bo
tega nihče niti opazil.«
»Se ti meša? Še kako bi opazili. 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 pogledovanjem 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 privzdignila glavo, dokler si nisva
zrla iz oči v oči, in nejeverno je odkimala. Potem
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 serious. It’s strange.” Zaza
shook her head at what she
seemed to think was a puzzling contradiction. “How
can you get so enthusiastic
all of a sudden? I’ve never
seen someone get so excited about stirring up a few
old memories as you did
just now.”
247
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 umirjenim 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 poudarjenem 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 doživela.«
“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 changed 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 confident again.
“Yes.” Zaza was looking
at me wide-eyed, like a
child.
248
»Kaj pa ti? Ali ti se nisi
razživela?« sem se nehote
postavil v obrambni položaj. Kdaj pa me je sploh
opazovala? Saj je kar naprej
samo igrala.
Toda Gigi je odkimavala:
»To ni to.«
Kakor koli, to Gigino razmišljanje je bilo kljub relativni napačnosti vendarle
po svoje trezno. Tudi njen
pogled je bil precej spremenjen. Kot da me preučuje. Mene? Nasmehnil
sem se.
»Ampak ta tvoja izjava, da
si nepomembna, je pa le
debela neumnost.« Zasmejal sem se med izmenjavo
najinih pogledov. »Morda
sem pa tudi jaz malo prifliknjen. 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.
“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 something about the strong
impression her acting had
made on me and a prediction 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 friends were waiting for me.
I turned to Zaza again.
She was looking at me
curiously with a mixture
of playfulness and expectancy.
“Yes,” I began, and stopped.
“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
249
»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 zaupanju v uspešnost njene
kariere.
Naslonil sem se na komolec v čim bolj udoben
položaj, nato pa obrnil
pogled navzgor, kjer so
tisti moji novi prijatelji
čakali name, ter ga spustil 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 izraženem pričakovanju sem
že moral povedati nekaj
bolj… Odkimal sem, pa
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 important, 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
250
prikimal in narahlo odmaknil 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 oziroma po njenih merilih
pomembna, sem pogledal
v Gigine otroško razprte
oči.
»Veš, dve največji civilizaciji 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 odločilnega je odvisno od
tebe.«
»Krasno. Tudi prav, a bi
vseeno raje videla, da bi se
stepli zame.«
»Vse je odvisno od prepričljivosti tvoje igre,« sem
mirno nadaljeval.
»O, to je pa res pomembna
vloga! Vedno sem si želela
igrati v odzivni vlogi.«
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 compliment with a slightly
ambiguous smile: “Should
I carry on?”
“Yes.”
“Even before that, you carried in yourself an emotional 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.”
251
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 sposobnost poznavanja ljudi.
Ampak da si ti tako romantičen, si pa nisem mislila.
In to danes, ko sploh ni
zvezd na nebu.«
Vrnil sem ji priznanje z
rahlo dvoumnim nasmehom: »No, naj nadaljujem.«
»Da.«
»Že prej si nosila v sebi
čustveni naboj. Pravzaprav celo množico čustvenih nabojev.«
»O, to pa to. Lepo govoriš,
Peter. Tako mi že dolgo
nihče ni nakladal.«
Hmm. Well it was a compliment of sorts. Perhaps
not the words themselves,
but Zaza had said them
with such cheerfulness
that my confidence continued 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 incredibly variegated world of
human experience.”
“Human
experience?
Where do you get these
words?”
“Yes, you are very important 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 terribly important!”
“Oh yes? You certainly
know how to talk. You’re
really convincing. You
252
Hm. Vseeno je bila to
pohvala. Morda ne besede
same, ampak Gigi jih je
povedala s tako razposajenim 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 doživljanja.«
»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 ničesar rešila. Ker to niti ni
potrebno. Ti si pomembna
zato, ker brez tebe preprosto ne moremo naprej.«
»Ne morete naprej?«
»Da,
hudičevo
si
pomembna!«
»Aja? Ampak govoriti pa
znaš. Nastop pa res imaš.
Ti bi moral biti igralec.
should be an actor. There’s
so much suggestion in
your voice that I almost
want to believe you.”
I waved my hand nonchalantly: “I have no ambitions 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.
253
Toliko sugestivnosti je v
tvojem glasu, da bi ti kar
najraje verjela.«
Nemarno sem zamahnil
z roko: »Nimam teh ambicij.«
»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 oziroma 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 prepričljivosti, s katero sem nastopil, in še bolj zaradi moje
odločnosti, ki ni dopuščala
ne dvoma ne oporekanja.
“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 conversation taking an unnecessarily serious turn. That
254
»Saj ne mislim delati samomora!«
»Lepo.« Ocenjujoče sem jo
ošvrknil s ogledom. »Kaj
pa prej?«
»Prej?« Gigi me je boječe
pogledala: »Kako si se zresnil!« 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 govorjenje, ko se nekaj časa zafrkavaš, potem pa nenadoma
spremeniš ton v tako strogega. . .«
Začutil sem prehajanje v
nepotrebno resen pogovor. To bi bilo samo v
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.” Evidently 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 wondering whether she hadn’t
given in too quickly. But
then she shrugged her shoulders as if to show that she
accepted the situation. She
suddenly became animated 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 prijateljev. 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 sprejemanja nastalih dejstev.
Kar nenadoma je spet oživela, ko je med odkimavanjem ponovila tiste moje
besede, sicer bolj zase,
komaj slišno: »Ampak brez
tebe ne moremo naprej…«
Hm, morda ji tega ne bi bil
smel reči.
***
***
255
Once we were in the
pub, Zaza started smiling
more and more frequently, regardless of whether
anyone said anything
funny. The cheerful atmosphere was enough for
her, and perhaps also my
happy mood, which came
from my feeling that our
mission was making progress. 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 distinguishing 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 something unexpected. At least
not like during the last
test. I watched her surreptitiously 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
256
V Naminem pabu se je
Gigi vse pogosteje smejala, ne glede na duhovitost pripomb. Že splošno 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 Giginih razpoloženjskih stanj,
v katerih je tako zlahka
prehajala iz ene skrajnosti 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. Neopazno 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
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. Following my failure in the test,
I was glad I had suggested
the need for better preparation before making a
fresh attempt. It was probably 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 extremes, in one direction and
the other, with a logic that
was based on Zaza’s mixed
257
oziroma jaz njej, tako da
sem lahko vse bolj poglobljeno primerjal svoje trenutne 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 pripravljenosti za ponovno
preizkušnjo. Ohlapnost
in strogost doseganja
enakih odzivov pri testu
sta se verjetno prav v
tem delu prevesili v slednje. Ker prav ta del je
bilo za stranskega opazovalca 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.
up nature. They had certainly found a good partner
for me.
I looked at Benesens and
the unfamiliar Sensin next
to him. He was probably
a member of our mission. Using the holo-equipped mobile phone they
had given me – outwardly 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 remained to clear up, I told him.
But Benesens advised me
to think about potentially important details that
might conceal the most
dangerous pitfalls. This
was where the key would
lie, as I had already predicted. Despite my new
self-confidence, I was still
happy to have some more
help in checking whether
I had overlooked anything
258
Presneto ‘dobro’ partnerico so mi našli.
Zagledal sem Dobročuta
v spremstvu meni neznanega Čutina. Verjetno je
bil član naše misije. Po
njihovem mobilniku s
hologramskim prikazovalnikom, s katerim so
me opremili in ki je bil po
zunanjosti podoben običajnim mobijem, čeprav
z daleč večjimi zmogljivostmi, sem mu povedal
o uspešnem začetku in
dokaj verjetnem skorajšnjem zaključku misije.
Le malenkosti so še
ostale, sem mu navrgel.
Toda Dobročut mi je svetoval, naj raje razmišljam
o morebitnih pomembnih podrobnostih, v katerih so verjetno skrite najnevarnejše pasti. Prav v
njih naj bi bil ključ, kot
sem tudi sam že predvidel. Kljub znova pridobljeni samozavesti pa sem
vseeno raje videl še nekaj
pomoči pri preverjanju
morebitnega
spregleda
important. And so they
came and joined me.
“Sit down. We’re a friendly crowd here.” I indicated 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 explained with a smile as Mike
came over to our table.
“About sport and the universe.”
At the last word Benesens’s
lips curved into a knowing
smile.
259
česa pomembnega. Zato
je tudi prišel. »Prisedita.
Zabavna družba smo
tukaj,« sem ju pozval med
kazanjem na nekaj prostora 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 pogovor, seveda,« sem mu z
nasmehom pojasnil po
Mirovem pristopu k mizi,
»o športu in vesolju.« Ob
slednji besedi so se Dobročutu ustnice zakrivile v
pomenljiv nasmeh.
Mike was listening too.
“About what? The universe?” he asked, laughing.
In view of the atmosphere,
even a chat about the universe 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 seriously.”
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
260
Tudi Miro je prisluhnil. »O
čem? O vesolju?« je vprašal
veselo. Glede na vzdušje bi
bil sprejemljiv tudi pogovor o vesolju, še posebej
ob steklenici piva, ki jo je
takoj naročil. »To tematiko
smo zadnje čase malo zanemarili, moram priznati. In
kaj obdelujete?«
»Ah, nič,« sem odvrnil z
zadrževanim smehom ter
namignil na Dobročuta.
»Prav zanimive poglede
ima na nekatera vprašanja o vesolju, čeprav še
nisva imela dovolj časa za
temeljit pogovor. Toda eno
tematiko kar resno obdelujeva.« Pogledal sem Dobročuta: »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
a whole and because such
conversations were entertaining.
We moved round to make
room for another chair,
and Mike sat down, clearly in the mood for cheerful 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 probably more to the point…
anyway, after a conversation like that my brain is
certainly up to a conversation 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?”
261
zaradi zabavnosti
stnih pogovorov.
tovr-
Z nekaj premiki smo sprostili dovolj prostora za še en
stol, na katerem se je Miro
udobno namestil, očitno
prav primerne volje za
živahno družbo, in mimogrede pojasnil: »Včeraj, po
pogrebu mojega znanca,
smo se na sedmini pogovarjali o odhajanju ‘tja gor’,
najprej o Vicah, pa kje naj
bi bila Nebesa, zame grešnika 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?«
“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 inspiration – 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 extraordinarily witty comment.
Everyone though it was
funny. I laughed too and
turned to Benesens. But
262
»Da.« Miro ga je pogledal
izpod čela, ker se mu pri
vsem skupaj nekaj ni ujemalo oziroma nekaj na
pravkaršnji pripombi ni
bilo povsem v skladu s
celotno zadevo, nato pa,
po nenadnem, na trapast
način posrečenem preblisku, še sam ni vedel,
od kod se mu je vzel oziroma kako je uganil, da je
nastal pri njegovem sogovorniku 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, izjemno posrečeni domislici.
Vsem se je zdela zabavna.
Še sam sem se med
smehom obrnil k Dobro-
when our eyes met he
merely smirked slightly, as
though concealing something 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 concepts 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 reactions 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 connections between our two civilisations,” said Benesens.
“They are not a cause for
any bad feelings. It is just
that in several spheres
we are more closely connected than you probably
imagine, but in terms of
the importance of our mission this is of negligible
importance. We are all in
the same boat.”
263
čutu. Toda ta se je ob srečanju 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 civilizaciji. 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 prijatelja 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 civilizacijama,« 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. Vsekakor smo v istem čolnu.«
I could sense the benevolence 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 civilisation towards beings at a
much lower point on the
evolutionary spiral.
I moved closer to Benesens: “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 managed it quite quickly. Even
by our standards. When
matters charged with emotions are involved, we too
are slow.”
“You too?” I laughed.
“Really?”
264
Začutil sem neko naklonjenost 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 naklonjenost višje razvite civilizacije do bitij na daleč nižji
stopnji razvojne spirale.
Primaknil sem se k Dobročutu: »Že skoraj v celoti
sem si obudil v spominu
vse dogajanje s tistega
večera. Takrat smo tudi
plesali. Morda bi bilo smiselno, da povabim Gigi na
ples. Potem bom pa najbrž
že pripravljen za tisto preverjanje, tako da bi jutri zjutraj 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?«
“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 understanding? What would be
left? Even less.”
“Yes, yes,” I smiled, showing that I agreed. It
seemed that these Sensins
were capable of abandoning their cold calculating 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 someone else while I watched
her. She kept looking over
265
»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 razmišljanjem o svojem življenju ugotavljamo, kako
malo je bilo takega, zaradi
česar je bilo vredno živeti.
In če bi še to nadomestili
zgolj z logičnim razumevanjem? Kaj bi nam ostalo?
Še manj.«
»Da, da,« sem se nasmehnil
v znamenje strinjanja. Zelo
hitro so znali tile Čutini
opustiti hladno preračunljivost in postati nenavadno človeški.
Ostali del večera je potekel
po načrtu. Z Gigi sva plesala skoraj dve uri. Potem
je Gigi plesala z drugim in
jaz sem jo medtem opazoval, pa tudi ona je pogledovala proti meni. Sicer
at me. Not like that other
time, because the atmosphere was very different,
but for a few brief instants
she became animated like
at that party – only fleetingly 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 forgotten moments, in every
detail, including the thoughts that had gone through
my head at the time. Yes,
quite a number of contradictory 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 evening was once again vivi266
ne tako kot takrat, ker je
bilo vzdušje vendarle drugačno, toda za nekaj trenutkov 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 pozabljene 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, pozabil. Zavrgel. Seveda, ko pa
sva se skregala. Kakor koli.
Dobil sem vse potrebno
za ponovni poskus prehoda skozi tisto preverjanje. Nič več ni ostalo. Ves
tisti večer je bil ponovno,
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, shaking his head slightly. He
seemed different somehow. Not dramatically
different, but different. I
looked at him more closely. 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 friends of yours, or acquaintances, or whatever they
are supposed to be, are a
bit odd.”
“Oh yes?” Naturally this
statement wasn’t particularly surprising, but how
had Mike come to this
conclusion? The Sensins
hadn’t drawn attention to
themselves in any way.
267
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 naplesal.«
Miro je v odgovor odsotno 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 meditiral ali kaj, čeprav se ga
sploh še ni nalezel.
»Kaj premlevaš?« sem
dobronamerno podrezal.
»Nič. Tile tvoji novi prijatelji ali znanci ali kar koli
naj bi bili, so vseeno malo
čudni.«
»Hja?« Taka ugotovitev
seveda ni bila posebno presenetljiva, ampak kako je
Miro prišel do nje? Čutini
niso v ničemer izstopali.
Especially as they didn’t
want to. “What’s bothering you?”
“I don’t really know how
to put it. We kept talking
about purgatory.”
“You were discussing purgatory?” I laughed. “So
you moved onto religious
issues?”
“No, actually. We were
talking about the universe.
More in the sense of different views of the universe, 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 conversation 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.”
268
Še posebej, če niso hoteli.
»Kaj te je zmotilo?«
»Ne vem, kako naj povem.
Kar nekajkrat smo se pogovarjali o Vicah.«
»Tudi Vice ste obdelali?«
Prešerno sem se zasmejal.
»Ali ste prešli na verska
vprašanja?«
»Pravzaprav ne. Pogovarjali smo se o vesolju. Bolj
v smislu raznih pogledov
na vesolje, vse od starih
Egipčanov naprej. Tudi
nekaj zanimivih pripomb
o raznih verskih razlagah vesolja so dali, čeprav
večinoma na znanstvenih
osnovah. Vsaj kolikor mi
moje znanje dopušča take
presoje, bi tako rekel. Toda
ti njihovi zasuki na pogovor o Vicah so bili vseeno
malo preveč pogosti.«
Nagubal sem čelo v nemočnem razmišljanju: »Kako
misliš - preveč pogosti?«
»Pravzaprav tega niti ne bi
opazil.«
“What?”
“That they did it too
frequently. If it hadn’t been
for the strange behaviour
of that guy.” Mike gestured towards Benesens’s
friend.
“Strange
behaviour?”
Completely serious now,
I looked at Mike. I hadn’t
noticed any unusual behaviour.
“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 simi269
»Česa?«
»To, da so preveč pogosti.
Če ne bi bilo tako čudnega
obnašanja tega tvojega
znanca.« Miro je narahlo
pomignil na Dobročutovega prijatelja.
»Čudnega obnašanja?« Že
povsem zresnjen sem zrl
v Mira. Nobenega posebnega obnašanja nisem
opazil.
»Veš, da mi je pred letom
umrl oče?« je z mirno odsotnostjo nadaljeval Miro.
»Ta tvoj znanec pa mu je s
svojimi gibi, odzivi, z vsem
svojim obnašanjem na trenutke 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 spomnim.«
»Seveda se ga moraš spomniti. Zdaj pa še tega
poglej! Kako govori, kako
se smeje - pa povej!«
Ozrl sem se v Dobročutovega spremljevalca. Res
sem lahko zaznal soro-
larity in some of his gestures. Then he laughed. Yes,
his laugh. It was strangely
similar to Mike’s father’s
laugh. But then the Sensins 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 pondered this. Could the Sensins really have some connection with purgatory?
purgatory? In what sense?
The religious sense? Or in
some figurative sense? It
could be something they
have constructed themselves, and they are now
trying to establish whether anything like that –
something similar at least
– already exists in human
consciousness… Hmm.
They would certainly be
capable of that. No doubt
about it.
270
dnost nekaterih gibov,
tedaj pa se je Dobročutov
spremljevalec
zasmejal.
Da, njegov smeh. Nenavadno je bil podoben smehu
Mirovega očeta. Toda saj
kaj takega lahko Čutini
mirno namestijo tudi
brez kakršne koli povezave 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 prenesenem pomenu? Nekaj, kar
so sami zgradili, zdaj pa
ugotavljajo, ali je kaj takega
ali vsaj podobnega že v človeški zavesti. Hm. Tega bi
bili prav gotovo zmožni.
Presneto, da bi.
I sat there in silence considering the various possibilities. There were certainly 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 smiling 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 returned his greeting and he
gestured towards the bar,
although he was still looking at me and at our
motley company.
“Hey, Sebastian!” Benesens 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 yourself, Peter’s buying!”
271
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 preverjanja. Zaznal sem privzdignjeno roko in pozdrav:
»Hej, Peter!«. Znan obraz
me je zdramil s svojim
vztrajnim smehljanjem. Bil
je moj prijatelj, režiser, vsaj
diplomiral je iz režije, kolikor 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 Dobročut s tako poudarjeno razposajenostjo ponovil moj
pozdrav, da je še mene
presenetil, ter nadaljeval
z namigom roke na polne
buteljke pred sabo: »Kar
postrezi si, Peter plača!«
“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 cheerful 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 everyone round the table and
allowed Benesens to pour
him a glass.
“Yes, we were actually talking about actors who are
272
»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 običajno preračunljivo početje Dobročuta oziroma na
vprašanje, kaj bi lahko bilo
v ozadju njegovega sproščenega povabila. No, ja.
Prav. »Kar prisedi!« sem
zaklical Boštjanu z namigom, 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 pozdravil vsakega posebej ter
prikimal na Dobročutov
namig, ali naj mu natoči
čašo.
»Da, res smo se pogovarjali
o igralcih s sposobnostjo
able to make people laugh
merely through their appearance,” 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 resignation to their fate, which
are then the origin of their
rebellious rage with contrasting, 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 started clapping her hands.
“That’s what happens to
me too: this incredibly
aggressive anger that bubbles up out of a total resignation to my fate.”
Zaza laughed enthusiastically at this discovery and
looked at me so eagerly
that I immediately nodded,
273
izvabljanja smeha že zgolj s
svojim videzom,« je Dobročut nadaljeval Gigino
pobudo. »Neko stalno
nasprotje v sebi želijo preseči, pa se jim vse skupaj
sprevrača v nemočen gnev
in vdanost v usodo, ki sta
potem izvor njihove uporniške 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 zaploskala. »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 prikimal, čeprav se mi je pri
although I couldn’t help
remembering the expression on her face at our first
meeting above that precipice. 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, encouraging Zaza in her new
conviction. “It’s really surprising how easily you can
release from yourself such
a powerful life impulse.”
Yes, Zaza, whatever she
had been before, had disappeared, and now she was
now whatever what she
was in this moment, because the past, when once
you cast if off, disappears and no longer exists.
At least that was the conclusion I came to when I
looked at Zaza. And the
more I looked at her, the
more I could see how in
274
tem bolj vsiljeval izraz na
njenem obrazu ob najinem
srečanju nad tistim prepadom. Toda če ima o sebi
novo mnenje, tudi prav.
Preletel sem jo z ocenjujočim pogledom. Nič depresivnega 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 presenetljivo, kako zlahka sprožite 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 preteklost, ko jo enkrat odvržeš, 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,
her this was something
she experienced at a particularly 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 surprised her slightly, but thanks
to the persuasive expression on his face she accepted them anyway. Initially
slightly hesitantly, but
immediately afterwards
with genuine enthusiasm.
“Yes, she’s really famous
for that,” agreed Sebastian
275
kako je to pri njej še posebej temeljito doživeto. Ali
nekaj podobnega, saj so
me obhajale misli, naj se
nič kaj preveč ne poglabljam v to njeno problematiko, 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 omenjalo vašo igro. Povedali
so mi za vašo izjemno sposobnost, da bolj kot kdor
koli drug znate pritegniti
občinstvo.«
»A so opazili? A res?« Gigi je
za trenutek pozabila igrati.
Pravzaprav so jo Dobročutove besede malo čudile,
pa jih je potem ob prepričljivem izrazu njegovega obraza vseeno sprejela. Sprva sicer nekoliko
obotavljivo, vendar takoj
zatem že kar s pravim navdušenjem.
»Da, po tem je res znana,«
se je po kratkem tuhtanju
after a brief reflection.
“That humorous element
in an actor is an attribute
that is usually very popular 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 problem. 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.”
276
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 poklicati sem jo že nameraval.«
»Da, njo bi morali angažirati za tisto vlogo.« Dobročut je spet uporabil svojo
izjemno sugestivnost, ki
je Boštjanu vsilila razmišljanje o vzrokih za opustitev 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.«
At these words Sebastian was suddenly himself 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 actually need for this project
of yours?”
Sebastian
considered.
“Are you saying you’d like
to provide financial backing?”
“Sure, why not? I’d be
happy to.”
Sebastian looked at Benesens doubtfully. It was
true that he did seem to be
enthusiastic about the project, which in itself was
a little strange, or at least
hard to understand, but
anyway… Then he thought 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 direc277
Toda ob teh njegovih besedah se je Boštjan takoj
spet zbral: »Kako, da ni?
Pa še kakšen problem je
to! Meni na primer še ni
uspelo zagotoviti finančnih 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 sogovorniku. »Se želite udeležiti s
finančno podporo?«
»Seveda, zakaj pa ne? Z
veseljem.«
Boštjan je nejeverno opazoval Dobročuta. Res je
bilo v njem čutiti neko
navdušenje nad tem projektom, 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
tion and caught my encouraging 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 whispered: “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,
278
vzpodbudno prikimavanje, to je torej pomenilo, da
bi tudi po mojem mnenju
lahko naredil zanimivo
potezo.
»Hja!« Boštjan je začel preračunavati, 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 primaknjen 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-
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 discussions, 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 banknotes, 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 hundred dollars!” How many
hundreds must there be
in the bundle? Sebastian
and Zaza looked at each
other. They were clearly
279
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 preidemo 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 bankovcev, 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 spogledala v očitno skladnem
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 “pfffrrrr” sound, revealing
the interior of the bundle.
Then he turned the bundle
over and repeated the “pfffrrr” and slowly placed the
money back on the table.
“Cash.”
“Yes, cash,” nodded Benesens, 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 following Benesens’s hand,
which was once again reaching into the opened bag,
and she caught a glimpse
of even more paper.
“Wow! You’ve got loads
of the stuff! He probably
280
razumevanju, kljub nekaterim nejasnostim, tako da
je Boštjan počasi segel po
tem šopu papirja, ga strokovno upognil ter nato
spustil v počasnem »pfrrrrk. . .«, ki je razkril očem
še notranjost. Potem je šop
obrnil, ponovil tisti »pfrrrrk. . .«, 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 Giginim prikimavanjem zadržal torbo v rokah.
Boštjan je zavojčke spet
jemal v roke, enega za
drugim, ter jih hitro preveril s svojo »pfrrrrk tehniko« 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
wouldn’t even notice a
bundle more or less!” she
said in surprise, almost as
though to encourage him.
Benesens nodded: “Certainly. A few of these bundles 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 nervously 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 changed: “…this is a concrete
business proposition,” he
finished, with the calm
reflection of the experienced man of business.
“Wow,” gasped Zaza, and
then perked up again, even
louder than before: “Yes,
that’s it, a concrete business proposition!”
“In cash,” commented
281
najbrž sploh ne pozna!« je
navrgla v rahlo spodbujajočem 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 nasprotno kot Gigi ostal hladnokrven 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, konkretna poslovna poteza!«
»V kešu,« je pripomnil
Sebastian solemnly, as
though underlining the
importance of the transaction, 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 quickly looked round to see if
anyone was watching and
giggled when she realised 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 Benesens, 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 simultaneously: “ T h o u 282
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 zakrivale pogled na bankovce,
ki jih je potem brž spravila
v torbo, hkrati pa je še parkrat pogledala naokrog.
»No, tule so še . . .« je nadaljeval Dobročut, medtem
ko je vlekel iz torbe nadaljnje 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
sands!” Then Zaza added:
“In dollars.”
“Yes, in cash!” agreed
Sebastian. “One bundle –
a hundred thousand dollars.”
“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 growing increasingly serious.
“This is an advance,” said
Benesens.
283
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 skromnostjo pripomnil Dobročut.
»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 razprla najprej en šop, potem
drugega in še nekaj naslednjih. Pravzaprav jih je
bilo preveč za natančno
preverjanje. »Vsi so po
tisoč dolarjev,« je naposled ugotovila.
»Tako je. Po tisoč dolarjev,«
ji je potrdil vse bolj zresnjeni Boštjan.
»To je predplačilo,« je navrgel Dobročut.
“This is an advance,” repeated 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 talking about a film. Understand?”
“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 Sebastian in businesslike tone.
“And I shall write you a
cheque for your ongoing
costs.” Benesens continued to develop the project.
284
»To je predplačilo,« je ponovil Boštjan.
»Za ta čudoviti film z Gigi v
glavni vlogi,« je nadaljeval
Dobročut.
»Za ta čudoviti film z Gigi v
glavni vlogi,« je spet ponovil 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 Dobročut še kar naprej razvijal
zastavljeni projekt.
“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 Benesens wrote a cheque.
“Four, five, six zeroes,”
counted Benesens, leaning
towards me and whispering: “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.” Benesens 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 apologeti285
»Tako. Za sprotne stroške,« 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 premisleku 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 opravičujoče se izmikala Gigi.
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 agreement 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. “Unfortunately not everything is
that rosy. The question is:
will we succeed?”
286
»V dolarjih. Saj je v redu,
kajne, Boštjan?«
»Povsem v redu,« ji je ta
potrdil v še naprej zresnjenem 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 odzdravljali zelo spoštljivo, tudi
prisrčno in celo s poslovno
korektnostjo. Tudi Gigi
je vstala, se mi naglo približala 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.«
“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 questioningly: “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
287
»Dvomiš?«
»Ne vem.«
»Jaz sem stoodstotno z
vami. Mene lahko štejete za svojo. Vsi smo en
tim, o tem prav gotovo ni
dvoma.«
Prijateljsko sem ji prikimal.
»Peter!«
»Da?«
Gigi me je nenadoma gledala 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 poskrbeli, 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
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 repeated slowly. “Well that’s an
interesting word for your
behaviour at that party.”
I looked back over everything 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.”
288
ugotovila, da ti ni nič do
mene. Le za lajšanje dolgočasja 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 zamislil nad vsem njenim početjem. »In tudi danes si pretiravala, kajne?«
Gigi se je nasmehnila. Najprej malo zadržano, nato
na hitro prav živo, skoraj
veselo, vendar z nekaj
neprikritega
občutka
krivde. »Ne bom več. Obljubim.«
Chapter X
X. poglavje
On our return to the station we gathered round
the holo-display for the
latest reports on the negotiations between the two
sides. There had been no
progress. If anything, the
opposite was true, although the Sensins, at least as
far as I could understand,
had been quite conciliatory, or at any rate that was
how they presented themselves 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 approaching indifference. I realised 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.
289
Ko smo se vračali na
postajo, smo poslušali,
zbrani ob holiju, poročila
o pogajanjih med sprtima 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 predstavljali v svojih poročilih.
Toda po obrazih okoli
mene sodeč, kar nekajkrat
sem jih namreč preletel
s pogledom, je bilo vse
povedano najbrž pričakovano, predvsem pa sprejeto brez večjega odziva.
Le na znanje so vse skupaj
vzeli, nič več, tako da sem
še sam spremljal nadaljnja
poročila z večjo lagodnostjo.
“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 connection with headquarters! 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 assumed she was an officer
from headquarters. “Stand
by, please. I am putting
you through to headquarters,” 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 presence. He had been detailed to look after us, he
explained, before conduc290
»To ni nič.« je poveljnik presekal uspavano vzdušje.
»Ostrini ne mirujejo. Jaz
jim ne verjamem. Holi,
vzpostavi zvezo s poveljstvom! 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 prijaznostjo. Kmalu zatem se
je v holiju pokazal možak
v enakem kombinezonu
kot Čutini iz naše misije,
imel je le nekoliko drugačne oznake z različnimi
barvnimi geometrijskimi
liki, povezanimi s črtami
po prsih in ramenih, nas
na kratko pozdravil in
nam razložil svojo pristojnost. Prav za nas naj bi bil
zadolžen, je pojasnil in se
ting a brief conversation
with our commander. He
gave us information about
the current situation –
information that was quite
different from that contained in the reports. The
situation had apparently
worsened considerably.
After we had broken through the asteroid belt, both
sides began joining their
asteroids together to form
impassable groups based
on their previous configuration. 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 through them.
“The barrier will soon be
complete,” concluded the
Sensin from headquarters. At that moment it appeared
that our chances of breaking through the asteroid
belt were getting smaller.
Captain Harstan walked
to the opposite side of the
291
spustil v kratek pogovor
z našim kapitanom. Podal
nam je informacije o trenutnem stanju, ki pa so
bile precej drugačne od
tistih v poročilih. Položaj
naj bi bil znatno bolj zaostren. Po našem preboju
skozi asteroidni pas je tako
ena kot druga stran začela
povezovati svoje asteroide
v neprehodne grupe na
podlagi predhodne razvrstitve. Tako sicer nihče ni
pridobil pomembne prednosti 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 trenutku je tako kazalo na
vse manjšo možnost za naš
preboj skozi asteroidni
pas.
Kapitan Harstan je stopil k
nasprotnemu delu holija,
holo-display, which was
now showing the asteroid
belt. Bending towards it,
he studied the entire asteroid 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 comment. I nodded too: my
views were increasingly
frequently taken into consideration, and this fact,
and the common search
for solutions of which I
was part, had awakened a
feeling of belonging that
292
zdaj je bil v njem prikazan
asteroidni pas, se sklonil k
holiju ter se po ponovnem
pregledu celotnega asteroidnega polja s privzdignjeno 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 usmerili 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 prikimavali brez pripomb.
Prikimal sem še jaz, ker
mi je vse pogostejše upoštevanje mojega mnenja
in skupno iskanje posameznih rešitev vzbudilo
občutek pripadnosti s
made me more relaxed
about expressing my opinion.
“Everyone to their stations! There is still a likelihood that we will have to
evade pursuing ships. Collisions 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 computer and ordered it to
engage full thrust and
steer towards the calm
section of the asteroid belt.
The order was immediately 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-
293
sproščenim
izražanjem
lastnega mnenja.
»Vsi na svoja mesta! Nujnost izmikanja zasledovalnim letalom je kljub vsemu
verjetna. Tudi trčenja z
njimi lahko pričakujemo,
kot smo že spoznali med
prejšnjim poletom, čeprav
se jim bomo poskusili izogniti.« Nato se je obrnil k
računalniškemu navigatorju z ukazom, naj nas s
polno hitrostjo usmeri v
ta mirujoči predel asteroidnega 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 prekinili. 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.
ady knew that the Acutins attached considerable
importance to us, but it
was unlikely that they
would attack us with all
their forces. They would
certainly send powerful units, however, and
the question once again
was whether these forces
would be more powerful
than the support of our
own forces. Yes, that constant uncertainty as to the
importance that the Acutins 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 available 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
294
broad.
Da nam Ostrini dajejo
močan pomen, smo že
lahko spoznali, to vsekakor, ampak v napad na nas
z vsemi silami najbrž le ne
bodo šli. Prav gotovo pa
bodo poslali močne enote.
Vendar bo tu spet vprašanje, ali bodo te sile močnejše 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 pravega vzroka, v osrednjem
delu vodene strategije ne
bodo načrtovali popolne
podpore vseh njihovih razpoložljivih sil v tem asteroidnem pasu. Potem njihovi
lokalni odzivi ne bodo
zajeli celote in prehod
bo možen, ker ostrinovska blokada ne bo dovolj
široko zastavljena.
We all stared at the asteroids in our flight path. A
kind of flickering movement, an indistinct image,
and then several consecutive mergings of the Acutins’ asteroids came into
focus. Fortunately the Sensins were able to prevent
the construction of barriers by assembling asteroid
layers of their own.
Before entering the asteroid belt, like the rest of
the crew I tried to estimate
our chances from a close
observation of the holo-display.
“Navigation computer!”
called the commander.
“Sir?” responded the computer with military briskness.
“Take us towards the boundary between the calm
section and the area where
the asteroids are being
formed into impenetrable
barriers. Then turn slightly towards the calm zone.
Everything should be as
though we still trusted in
295
Vsi smo zrli proti asteroidom v smeri našega leta.
Nekakšno migljanje, premikanje, nejasen prikaz,
in že se nam je izostrilo
več zapovrstnih ploskovnih združitev ostrinovskih
asteroidov. Na srečo jih je
s strani Čutinov ustavljalo
takojšnje sestavljanje plasti
asteroidov za onemogočanje izgradnje zapornih
plasti.
Pred vstopanjem v asteroidni pas sem po zavzetem
opazovanju, enakem kot
pri vsej posadki, tudi sam
iz prikaza v holiju poskušal oceniti naše možnosti
za prehod.
»Navigacijski računalnik!«
je poklical kapitan.
»Da, kapitan,« se je po vojaško 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
the normal passability of
the asteroid belt. Avoid
the first barriers without
making any sudden manoeuvres and continue tracking 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 concentrated 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
296
v normalno prehodnost
asteroidnega pasu. Brez
sunkovitih zavojev se
izmakni prvim zaporam in
nadaljuj ob stalnemu sledenju vseh možnih poti!«
Kapitan Harstan se je zravnan obrnil k nam. »Zaradi
dokaj verjetnega hitrega
zapiranja večine sedaj
prostih poti se pripravite
na bolj ostro vožnjo!« je
dejal ter se podal do svojega sedeža in takoj po
namestitvi s pritiskom na
gumb sprožil napihovanje
varnostnih blazin okoli
svojega telesa in zatezanje varnostnih pasov. To
je bila maksimalna možna
zaščita v primeru trčenj.
Ostali smo ga posnemali,
kapitan pa je med vse bolj
osredotočenim spremljanjem 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
be established at the prescribed intervals.”
“Good.” The commander cast an eye over the
expectant faces around
him. “We shall receive
constantly updated images
of possible routes on the
basis of the predicted orientations of our asteroids
into anti-grouping barriers to oppose the Acutins’
attempts to build asteroid
barriers. In this way we
will know about the clustering of our own asteroids 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 asteroids 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
297
vzpostavljena po predpisanih časovnih zaporedjih.«
»Tako.« Kapitan je s pogledom preletel prek bližnjih
obrazov. »Dobili bomo
sprotne prikaze možnih
prehodov
na
podlagi
predvidenih
usmeritev
naših asteroidov za protigrupacijske 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 asteroidov v premike za zagotovitev 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
probability of our mission
failing and all the complications that would ensue.
He then looked back at the
three-dimensional hologram display of the asteroid belt. “We will
succeed. We have to!”
Strapped into my fully
reclined seat, I absorbed
myself in the display of
our approach to the asteroid 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 longitudinal layers. It was difficult
to imagine the Acutins
triggering such largescale accumulations for
the sake of blocking our
flight unless they knew
the importance of our mission.
“We are entering the asteroid belt,” announced the
navigation computer.
The holo-display showed
our entry point. The flat
concentrations of astero298
neuspeha naše misije in
vseh posledičnih zapletov ter se nato ponovno
zagledal v holijev tridimenzionalni prikaz asteroidnega pasu. »Uspeli
bomo. Moramo!« je še
dejal.
Zleknjen na nazaj pomaknjenem naslonjalu svojega sedeža, sem se zatopil
v prikaz našega približevanja asteroidnemu pasu, vse
dokler se nismo začeli približevati 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 vzdolžne 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-
ids, all in constant movement, some slow and some
fast, and simultaneously
rotating around axes oriented 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 barriers of giant proportions.
The first asteroid barrier
formed right across our
flight path. And not only
that. I looked at the holodisplay 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 correspondingly colossal walls.
I looked at Benesens. He
299
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 obsežnejših 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.
was also watching the
formation of this relief
image.
“This message is intended for us,” he said with a
slight grimace.
“Message?” The idea of
messages
communicated 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 prohibited. 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 through: we have no other
choice. Then our fleets
from the other side of
300
Tudi on je zavzeto opazoval izoblikovanje tega reliefnega 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 asteroidnem pasu. S tem reliefnim prikazom nam sporočajo 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 drugega niti ne preostane.
Potem nam bodo lahko
priskočila na pomoč naša
the asteroid belt will be
able to come to our assistance. They are capable of
making a deep incursion.
But we will have to break
through at least three quarters 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, although 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
301
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 napadla 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 poskušal biti duhovit, čeprav
mi ni bilo nič kaj dosti do
smeha.
»Vsaj do polovice asteroidnega pasu nas že ne
smejo uničiti. Da pa za
nas veljajo drugačna pravila kot za vse ostale, je po
tem reliefnem prikazu že
dovolj jasno povedano,«
je Dobročut nadaljeval z
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 serious expression, he laughed
reassuringly: “They’re not
going to destroy us!”
“Check your safety harnesses!” The commander’s
voice interrupted our conversation, as a violent
change of direction pushed
us into our seats with terrifying 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 grouped asteroids. We flew
over them, towards the
edge, and then immediately changed direction
again. We all stared at the
holo-display. We appeared
to be heading towards the
area in which we expected our asteroids to collect. That was what was
supposed to happen, assuming that our flight was
302
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 prekinil pogovore kapitan in
že nas je ostra sprememba
smeri s strahovito silo pritisnila na sedeže.
V holiju se je zarisala
naša pot: na rob zaporne
plošče naj bi prišli. Zavoj
je trajal vse do vidne površine 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 predvidenemu območju zbiranja
naših asteroidov.
To bi se moralo zgoditi.
Vsaj če so naravnani
na usklajenost našega
leta s strateško vodenim kopičenjem naših
coordinated with the strategically managed accumulation 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 concentration of Acutin asteroids was getting nearer.
We held our course.
Despite our tense expectancy, nothing happened.
All that we could see on
the display was an image
of our ship flying about
the relentless accumulation 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 asteroids was proceeding at the
same speed as our flight.
Flying round it was therefore not going to work.
I began glancing increasingly frequently at Bene303
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 ostrinovskih asteroidov so se
zgoščevale v naši smeri.
Leteli smo naprej. A kljub
napetemu
pričakovanju se ni zgodilo nič, in
vse, kar smo lahko spremljali, je bil samo prikaz
naše ladje nad vztrajnim
zbiranjem ostrinovskih
asteroidov. Prešli smo že
dvakratno razdaljo prvotne širine nakopičenega
dela ostrinovskih asteroidov 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 pogledoval proti Dobročutu,
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 blockade 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 American football player – a
quarterback – complete
with helmet and shoulder
pads, charging at the point
where the Acutins’ asteroids 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 quarterback,” explained Captain
Harstan.
304
ki je zavzeto opazoval
dogajanje v holiju.
“Nam bodo že priskočili
na pomoč,” je mirno odvrnil 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. Združevanje naših asteroidov
je dobilo obrise orjaškega
igralca ragbija s čelado
na glavi in z oklopljenimi
rameni, zagnanega v smeri
zbiranja ostrinovskih asteroidov.
“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.
Meanwhile the quarterback was already approaching the point where the
blockade was spreading
fastest – represented on
the display as a stampeding herd of giant buffalo
which the Acutins had
formed in response to the
Sensins’ quarterback. The
first collisions were already taking place between
the asteroids of the two
sides, which were rapidly
multiplying into an ever
more awe-inspiring spectacle: as the million-strong
herd of buffalo continued
to advance, the powerful quarterback used his
armoured shoulders to
drive the whole attacking
wave before him, the force
of the impact sending the
buffalo flying in all directions. 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
305
Medtem se je ‘igralec
ragbija’ že približal najhitrejšemu širjenju blokadne plošče, prikazane
z dirom nepregledne
črede orjaških bizonov,
ki so jo Ostrini izoblikovali v odgovor na ragbista
Čutinov. Že so se začeli
tudi prvi trki asteroidov z
obeh strani, hitro namnoženih v vse bolj veličastnem prizoru, v katerem
je med prodiranjem milijonglave črede bizonov
silni ragbist s svojimi
mogočnimi oklopljenimi
rameni odrival pred sabo
ves napadajoči val, da so
se prikazi bizonov razletavali po trčenjih. In tako
kot tik za mogočno skalo
v deroči vodi nastane
upočasnjeni vrtinec, ki
nima moči odnašanja
česarkoli v smeri deročega toka, je tik za ragbistom nastal mirujoči
predel brez trkov ali zbiranj asteroidov. Tam skozi
se lahko prebijemo! In že
nas je hiter zavoj naše
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 colliding with the greatest violence, 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 explosions that followed the collisions. There were thousands 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
306
ladje dvignil v zategnjene
pasove, da mi je zmanjkovalo sape. Zleteli smo ob
oklopljenih ramenih prodirajočega ragbista prav v
pasu najsilovitejših zaletavanj asteroidov, v njihovem najgostejšem predelu, in to z obeh strani.
Vse tja, do koder smo
lahko vdeli skozi veliko
okno poveljniškega prostora, 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, zaletavanje bizonov v njegovo
čelado in njihovo prevračanje prek njegovih oklopljenih ramen. Bolj natančen pogled iz bližine,
kar skozi veliko okno
komandnega
prostora,
pa je lahko uzrl ta silovita
trčenja asteroidov neposredno. V skoraj mimo-
simply grazed the asteroids 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 collided head-on. These would
explode in their entirety.
Some of the biggest explosions 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 collisions were more powerful
than one would expect
from the mere collision of
two giant rocks.
We were now flying directly into the interior of the
asteroid belt. Deep into
the interior, and towards
the middle our way appeared to be clear. Even the
pressure produced by our
rapid manoeuvring soon
subsided, allowing us to
breathe normally and then
finally even to talk, altho307
bežnem letu so se najprej z robovi obrusili ob
nasproten asteroid, udarjali 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 njihovi notranjosti ali zaradi
nakopičenih energetskih
izstrelkov z eksplozivnimi bombami. Vsekakor
je svetloba eksplozije ob
trkih presegala pričakovano iskrenje ob trčenjih
kamnitih asteroidov.
Potem smo zleteli naravnost v notranjost asteroidnega pasu. Da, kar globoko, in proti sredini se
nam je kazala odprta pot.
Tudi pritisk zaradi zavijanja je kmalu popustil, oslabel do najprej ponovno
omogočenega normalnega
dihanja ter nato končno še
do govorjenja, pa čeprav je
ugh some effort was still
required to get the words
out, because the course we
were following still contained 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 explosive 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”.
bilo potrebno za posamezne izrečene besede kar
malo napora, ker je krivulja leta občasno še vedno
zavijugala.
“Ti reliefni prikazi. . .” sem
začel ter zastal v iskanju
prave besede za vso to
zame nenavadno oziroma
težje razumljivo dogajanje.
“Da, naša stran se je pravilno odzvala,” je rekel
Dobročut z razumevanjem mojega čudenja nad
eksplozivnimi trčenji orjaških plasti asteroidov, iz
katerih so bili reliefni prikazi, ki so mestoma dobivali skulpturne oblike vse
do zaključene celote, kot
je bil ‘igralec ragbija’.
“We usually operate at
many levels, with the
constant presence of the
intellect or at least through
associations. The quarterback with his protective
armour represents pleasure in a game that is hard
but fair. In our case this
enables the inclusion of a
“Običajno delujemo večplastno, s stalno prisotnostjo intelekta ali vsaj z
nakazanimi asociacijami.
Oklopljeni ragbist pomeni
veselje do igre v trdem
spopadu, to nam v našem
primeru omogoča vključitev veliko naših sil ob
308
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 message.”
“But that can’t be true!” I
gasped.
“Of course not. But in
view of the extent of engagement 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, although at a cost. In my opinion this will not be necessary, since we can already
count with considerable
certainty on passing through the seventy-fifth door.
309
sočasnem jasno pokazanem odnosu do celotnega
dogajanja na tem področju. 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 začnemo 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 precejšnjo gotovostjo računamo
na prehod skozi 75. vrata.
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 considered 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 tightened once again. I gripped the armrests, rested
my head against the headrest and took some deep
310
Ne tebi ne nam ne bo spodletelo.”
“In če bodo po presoji
intenzivnosti te igre ali
kakor koli jo že imenujete
Ostrini dali povelje za naše
uničenje vsem svojim oboroženim silam?”
Dobročut se je rahlo
nakremžil med zmajevanjem 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
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 projected flight path was full of
twists and sharp spiralling
turns…I stared in incomprehension. Our route
appeared to turn completely 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
311
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 pogledal 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 nasprotnikovih asteroidov, skozi
skulpturno
oblikovane
gruče naših asteroidov, in
potem spet pod temi ostrinovskimi plastmi na levo
v dolg zavoj. Da, ves asteroidni pas bo kmalu v igri,
sem lahko sklepal iz prikaza. “Dobro zastavljeno,”
sem ugotavljal sam zase.
“Vsaj upajmo.”
Tedaj se je naša ladja zavrtela okrog svoje vzdolžne
osi v smeri našega leta, in
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 interior. It was becoming
increasingly evident that
all this had already been
calculated and prepared
in advance. The only problem 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-display. A moving sphere was
clearly visible on this line.
312
že smo v ostrih vijugah
leteli skozi naše gruče asteroidov, oblikovane v skulpture z nakazanimi človeškimi 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 pripravljeno. 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-
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 display too. Then the image
began to grow larger and
we began to see it closer
up with increasing clarity,
until at last we could clearly see a snorting buffalo
with its horns lowered
for the charge. The holodisplay zoomed in even
closer to show the layers
of asteroids that formed
the buffalo’s exterior and
hide, and then a presentation of the individual
strata. The buffalo’s giant
head was composed of
tightly packed asteroids.
There must have been thousands of them – millions
of them, of different sizes
and shapes.
313
glico na njej. Pogledal sem
Dobročuta, ta pa je samo
na kratko pojasnil, ne da
bi umaknil pogled s holija:
“Pot nam nameravajo presekati.”
“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 razločnejši, 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 tvorili nekakšno bizonovo
zunanjost s kožuhom, ter
nato še predstavitev posameznih plasti. Vsa orjaška
bivolja glava je bila sestavljena iz tesno zgoščenih
asteroidov. Na tisoče, na
milijone jih je moralo biti,
raznih velikosti in oblik.
“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 powerful enough. This was not
so easy to believe, although there was a strong
314
“Tu pa so nakopičili kar
precej mase,” sem navrgel napol zase, napol kot
komentar. “Zlepa je ne bo
možno ustaviti, kajne?”
Dobročut ni odgovoril. Še
naprej je pazljivo spremljal
holijeve prikaze posameznih predelov okoli naše
ladje. Vsi smo zrli tja v pričakovanju. Odgovor naših
je moral biti že pripravljen, kot smo bili vsi prepričani. S to tanko lupino
naše ladje se že nismo
mogli zaletavati v tako
orjaške mase. Pa tudi prostor 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
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 triggered from the Sensins’
central command for the
asteroid belt.
Suddenly I heard a murmur
of voices. The Sensins stirred excitedly. Everyone
was gazing at the holo-display. 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 combining; 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 asteroids. Then I spotted the
315
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 odgovora naše strani, ki naj bi
bil sprožen iz osrednjega
čutinovskega poveljstva za
asteroidni pas.
Tedaj je zašumelo, vse več
glasov in pritajenih vzklikov se je zaslišalo med
živahnim
premikanjem
Čutinov. Vsi so zrli v holi.
Prikazalo se je neko svetlikanje. Več pa nisem mogel
razbrati. Ničesar bolj določenega ni bilo videti. “Kje?
Kaj?” sem vprašal Dobročuta.
“Posamezne že oblikovane
gruče naših asteroidov se
združujejo, naš novi ‘igralec 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
outline of a helmet, part
of an arm, and then the
contours of padded shoulders. 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 quarterback, 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 quarterback and the buffalo
at the moment of impact,
nothing would be left of
us. Thousands if not millions 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 oklopljenih ramen sem lahko
prepoznal. Da, končno
sem lahko videl. Prikazala
se je črta naše smeri gibanja. Naravnost proti prihajajoči čredi bizonov je bila
usmerjena. V holiju so se
pokazale vse tri črte gibanja: igralca ragbija, pot
bizonove črede in naša,
vse s predvidenimi časovnimi premiki. Po glasnih
vzklikih je spet vse utihnilo. Vsi bomo na kupu. Če
se naša ladja znajde med
‘igralcem ragbija’ in ‘bizonovo čredo’, tik preden se
bosta zaletela drug v drugega, v središču trčenja ne
bo ostalo od nas nič. Na
tisoče, na milijone asteroidov bo popolnoma zdrobljenih. Pa imajo nekateri
kar več kilometrov premera. Plasti teh asteroidov,
vsaj na bizonovih glavah,
pa so bile tako zgoščene,
da nič ne bi moglo preživeti ob njihovem naletu.
Oziroma, kar je še huje, ob
trčenju dveh tako masiv316 nih gruč.
“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 headquarters gives a negligible possibility of a breakthrough following a
collision of the two sides.
We have to overtake them.
Headquarters
recommends overtaking them
by firing the emergency
booster rockets. In all the
simulations they have carried out, the interior of
the asteroids remains an
unknown factor, especially 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 distributed among them, we
cannot predict the density
or trajectory of the exploded fragments of asteroid.”
“R-Navigator, kakšna bo
prehodnost tega področja
po trčenju?” Kapitanov
glas je s svojim privzdignjenim tonom pritegnil
našo pozornost.
“Analize poveljstva dajejo
našemu prehodu po trčenju obeh strani zanemarljivo majhne možnosti preboja. Prehiteti jih moramo.
Tudi priporočilo poveljstva nam svetuje prehitevanje z vžigom kratkotrajnih rezervnih motorjev za izjemne pospeške.
Neznanka v opravljenih
simulacijah pa je notranjost asteroidov, predvsem
količina eksplozivne snovi
po posameznih asteroidih.
In ker ne vemo, kako so v
njih razporejene energetske cisterne in energetske
bombe, ne moremo predvideti ne gostote ne smeri
leta razstreljenih delov
asteroidov.”
“So our chances cannot
“Torej iz holijevega pri-
317
be seen from the holo-display,” 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 unforeseen 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
recommendation,” continued the navigation 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 asteroids.”
318
kaza naše možnosti niso
razvidne,” je nadaljeval
posvetovanje
kapitan
Harstan, R-Navigator pa
je nato še predstavil verjetno časovno zaporedje
naših položajev glede na
nalet obeh strani, in pri
tem se nam je neuspeh
našega pravočasnega preleta kazal bolj v odvisnosti
od morebitnih nepredvidenih, 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 dopolnjeno priporočilo,” je
povsem mirno nadaljeval
R.N. “Tudi v primeru upočasnitve zaradi manjše
ovire je naš prelet možen.
V pomoč nam bodo od
strani raketirali manjše
skupine asteroidov.”
“Very well,” agreed the
commander. “Did they
give at least an approximate estimate of the quantity 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 evasive manoeuvres!”
The lines of possible flight
paths appeared on the display. They appeared to
be sufficiently passable,
with enough open space
for manoeuvring and the
chance to take evasive
action in the case of collision with a single asteroid.
“Navcom,
are
those
moving dots an asteroid
shower?” asked the commander without taking his
eyes off the display.
“The Acutins are direc319
“Prav,” se je strinjal kapitan. “Ali so navedli vsaj
približne ocene količine
eksplozivnih snovi v ostrinovskih 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 odprtega prostora za manevriranje in z dokaj pogosto
možnostjo izmikanja ob
naletu posameznega asteroida.
“R-Navigator, ali so te premikajoče se pikice asteroidni dež?” je brez umikanja
pogleda s holija vprašal
kapitan.
“Ostrini usmerjajo te aste-
ting these asteroids into
our path,” explained the
navigation computer, showing the objectives of
these hostile asteroids and
the probable movements
of the Sensins’ asteroids to
protect us. “The majority
of them are only intended to clear the way for
their individual asteroids,
which should come within
range of us. Most probably
at the passages between
the individual sculpture-like formations of our
asteroids. That is where
the layers of our asteroids
are weakest.”
Our flight through the permeable Sensin asteroids,
within individual clusters
resembling
geometric
figures, proceeded smoothly and without hold-up
despite the sharp twists
and turns, although tension
mounted as we awaited
the arrival of the asteroid
shower or the breakthrough asteroid predicted by
the simulation – the one
for which the others were
320
roide na našo pot,” je pojasnil R-Navigator med prikazovanjem ciljne usmeritve
teh, nam sovražnih asteroidov ter verjetnih premikov 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. Najverjetneje na prehodih med
posameznimi skulpturno
oblikovanimi
združenji
naših asteroidov. Tam so
plasti naših asteroidov najšibkejše.”
Let skozi za nas prepustne čutinovske asteroide znotraj posameznih
gruč z videzom geometrijskih likov je sprva kljub
ostremu vijuganju potekal mirno, brez zastojev,
seveda ob vse bolj napetem
pričakovanju asteroidnega
dežja oziroma simulacijske
napovedi za prebojni asteroid, namreč za tistega, ki
naj bi mu ostali le krčili
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 selected 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 explosions of the enemy asteroids 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
evasive action!” came the
commander’s order, although the threat was already clearly visible from
the holo-display. After a
few tense moments a concentrated series of enemy
asteroids approached the
same section of our aste321
pot in zanj prebijali naše
zaščitne plasti. Najbrž so
ga Ostrini že vnaprej določili 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 asteroidnih trkov iskrenje razširilo in se okrepilo nad
celotnim predelom poti,
na katero smo pravkar
zavili.
“Pripravite se na sunkovito izmikanje!” se je zaslišalo kapitanovo povelje,
čeprav je bila grožnja že iz
holijevega prikaza dovolj
jasno razvidna. Po nekaj
napetih trenutkih je osredotočen niz nasprotnih
asteroidov z zaporednimi
zaleti v isti predel naših
roid layers in parallel and
struck the defensive barrier across our path, creating an opening.
“Three asteroids!” announced the navigation
computer. “At our present 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 collision 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 collide with some large piece
of debris. We didn’t have
long to wait. The flash
322
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 zmanjšujem hitrost. Z naše leve,
od zadaj, bo tik nad nami
zletel naš asteroid.” In po
nekaj trenutkih zaviralnega leta, med katerim bi
nas brez varnostnih pasov
že odneslo s sedežev, smo
nad sabo skozi veliko
okno poveljniškega prostora lahko videli mimolet
asteroida s hitrim izginjanjem 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
of a powerful explosion
was clearly visible from
where we were. I instantly 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 wheeled 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
asteroids 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’ asteroids, and that of the last
323
eksplozije je segel vse do
nas. V trenutku sem zamižal, 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 zavrtela, zavila navzgor, nato
na levo in v spiralnem letu
mimo še nekaj večjih in
manjših ostankov asteroidov ter se ponovno zravnala v mirni premočrtni
let po začrtani poti.
“Uničen je tudi drugi napadajoči asteroid,” je kmalu
zatem sporočil R-Navigator. “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
of the three attacking asteroids. 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 asteroids must have been full
of explosives. The crew
gave vent to their enthusiasm in a serious of noisy
shouts, despite the ship
turning steeply to avoid
the remains of the asteroids ­­­– 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
324
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 zavojem, s katerimi smo se izognili 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
flight path, along the line
of the colliding masses of
the gigantic layers of asteroids of the two sides. But
here there were almost no
more asteroids to be seen.
The images of the quarterback 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 guiding 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
325
naletavanju orjaških plasti
asteroidov z obeh strani,
druge na drugo. Pa asteroidov v tem prikazu skoraj
ni bilo več videti. Prikaza
‘igralca ragbija’ in ‘bizona’
sta postajala tako živa, da
se nisem mogel ubraniti
občutku spopada živihbitij.
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:
to us. We must avoid a
frontal collision, because 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 recommendation 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 something else up their sleeves,
which is also possible.”
On the display the quarterback and the buffalo had
begun their charge. Each
of their movements spoke
of a tensing of muscles,
powerful momentum, increasing speed and a violent attack. The collision
of millions of asteroids
326
“To bo za nas bolj malo
pomembno. Čelnemu trčenju 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 verjetnost našega leta med
‘igralcem ragbija’ in ‘bizonom’ pa ni najbolj v skladu
s priporočilom našega
poveljstva. Ne bomo prehiteli tega trčenja, čeprav
nam je poveljstvo govorilo
o naših dobrih možnostih.
Holijev prikaz ni obetajoč.
Vprašanje je, komu verjeti. 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 drugemu. Vsak njun gib je
govoril o napenjanju mišic,
o silovitem zagonu ob
startu ter o večanju hitrosti in silovitosti napada.
Trčenje milijonov asteroidov z medsebojnim zale-
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 forehead of the buffalo with its
lowered horns, represented 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 collided. 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
327
tavanjem drug v drugega.
In le majhen svetel krožec,
komaj vidna lučka, tam
nekje med glavo in rameni
‘igralca ragbija’ in bizonovim čelom z naprej usmerjenimi rogovi, je predstavljal 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
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 blinding flash. Through the
window we could see the
approach of the buffalo’s
eye and the outlines of
its mighty horns, stretching 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 quarterback 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 elongated 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
328
nami je iztegnjena roka
‘igralca ragbija’ udarila v
‘bizonov’ gobec s tako silo,
da se je ves predel asteroidnega pasu zableščal v slepilni svetlobi. Prizor skozi
okno pa je kazal približevanje velikega bizonovega
očesa z obrisi mogočnega
rogovja, ki je segalo vse
od nam zakritega ozadja,
vidnega le v holijevem prikazu, 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 oklopljenimi 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-
through it? Below us we
could still see the glow
left by the explosions of
the energy-filled asteroids.
Above us the first collisions and the first explosions
could only be moments
away. The ship flew through the empty space beneath 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 steeply, 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
329
zenj. Pod nami je bilo še
vse žareče od eksplozij z
energijo napolnjenih asteroidov, 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 bizonove 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 obrnili v izogibni let, ko nas
je orjaški rog ponovno
dohitel in nas spet zgrešil
le za las. Tedaj se je začelo
iskriti na povsem nasprotni strani. Zazrl sem se v
holi. Iz spodnje strani asteroidnega pasu je prihajalo
in zajelo že vso nasprotno
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 restraint and his serious face
were very eloquent.
“Only the largest spaceships are powerful enough
to release such quantities
of energy,” he explained.
“Message from headquarters,” interrupted the navigation computer. “Prepare
for landing! We are about
to go aboard the Conqueror 949.”
I looked at Benesens again:
“What now?”
“The Conqueror 949 is
one of our largest and best
armed ship carriers. Ships
330
stran asteroidnega pasu
nekakšno novo gibanje,
da sem pogledoval zdaj v
holi, zdaj v Čutine okoli
sebe. Očitno jih je to dogajanje 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 zresnjeni 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-Navigatorja. “Pripravite se na pristanek!. Vkrcali se bomo
na našo vesoljsko ladjo
OSVAJALEC 949.”
Spet sem pogledal Dobročuta: “Kaj pa je zdaj to?”
“Hja, to je ena iz serije
naših največjih in najbolje
oboroženih
ladjenosilk.
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 destroyed in battle with Acutin
ship carriers of the same
strength.”
I looked at the holo-display. The demolishing of
the asteroid blockade – of
entire layers of asteroids –
was followed by the appearance of the front section
of the Conqueror 949. So
these were the Sensins’
“aircraft carriers”, or rather
“ship carriers”. They must
have been several thousand 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
331
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. Razstreljevanju
asteroidov,
postavljenih v našo blokado, bolje rečeno kar
celih plasti, je sledil prikaz
sprednjega konca naše
ladje OSVAJALEC 949. To
so bile torej naše “letalonosilke” z zanje bolj
ustreznim imenom “ladjenosilke”. Večtisočkrat so
morale biti večje od največjih zemeljskih letalonosilk, saj je bil viden le sprednji del, zadnji in najbrž
tudi ne srednji pa sploh
nista bila zajeta v holijevem prikazu. Ladja bi nas
morala doseči vsak hip, vsi
pogledi so že upirali skozi
veliko čelno okno proti
window. All around, as far
as we could see, across the
whole of our horizon, light
gleamed through the dark
clouds consisting of countless asteroids, large and
small, moving in all directions as though driven by
a colossal storm.
“It is a sort of storm, after
all,” I murmured to myself.
Some of the nearest asteroids were already being
swept past us. Flying fragments of the exploded
asteroids were beginning
to strike our hull. Then
the accumulation of asteroids became even denser,
while somehow remaining 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 incredible 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
332
njej. Vse naokrog, v dosegu
našega vida, pravzaprav po
vsem našem obzorju, se je
svetlikalo skozi temačne
oblake iz neštetih malih in
velikih asteroidov, pomikajočih se v vse smeri, kot
da bi jih gnal orjaški vihar.
“Saj to tudi je vihar!” sem
zamrmral bolj zase. Nekatere, nam bližje asteroide
je celo že odnašalo mimo
nas. Še v nas so začeli udarjati odleteli koščki razstreljenih asteroidov. Potem
pa je kopičenje asteroidov
postajalo samo še gostejše
in gostejše, vendar v nekakšnem 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 zdrobljene za nastanek takih
prašnih viharjev, kot je bil
tale, skozi katerega smo se
pomikali. Tedaj se je nena-
sudden, there was calm.
The clouds disappeared
and the shower of asteroid fragments ceased to
glisten. And our view, up
until now limited to the
empty spaces between the
dust clouds, now widened to reveal the mighty
hull of the Conqueror 949,
with hundreds of openings
from which various vessels were flying. This spaceship 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 several hundred decks, and
its hull was so long that it
disappeared into the distance. 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
333
doma vse umirilo. Oblaki
so izginili, eksplozijsko
pršenje asteroidov je prenehalo s svojim svetlikanjem. In razgled, ki se nam
je odpiral le občasno v praznih prostorih med posameznimi prašnimi oblaki,
se je lahko spustil v daljavo,
kjer je zastal na mogočnem trupu OSVAJALCA
949 s stotinami vhodno-izhodnih 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, izvirajoči iz njenega trupa in
upognjeni v nosilce pristajalnih ploščadi. Več sto
nadstropij je moralo biti
v tej ladji, katere podolgovati trup se je izgubljal
v daljavi. Zdaj smo najbrž
varni, se mi je utrnil pomislek, čeprav naj bi jo po
Dobročutovih
besedah
enako velike nasprotnikove ladje lahko tudi
uničile. Kakorkoli, veli-
may, its enormous dimensions exceeded my wildest
fantasies about spaceships
and their possible dimensions.
“We are directed to enter
through entrance number
37,” announced the navigation 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 negotiations with the Acutins do
not indicate any reduction
in tension. If anything the
opposite is true.”
334
častnost njenih dimenzij
je presegla moje najskrajneše predstave o velikosti
vesoljskih ladij. Le v nejasnih obrisih mojih fantazij
je bilo kaj takega možno.
“Sporočajo nam, naj vstopimo 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 zaključen, ker so za mala plovila postala potovanja
prenevarna. Pa tudi rezultati pogajanj z Ostrini ne
kažejo nobenega zmanjšanja napetosti. Kvečjemu
nasprotno.”
Chapter XI
XI. poglavje
The reception aboard the
Conqueror 949 proceeded
according to protocol. A
considerable part of the
crew was present and the
introductory words of welcome were spoken by the
ship-carrier’s commander
Admiral Stratus.
“It is an honour,” he began,
“for me to have this opportunity 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.
Sprejem na OSVAJALCU
949 je potekal po protokolu, ob navzočnosti precejšnjega dela posadke in
z uvodnimi pozdravnimi
besedami poveljnika ladjenosilke admirala Stratusa.
“Your customs appear to
be quite similar to ours
on Earth,” I said to Benesens, who merely nodded
and said: “Naturally,” as
“No, saj imate kar precej
zemeljske navade,” sem
dejal Dobročutu, ta pa je
le prikimal s pripombo:
“Seveda,” kot da je to
335
“Čast mi je,” je rekel med
drugim, “da svojemu prijatelju, poveljniku posebne
misije kapitanu Harstanu,
ob tej priložnosti izrečem
priznanje za uspešno opravljen preboj.” Admiral je z
roko pokazal na našega
kapitana, ki je sprejel priznanje z rahlim priklonom
glave ter se v nekaj besedah zahvalil za pravočasno
pomoč.
though this were perfectly obvious. I looked at
him again, since although
his answer was perfectly 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 passable, as had been the case
for our STORMBIRD.
“Although as you have
proved,” continued Admiral Stratus, “ it is still possible to get through.”
He then spoke about the
course of events, about
which I had a slightly different opinion, since it appeared to me that the commander of the ship-carrier
underestimated the Acutins. In fact our mission,
336
povsem jasno, tako da sem
znova pogledal vanj, kajti
kljub zame povsem sprejemljivemu odgovoru, ki mi
je bil po svoje tudi všeč,
se mi je zdela samoumevnost njegovega odgovora
vendarle težje razumljiva.
Potem je poveljnik admiral 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 neodgovornega početja Ostrinov
zaprti ali vsaj, kot za našega
VIHARNIKA, težje prehodni. “Čeprav se,” je poudaril 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 podcenjeval Ostrine, ker je bila,
roko na srce, naša misija,
taken as a whole, was considerably 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 Acutins, if not identical, were
at least on approximately
the same level. These Sensins were probably like
us Earthmen in overestimating 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 Sen337
v celoti vzeto, precej bolj
tvegana, kot bi bilo sklepati po njegovih besedah,
in to ob vsem priznanju
njihovim, lahko tudi kapitanovim osebnim sposobnostim. Ostrinom bi lahko
priznal, če že ne enakih
sposobnosti, pa vsaj približno enako raven. Najbrž so
tile Čutini podobni nam
Zemljanom tudi po precenjevanju pomena svojih
odločitev,
sem
pomislil, 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 primerjavam, kajti tudi ob odzivih
na razna dogajanja so bili
izrazi njihovih obrazov
zelo pogosto podobni izrazom Zemljanov ob podobnih priložnostih. Ocenjujoče sem preletel s pogle-
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 conversations 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 everything. We were going to
meet. I smiled back at her,
raised my arm again to say
“see you later” and despite
338
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 dvorano. 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 pomahala v odgovor, brez zadržanosti. 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 veselim nasmehom še enkrat.
Vse je razumela. Dobila se
bova. Vrnil sem ji nasmeh, ji
še enkrat z rahlim dvigom
roke poslal začasen poz-
everything, at least for the
next few words, listened
to the speaker, one of the
commanders of the spaceship.
***
drav ter kljub vsemu, vsaj
za nekaj nadaljnjih besed,
prisluhnil
govorniku,
enemu iz poveljstva vesoljske ladje.
***
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 enthusiasm 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
339
Nasmehnil sem se prihajajoči 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-
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 agreement, 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 backwards and began dragging
me in the direction of the
park.
“We can go to the restaurant in the garden beneath
340
nje čutil do nje. Bilo bi prenagljeno, prehitro. Da, saj
je pravzaprav žalovala za
svojim možem. Rahlo sem
se zdrznil. Saj res. Tisti njen
mož. V teh nekaj prvih trenutkih sem skoraj pozabil nanj. Tudi ob srečanju
najinih pogledov je bilo
med nama s Honajo le ujemanje z globokim notranjim 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 restavracije na vrtu pod tistimi dre-
those trees,” she said, indicating some tall trees just
under a hundred metres
away. “Would you like to
eat something?”
This was an invitation
expressed with an agreeable 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 occasional 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 questio341
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 pravkar zaznani skrbnosti v
njenem glasu, obenem pa
sem občutil tudi nekakšno
nadaljevanje tistih trenutkov z njenimi orošenimi
očmi ob najinem prvem
srečanju.
“Tvoj mož,” sem spregovoril, 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 občasnih, 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
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 important interests of our civilisation 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 disappeared from Honaja’s face.
“There are no more obstacles. 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
342
pogledu z očitnim nerazumevanjem njenega govorjenja pa se mi je nasmehnila 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 pomembnejši interesi naše civilizacije.”
“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 položaj so razmere povsem
drugačne od tistih za najinega 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
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 enforced break in your company? 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 allowed 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 curious.”
Eager to maintain the
atmosphere that had been
343
prepuščena sama sebi, in
to za kar dovolj časa, vse
dokler se ne bodo razmere
dovolj umirile za nadaljevanje 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. Vsekakor bi se mi malo odmora
tudi sicer prileglo. Še zlasti
skupaj s tabo.”
“Ujemava
se,
kajne?”
Honajin glas ni dopuščal oporekanja in lesk
v njenih očeh je takoj
obnovil razposajeno poigravanje. “Pridi, ti bom
jaz pripravila kosilo. Oziroma, 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 civilizaciji? Malce radovednosti
se kljub vsemu ne morem
otresti.”
S poudarjeno željo po
ohranjanju
nastalega
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. Although I can’t think how we
could do that.”
I laughed, as though to
show how funny this conversation 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,
344
vzdušja sem želel preusmeriti 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 nejasnosti med nama. Ali pa tudi
ne. Dobro bi bilo preveriti,” je rekla.
“Hm, seveda, čeprav mi
nobeno tovrstno preverjanje ne pade na pamet.” Še
sam sem se zasmejal kot v
pojasnilo, kako se mi zdi ta
pogovor predvsem zabaven, čeprav je njena želja
po bolj intimnem pogovoru med nama ponovno
odrinila začeto temo o njihovi 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 ponavljajočih se obrazložitvah,
da mi kar tako na hitro ne
morejo predstaviti njihove
civilizacije, ker bi lahko
napačno razumel, imam
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 emanating from her to pass to a
more serious reflection of
the kind that I would probably 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
345
zdaj po Honajinih besedah
končno brez njihovih prejšnjih pomislekov naenkrat
opravka z žensko nečimrnostjo. Prav začutil sem
lahko njeno prepričanje
o nepomembnosti vsega
okrog naju. Sicer sem s
podobnimi nastopi ženske
nečimrnosti že imel opraviti, pravzaprav celo toliko,
da Honaji niti nisem mogel
zameriti. Pa vendar. Toda
po drugi strani bi bilo
vztrajanje pri vprašanju
o njihovi civilizaciji pregrobo. Preveč čutnosti je
prihajalo iz nje za prehod k
bolj resnemu razmišljanju,
kakršnemu se pri pogovoru o njihovi civilizaciji,
vsaj po vsem nakazanem,
najbrž ne bi mogel izogniti.
Honaja se mi je nasmehnila 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
she was! Close to her like
this, squeezing her wrist,
I desired her. I gazed at
her face, the delicate sweetness 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 concerned. Men must have found
Honaja attractive. Most of
them, probably, there was
no doubt about it.
In the restaurant garden
Honaja looked at the beautiful arranged tables closest 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, luxuriant tree that spread above
it. “Let’s go there,” she
suggested, walking past a
table at which a group of
346
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 razkritih 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 preletela lepo razporejene
mize v ospredju ter nato
še stranske, na pol pomaknjene v zelenje, v nekakšno 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
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 visible – arched more than
a hundred, perhaps two
hundred metres above us.
It was made of partially
transparent materials that
absorbed the gaze, creating 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.
347
peterico Čutinov, lagodno zleknjenih na udobnih pletenih sedežih.
Sledil sem ji, pogledujoč
naokrog. Vrt je bil zelo
prijeten, z dokaj velikimi
drevesi in že kar majhnim 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 nejasnega občutka za daljavo.
Prav lahko bi vse skupaj
zamenjal za kakšno vrtno
restavracijo na Zemlji.
“S prostorom pa tukaj res
ne varčujete,” sem pripomnil, 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 naokrog.
“Pri nas ni potrebe po varčevanju s prostorom,” mi
je pojasnila.
“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 melancholy, or even sorrow. She
took a deep breath.
“Death is an ugly thing,”
she said.
“Yes, it certainly is,” I
agreed, in the same serious tone. “How many
years do you Sensins actually live?”
Honaja gave a barely perceptible start, nothing
more: it was probably
simply a memory.
“That isn’t the problem
For us death is not necessarily an evil thing. We
have merely opted for a
life from which we have
not excluded death, although we could have done.”
348
“Vidim.” Spet sva se ujela s
pogledi. Tiho hrepenenje
sem lahko zaznal v njenih
očeh, pričakovanje. Njeni
pogledi so v kakšnem trenutku 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 pritrdil, tudi sam zresnjen.
“Koliko let pa Čutini pravzaprav 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 opredelili smo se za življenje, iz
katerega smrti nismo izločili, čeprav bi jo lahko.”
“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 continued to smile. My different views on the question
of death were evidently
sufficiently well known to
her.
“At our level of development such a choice is
something utterly different,” 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 actually 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 completely. But the uniqueness
of life is not an advantage.
349
“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 drugačno razmišljanje glede
vprašanja o smrti ji je bilo
očitno dovolj znano.
“Na naši razvojni stopnji
je taka opredelitev nekaj
povsem drugega,” je odvrnila. “Enkratnost življenja nosi v sebi veliko vrednost. 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 njegovo 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
At least not in my experience. After what I have
been through my opinion
on everything has changed completely.”
“Yours is an unusual civilisation, 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 accident if, as you say, this is
something you are capable of. To renounce such
a possibility, and to do so
completely, is in my opinion foolish.”
“Well, a complete renunciation... 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
350
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
of something important.
Something that had to be
in close connection with
all our decisions and probably also our emotions
and with her feelings for
me. Something that was
the reason we two were
sitting here. How complicated 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 searched 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,
351
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. Presneto.
“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 živahnega pogleda in še bolj ob
njenem živem pričakovanju 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
it would be tasty too. But I
had something other than
good food on my mind.
I had never been a particularly 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 encouragingly.
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 looking at me as though she
wanted to hear my opinion
of the other dishes as well,
and above all because of
352
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 poskusil, zelo dobra je bila, nato
sem vzel še kos pečenega
mesa, ob katerem mi je
Honaja pojasnila, da je polpeta 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
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 prepared this for me amazingly
well,” I said with satisfaction and indicated her
plate with its barely touched 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 attracted her attention as she cleared 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
353
vesele zavzetosti pri izbiranju 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 dotaknjeno hrano. “Še ti jej. Saj
je res dobro. Zakaj ne ješ?”
“Saj jem. Le malo bolj počasna sem.” Nato pa je le dala
nekaj hitrejših grižljajev v
usta.
Med premlevanjem grižljaja rastlinskega ražnjiča
sem se naslonil na udobno
naslonjalo pletenega stola.
Vseeno je bilo Honajino
opazovanje malo nenavadno. Koliko podrobnosti med pospravljanjem
večerje je pritegnilo njeno
pozornost! Potem pa je
nenadoma, veselo in samozavestno, vsaj delovalo je
tako, čeprav nisem vedel,
zakaj ta nenadna spre-
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 smugness. “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 something 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,
354
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 utrujen. Tudi jaz bi se malo
ulegla.”
Ponovil sem njen “prav,”
ki ga je izrekla s skrbjo
za moje počutje, in to pri
while simultaneously inviting me to her room.
Perhaps with these Sensins
this was a perfectly obvious invitation or something 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 meeting was still imposing a
kind of deference on me
despite Honaja’s smiles.
She was happy. But
those melancholy glances 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 immediately everything was
different, and her eyes
filled with playfulness.
355
tem, ko me je hkrati vabila
v svojo sobo.
Mogoče pa je to pri Čutinih 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 Honajinemu 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 igrivosti v njenih pogledih.
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 reservations even seemed superfluous. 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 sensations 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
356
Hm, naj bo kakor koli, lepo
mi je razburkala misli,
skupaj z dvomi. Povezava
njenega prejšnjega odzivanja s sedanjim mi namreč
ni šla najbolje od rok. Oziroma mi sploh nikakor ni
šla. Čeprav mi je ob njenih
vse pogostejših nasmehih 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,”
this grass,” she explained,
smiling, as I looked for
the path. “Walking freely
across meadows and through woods is more pleasant 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 fingers 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 alluring 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 stiskanjem 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 oblikovane prsi so mi zadrževale
pasoči se pogled, preden
sem ga odlepil in privzdignil 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 narahlo potegnil k sebi, se z
ustnicami primaknil k njenemu licu ter se z rahlimi
poljubi spustil naprej po
357 njenem vratu do ušes.
“On our first date my husband and I went across a
park like this to my apartment. Back then my apartment was right behind a
wood.”
“Just like now?” I smiled
at this interesting coincidence.
“And as he later admitted,
I surprised him by catching him looking at me.
Some men think that they
can observe women secretly, even from close up,
without us noticing.”
“Can you do that?”
“Most women can,” she
said, with a lightly concealed air of mischievousness.
“What
about
Earthwomen?”
“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
358
“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?” Nasmehnil sem se ob zanimivem
naključju.
“In kot mi je pozneje priznal, 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,
even showing her. But in
that moment I still wasn’t
capable of strong feelings,
although she was so incredibly beautiful. But what
did all this have to do
with her husband? There
seemed to be certain similarities 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 awakened the memory of the
first time she met her husband. The result was that
the figure of her husband
was a powerful presence
all around us.
“Oh, I shouldn’t be bothering you with my memories. Just forget about everything! 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 shoulders. “Even better than I
had hoped.”
359
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 podobnost? 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 srečanje 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 poljubom dotaknila mojih ust
in mi ovila roke okoli
ramen. “Celo bolj lepo, kot
sem upala.”
“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 acknowledgement,
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.
***
“Kot si upala?” sem ponovil. Te njene besede so se
spet malo bolj nenavadno
ujemale z njenim prejšnjim 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 prikimal. Preveč lepo mi je bilo
z njo. Narahlo sem se sklonil 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.
***
Stretched out comfortably
on the couch in Honaja’s
360
Udobno zleknjen na kavču
Honajine sobe, sem spre-
room, I was following the
latest reports. “No sign of
a diminishing of tension,
is there?” said Honaja, sitting down next to me.
“Neither side wants to
give way, or something
like that, if I have understood 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 beginning to interest me more
and more.”
I looked questioningly at
Honaja. Earlier she had
said something about conditions 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 started caressing my neck, my
chin and my cheeks.
“When you visit Earthwomen in their rooms do
you first discuss politics?”
she asked.
“No.” I couldn’t ignore
361
mljal zadnja poročila.
“Nič ne kaže na pomirjanje napetosti, kajne?” je
med prisedanjem dejala
Honaja.
“Nobena stran noče popustiti ali kaj takega, vsaj
kolikor sem pravilno razumel. 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.” Vprašujoče sem se zazrl v Honajo.
Prej je že omenjala dovolj
spremenjene razmere za
bolj sproščen pogovor na
to temo.
Med nasmihanjem se je privila k meni v objem, pomaknila 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
her desire for sensuality.
In such intimate moments
no-one talks about politics. And yet the whole
situation was just a little
too complicated, and too
intense, for me to simply
put everything aside,
although this was apparently the natural thing to
do as far as she was concerned.
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 provocative curves of her hips. I
moved my hand beneath
362
njene želje po čutnosti. V
tako intimnih trenutkih
se nihče ne pogovarja o
politiki. Vendar je bil celoten 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 umirila na hrbtu z rokami, stegnjenimi 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 izzivalno zaokroženimi boki.
Pomaknil sem roko pod
njeno ramo in s prsti zdr-
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 because she was ticklish. Her
laughter was full of sensuality 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 sensuality 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
363
snil do tilnika, si jo še močneje 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 sunkovito 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 zarival 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
above her, lowered my
head to her half uncovered breasts and with passionate 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 pressure of my hands it slid
further, to her waist, revealing 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 pomikal 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 združitve.
***
***
364
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 satisfaction 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 certainty. It seems quite surprising 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 sur365
Z roko, stegnjeno čez
Honajine prsi do njenega
vzglavja, sem se poigral z
njenimi dolgimi lasmi.
“Veš, Peter…” je Honaja prekinila 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 občutila že pri prvem srečanju s
tabo. Po današnjem dnevu
pa že lahko s precejšnjo
gotovostjo govorim o tem.
Zdi se mi kar presenetljivo.”
“Kako? Tudi zate je presenetljivo? Kaj je v ozadju?
Kaj se pravzaprav dogaja?
Mislil sem, da so tu stvari
presenetljive samo za
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 heterogeneous. We place greater
importance on building
the personality than you
Earthmen do.”
“That’s certainly possible. 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 swinging, even the water in the
small spherical aquarium
366
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 raznoliki. Večji pomen dajemo
izgradnji osebnosti kakor
vi Zemljani.”
“To je seveda možno. Vsaj
glede na vašo višjo civilizacijsko 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 kroglaste oblike s prozornimi
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 wondered aloud, although in
the same moment I rejected 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 missiles from an Acutin shipcarrier.”
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 immediately! We are under
367
stenami, stojalo s košarico
sadežev se je kar nekajkrat
nagnilo sem ter tja, preden
se je umirilo. Potem je sledilo tiho, pritajeno bobnenje.
“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 postelje k pravkar prižganemu
holiju, v katerem je Čutinka
prijetnega videza z resnim
obrazom govorila: “Ravnokar so nas zadeli energetski izstrelki ostrinovske
ladjenosilke.”
Zasvetile so se alarmne
lučke na mojem in Honajinem zapestnem sprejemniku:
dogovorjeno
pozivno znamenje naše
misije. Hip zatem se je v
njem prikazala podoba
vodje - kapitana Harstana.
“Vsi takoj na zborno mesto!
Napadajo. Zapustiti bomo
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 Sensins 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 shipboard transport, while
others were standing in
front of the giant holo-displays that offered a clear
view of what was happening. Honaja stopped by
368
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 privila v poljub, kratek, silovit, in že stekla skozi vrata
po hodniku do hitro premikajoče se stene s stojali
za vožnjo po hodnikih, ki
naju je prenesla do velikega 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 nazornim prikazom celotnega
dogajanja. Še Honaja je
zastala pri eni od večjih
one of the larger groups.
Here I saw for the first time
a large number of thoroughly agitated Sensins,
following the constantly
updated reports with great
concentration. It was true
that the Sensins from our
mission had displayed agitation during our attempts
to break through the asteroid barriers, but they had
been specially selected for
a risky undertaking and
everything that had happened was more or less as
expected – or rather as they
expected, seeing as for me
everything was unexpected, 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 shattered, 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
369
skupin. Tu sem prvič
videl večje število dodobra vznemirjenih Čutinov
med zavzetim opazovanjem 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 približno v okviru predvidevanja, našega oziroma
njihovega, kajti zame je
bilo vse nepričakovano,
milo rečeno. Tudi mene
je pritegnil holijev prikaz.
Vesoljska ladja neverjetnih razsežnosti, namreč
naša, sedaj sem jo že lahko
prepoznal, je bila prikazana z razbitim sprednjim
delom, s kilometre globokimi useki od eksplozij. Tudi največje jedrske
bombe jih ne bi mogle
narediti, ne v takih materialih z večjo trdnostjo od
that were harder than diamonds and with a meltingpoint 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 holodisplay that an increasing
number of Sensins were
pointing to. Thousands and
thousands of spacecraft,
among them small ships,
were leaving our ship-carrier. All of them, large
and small, were in attack
formation, while a second
wave was heading for the
front of our ship.
“Our squadrons,” whispered 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.”
370
diamantove in s tališčem,
višjim od volframovega.
Pa še nove eksplozije so se
vrstile, druga za drugo, in
trgale velike, že kar orjaške dele naše ladje. Vsi
Čutini so gledali z zadržano 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 zapuščalo našo ladjenosilko.
Vse, velike in male, so se
usmerjale v napad, naslednji 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 razstreljevali energetske izstrelke,
še preden bodo zadevali.”
“Can this ship-carrier
withstand an attack like
this?” Judging from the
expressions on the faces
around me, and the enthusiastic 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-carriers 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 STORMBIRD. Look there, in the
top left corner of the display!”
“What does it mean?” I
could see a glint of light
above the distant fleet.
371
“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 zaskrbljeni 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.
“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 announcement.
“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 enthusiasm. Even Honaja rejoiced:
“With this support we will
hold out. Their three shipcarriers 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 astero372
“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 sporočilo.
“Vojna je,” je zašepetala
Honaja.
“Zaznali smo podporo
laserskih topov naših ladjenosilk.”
Vsi ob holiju so poskočili
v navdušenju. Tudi Honaja
se je vzradostila: “Ob tej
podpori bomo zdržali. Njihove tri ladjenonosilke so
premalo za naše uničenje,
ker imamo podporo laserskih 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
ids but the scattered component parts of ship-carriers!” 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 redistribution of forces recently for
any more definite assessment 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.
373
asteroidi, ampak razmetani sestavni deli ladjenosilk!” 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 vprašal med pomišljanjem na
nadaljnji razplet ob prisotnosti take tehnike.
“Ne vem. Preveč prerazporejanja oboroženih sil
v zadnjem času onemogoča 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 vzpostavitev ravnovesja sil.
Toda na drugih območjih
je že lahko prišlo do prednosti posamezne strani
ali pa tudi ne. Kakor koli,
podpore laserskih topov z
nam najbližjih ladjenosilk
smo lahko kar veseli.” Na
A satisfied smile appeared
on Honaja’s lips.
Suddenly everyone fell
silent.
“Whaat?” I cried. Immediately 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 growing 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 separated 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
374
Honajine ustnice se je prikradel zadovoljen nasmeh.
Nenadoma so vsi utihnili z
zadržanim dihom.
“Kaaaj?” se mi je izvil
vzklik. Tik nad nami, nad
bokom naše ladje, nad predelom 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 sestavljena 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, pomešanimi z velikim številom
‘slepih’ asteroidov za zavajanje naših analizatorjev.”
“In kaj to pomeni za nas?”
Pogledoval sem izmenično v holi in v odzivanje
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 increase 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 divebombers 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 sec375
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 medsebojno razmakniti na stokratno, če ne tisočkratno
povečanje sedanje velikosti. Vsaka energetska
eksplozija bi potem lahko
uničila neprimerno manjši
del ladje. Milijonkratno
povečanje moči energetskih nabojev je potrebno
za uničenje tako ‘napihnjene’ ladje.”
Medtem so prvi ‘strmoglavci’ že napadli s tako
silovitostjo, da je ves
predel naše ladje nad nami
zažarel, najprej do bleščečega sija, ki je za nekaj časa
zakril prikaz dogajanja za
zunanjimi stenami naše
ladje, po prvem zmanjšanju slepeče svetlobe pa
se nam je pokazalo udiranje kilometrskega dela
tion of the outer shell had
collapsed into the interior
of the ship.
“Peter, we can’t just stand
here counting their divebombers! We must get to
the STORMBIRD. Everyone 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 semicircles above them. Those
by the walls were opening
cupboards and removing
spacesuits complete with
square backpacks and
transparent egg-shaped
helmets.
“For the vacuum,” explained 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 containing the spacesuits are
an alarm signal. They indicate that everyone should
376
zunanjih sten v notranjost
ladje.
“Peter, ne moremo le šteti
teh njihovih ‘strmoglavcev’! Do našega VIHARNIKA morava. Vsak bo
bežal v svoje prostore.”
Nato sva stekla mimo velikega holija in hitro razhajajoče se, še malo prej zelo
obsežne gruče Čutinov.
Večina jih je stopala v
manjša vozila, na nekakšne plošče s steklenimi
polkroglami nad njimi,
tisti ob stenah pa so jemali
iz trezorjev obleke s kvadratastim nahrbtnikom in
prozorno jajčasto čelado.
“Za brezzračni prostor,” je
pojasnila Honaja. “V primeru 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-
put on spacesuits. That is
what we ought to do too.
The hangars are too vast
for us to cross them quickly 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 removed two backpacks from
a cupboard and pressed a
button on top of them to
release the airtight spacesuits they contained. We
both immediately put on
our suits and began looking 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 gathered in this section before
the alarm that delays were
inevitable despite the increased capacities of their
internal transport system.
Even so, everything
seemed to be happening
very quickly. It only took
377
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 prečkali.”
Honaja je nato stekla do
prve stene z utripajočo
lučko nad stilizirano narisano skafandrsko obleko
za brezzračni prostor,
vzela iz nje dva nahrbtnika, iz katerih se je ob
dotiku zgornjega gumba
razprla nepredušna vesoljska obleka. Takoj sva si
nadela vsak svoj skafander
in se ozrla po najbližjem
prostem plovilu. Toda na
parkirišču je bila velikanska gneča. Zaradi velikega
holija se je pred alarmom
nabralo na tem delu toliko
Čutinov, da je kljub povečanim zmogljivostim njihovega notranjega prometa
prihajalo do zastojev. Sicer
pa je še vedno vse potekalo
zelo hitro. Le nekaj minut
a few minutes for all the
Sensins to disperse. There
had probably been tens of
thousands of them, or perhaps even more: I hadn’t
been able to tell how many
of them there were behind
all the different entrances
to this great crossroadslike space. But there was
no time to think about that
now. An arch on the opposite side collapsed to half
of its previous height with
a great bang. The explosions 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
378
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-vhodnimi vrati v tem velikem
križiščnem prostoru. Pa
tudi časa ni bilo več za razmišljanje. Obok na nasprotni 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 premične stene in dvigala ne
da več zanašati.”
Stekla je mimo vzletajočih 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
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 collapsed 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 explosions 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 situation. 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
379
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 ustavila:
“Če jim je že uspelo prebiti zunanje stene, bodo
prav v ta del usmerili
svoje energetske izstrelke.
Notranjost je neprimerno
manj odporna na eksplozije 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 prepričljiva. 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
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 terrible. I was already thinking about broken necks,
arms, legs, heads, when
the gravity suddenly disappeared 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 weightlessness.
“Artificial gravity stops
functioning when the
component elements move
apart,” explained Honaja.
“On your wrist you have
a controller for the minia380
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 špranjam, skozi katere je iztekal zrak, vse tja do stropa.
Strahovit bo padec nazaj
na tla. Pomislil sem že na
zlomljene vratove, roke,
noge, glave, ko je nenadoma izginila težnost ali,
bolj verjetno, nekakšna
umetno ustvarjena privlačnost 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 razmikanju sestavnih delov,” mi
je pojasnila Honaja. “Na
zapestju imaš krmilo za
miniaturni fotonski motor
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 vehicle. 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 outside. In those conditions
there was nothing pleasant
about that black emptiness
dotted with numerous clearly 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
381
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 motorjema sicer lahko dovolj
hitro premikava, za premagovanje večjih razdalj
pa niso primerni.”
Usmerila se je pod obok,
jaz sem ji sledil, napotila
sva se proti hangarjem,
najprej po cevastih hodnikih, nato pa že v letu skozi
prazen vesoljski prostor s
prostim pogledom v zvezdnato vesolje, ki v takih
razmerah ni delovalo nič
kaj prijetno s svojo praznino, posuto s številnimi
dobro vidnimi zvezdami,
vendar na temnem, črnem
ozadju.
Honaja se je ustavila: “Vse
poti so presekane. Reševalno službo morava poklicati.” Okoli sebe sva lahko
videla le velike premika-
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 approached from further away.
Some of them opened suddenly 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 navigation 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.
382
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 približalo večje število manjših kosov, nekateri so se
nenadoma razprli, da so se
pokazali motorji, in že sva
lahko zaznala sestavljanje
nove ladje, resda neprimerno 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 informacijski sistem sva takoj
dobila vsa pojasnila, ki pa
za naju niso bila ugodna.
Še vedno sva bila v predelu
osrednjega napada strmoglavcev.
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 direction 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 hologram receiver.
383
Šest naših ladij je na nama
vidni razdalji takoj po
sestavitvi, kakršni sva bila
priči, začelo delovati v
nasprotnem napadu z aktiviranjem 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 informacijskega središče to odsvetovali, 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.
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, although ships did not need a
384
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 premikajočih 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. Napadalcev 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, nameščenih na vrhu nekakšnega
repnega krila, vsaj po
obliki sodeč, čeprav ga
v tem brezzračnem pro-
tail in this vacuum. Suddenly 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 – evaporated: a fraction of a second
had been enough to blow
them away.
As we flew, I looked
towards the violent flashes 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 muttered to myself. And the
crew would be destroyed
despite their courageous
resistance. This was something 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
385
storu niso potrebovali, ki
pa se je nenadoma razletel. Zadel ga je nasprotni
laserski energetski impulz.
Strahovito moč je moral
imeti. Topovi z desetmetrskim 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 eksplozijami energetskih izstrelkov, 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 dotikajočim se letom ob njej.
“Saj bodo,” mi je odvrnila.
“Posadka je verjetno že v
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 partition walls of the accommodation 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 continued 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
386
zadnjem delu pripravljena
na umik z rešilnimi raketami. Toda nekaj laserskih topov in energetskih
izstrelkov še imajo. Še
vedno se lahko zoperstavljajo napadalcem.”
“Hm. Vseeno so precej
hrabri.” S pogledom sem
ujel odstrelitev večjega
kosa trupa na sprednjem
delu in zatem še novo
eksplozijsko trganje velikih 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 nepoškodovanega trupa pa so
bruhali raketni izstrelki z
energetskim eksplozivom.
“Stran! Čimprej stran!”
je vidno vznemirjena, že
kar prestrašena ponovila Honaja. “Po razbitju zadnjega dela bodo
posamezni kosi leteli v
najini smeri. Tudi zadetki
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 immediately below us and a Sensin
from the destroyed ship
signalled to us to come on
board. This craft had protected us from the smaller
fragments. That was why
387
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 raztrgan ali prebit z ognjenimi izpuhi od notranjih
eksplozij. Honaja se je
usmerila proti boku pravkar 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. Trenutek zatem je mimo naju
priletel večji kos in za njim
še nekaj deset morda metrskih delov plošče, iztrgane
s sten v malo večji razdalji. 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
we were still in one piece.
They had only just managed 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 crowded central command
bridge of this disc-shaped
craft, which though smaller 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
388
cela. Pa so le še pravi čas
zapustili ladjo, tik pred
njeno razstrelitvijo, in še
naju so zaščitili! S Honajo
sva zletela v reševalno plovilo. 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 Honajine besede po vstopu v
osrednji prostor z nagneteno posadko tega, glede
na dimenzije običajnih
ladij manjšega, vendar še
vedno več deset metrov
velikega diskastega plovila.
Čutin, ki naju je rešil, je
rekel: “Na vsem tem predelu 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.
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 understand. We have orders
from headquarters to take
you to the flagship and to
communicate to you the
suspension of your mission until further notice.”
389
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 sporočimo prekinitev misije do
nadaljnjega.”
Chapter XII
XII. poglavje
After terrible clashes,
which included robotic
units inside the asteroid
belt, and after several thousand 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 presence, without any additional 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 Harstan stood up with a thoughtful 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 retur390
Po hudih spopadih, v
katere so bile znotraj asteroidnega pasu vključene
robotizirane enote, ter
po več tisoč medsebojno
uničenih ladjah tipa »ladjenosilk« sta se obe strani
dogovorili za ponovna
pogajanja, pri tem pa so
Ostrini ob svojih pogojih
na koncu navrgli še zahtevo 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 zamišljenim izrazom na obrazu,
nekaj je tuhtal, potem pa je
namignil Honaji, naj gre z
njim, ter jo odpeljal vstran
na nekakšen zaupen pogovor. Kar nekaj časa sta se
na samem pomenkovala.
Potem sta se vrnila. Har-
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 Acutins!” said Harstan. “Now,
in these strained conditions, they will feign ignorance and make up various lies on the spot. They
still do not know the true
importance of your presence, nor the real reason
for it, although they may
already have some vague
notions. They will want
to find out more. Therefore we can expect certain complications and
provocations, something
at which they are past
masters. They have even
managed to catch us out in
the past, so it will probably be considerably easier
for them to catch out an
Earthman. I therefore ask
you to show a little restra391
stan je bil še vedno videti
rahlo zamišljen. In pogledoval je vame. Nato me je
poklical, naj se jima pridružim, zato sem stopil
naprej in pri tem bežno
pogledal Honajo, ki se mi
je nasmehnila s svojo značilno čutno naklonjenostjo do mene.
»Ne verjemite tem Ostrinom!« je dejal Harstan.
»Zdaj, v teh zaostrenih
razmerah, se bodo sprenevedali s sprotnim izmišljanjem različnih laži. Še
vedno ne poznajo niti pravega pomena vaše navzočnosti niti pravega razloga
zanjo, čeprav že imajo
neke meglene predstave.
Hoteli bodo izvedeti več.
Zato lahko pričakujemo
določene zaplete z izzivanji, pri katerih znajo biti
precej spretni. Še nas jim
je uspelo presenetiti. Vas
Zemljane pa bi lahko presenetili verjetno še dosti
prej. Zato vas prosim za
nekaj malega zadržano-
int, and suggest that when
you are talking to them you
take time to consider your
answers to the more difficult questions or discuss
them with Honaja.”
I gave a slight nod to indicate my acceptance of
Harstan’s warnings.
***
sti ter da si v pogovoru z
njimi vzamete čas za bolj
zahtevne odgovore in za
razmislek ali pa se pogovorite s Honajo.«
Z rahlim prikimavanjem
sem nakazal svoje soglasje
s Harstanovimi opozorili.
***
In the large hall the chairs
at the negotiating table,
three on either side of it,
were still unoccupied.
The escorts were supposed to remain in the background, 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
392
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 strokovnjaki za razna vprašanja na
takojšnem dosegu pogajalcev. Trdo bo. S Honajo
sva stala nekoliko stran,
ob preprogi, speljani od
vhoda skozi dobro polovico petdesetmetrske dvorane. Pogled mi je zastal na
tleh pod mojimi nogami.
beneath my feet. Some
kind of parquet cut from
wood of various colours to
form a mosaic-like depiction of a flower garden,
with decorative shrubs and
a stream flowing towards
the walls, or rather columns, with small arched
exits between them and
one larger arch beneath
which a small lake extended into the hall, with a
little bridge across it.
“The delegation of the
Acutins!” announced a
clear voice from the direction 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 attitude. Honaja and I did the
same, although we remained slightly more to the
front, where I observed
with interest the etiquette
of these highly developed
civilisations. Their protocol was quite similar
to ours on Earth, except
393
Nekakšen parket, izrezan
iz raznobarvnega lesa v
mozaični upodobitvi cvetličnega vrta s potmi, z
okrasnimi grmi in s potokom, speljanim do sten ali,
bolje rečeno, do stebrov z
manjšimi obočnimi izhodi
in z enim večjim, pod katerim 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 preprogi 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 opazoval pravila obnašanja teh
višje razvitih civilizacij.
Protokol so imeli precej
podoben kot Zemljani, le
that the overall effect was
one of preserving a tradition, despite all their new
technology. “What tradition they are trying to
preserve?” I wondered. It
appeared that emphasising the solemn nature of
the occasion with the presence of a large escort was
perfectly acceptable and
indeed expected.
Three negotiators appeared at the entrance, accompanied by nine advisers in
black jackets rather like
tailcoats beneath which
they wore silver close-fitting one-piece overalls
with the shoes, or rather
boots, already attached.
The negotiators were dressed in the same way but
with the colour scheme
reversed: their tailcoats
gleamed silver. I had already had a chance to see
this “fabric” of theirs from
close up. It was made of
thousands of tiny diamonds measuring barely
a tenth of a millimetre set
in a matrix finer than a
394
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, poudarjanje slovesnosti z navzočnostjo številnega spremstva je gotovo povsod
sprejemljivo oziroma pričakovano.
Na vhodu so se prikazali
trije pogajalci v spremstvu devetih svetovalcev
v črnih, frakom podobnih
suknjičih, pod katerimi so
nosili srebrne, rahlo oprijete kombinezone, ki so
bili iz enega dela, skupaj s
čevlji, pravzaprav škornji.
Pogajalci pa so imeli sicer
enaka oblačila, le barvna
razporeditev je bila obratna: fraki so bili srebrno
svetlikajoči se. Že prej
sem se od blizu seznanil s
to njihovo »tkanino«, spleteno iz tisočerih, komaj
desetinko milimetra velikih diamantov, vstavljenih
v očem nevidne, od lasu
human hair and invisible
to the naked eye. The first
impression was that this
was merely a rather unusual material with a flat
surface. It was the reflections that gave this attire its
splendid appearance.
The negotiators came to
a halt. One of the Acutins
from the hall approached
them and handed something to them. Evidently
they had been waiting for
this. Then the main negotiator walked decisively
forward along the carpet
towards the negotiating
table. I watched with interest 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 seriousness that seemed to contain a kind of anger, as
though he were accusing
me of having made the
wrong decision.
395
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 slovesen 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 opazoval, se je nenadoma ustavil ter se mi s trdim, že kar
strogim izrazom obraza
zazrl v oči.
»Ste prepričani, da ste na
pravi strani?« je spregovoril z resnostjo, v kateri sem
zaznal celo nekakšno jezo,
kot da mi očita napačno
odločitev.
“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 indicated 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 supposed to say. Actually it was
all rather embarrassing.
He was insulting the Sensins, my friends.
“It’s not true,” whispered
Honaja.
But the Acutin continued
to stare at me, and although 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 stan396
»Kaj pa govorite?« se je
vmešala Honaja, »Nobene
pravice nimate, da nadirate naše goste. Vsaj na tem
mestu ne.«
Toda poteze na Ostrinovem obrazu so postale še
ostrejše. Prav bes je zavel
iz njih. To je bila jeza, zadrževana in resnična, ki je
nekaj stranskih besed ne
more pomiriti. Nato je privzdignil 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. Pravzaprav 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
ding in front of me with
the same furious expression on his face.
“They cannot be your friends. 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 civilisation that began genetic
manipulation even before
you had understood the
basics of life and living
beings. You understood
nothing and yet you embarked on fatal changes. And
the result is what it is. Cripples. 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,”
397
mano z enakim besnim
izrazom na obrazu. »Oni
ne morejo biti vaši prijatelji. 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 manipuliranjem, 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. Kriplji. To ste vi. Umski kriplji!«
Na Ostrinovem obrazu
se je izraz besa med obračanjem k meni umaknil
ciničnemu nasmehu. »Ali
vam še niso povedali pravljice o svojem nastanku?
Hm? Ne?« je dejal z namigom na Čutine.
»Lahko pa mu povem dejstva o vašem nastanku,«
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 recommendations. How wretched you seemed when we
revealed your deformity!
With proofs, of course.
398
se je vmešal Čutin ob
Honaji. »Saj so zelo kratka
in zlahka razumljiva.«
Tedaj so se oglasili še bližnji 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 negodovanje Čutinov, vseh
naokrog. Oglasil se je višji
možak s kratko postriženo
brado in z nekoliko daljšimi lasmi: »Kakšni izrazi,
in še velike besede zraven!
Privlečete jih iz nič in
vržete na mizo kot čista
dejstva. Vse ostalo ste pozabili. Naša opozorila, priporočila. Kako bedni ste bili
videti, ko smo razkrili vašo
deformiranost! Z dokazi,
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 recommendations. We merely
introduced some changes
in our constantly evolving process of self-construction, which has been
going on ever since the
primitive level at which
the Earthmen are today.”
At that moment the negotiating delegation of the
Sensins arrived. Their
leader only caught the last
few words, but evidently
he had immediately grasped the situation. 399
seveda. Nazorno smo vam
povedali, kaj je z vami
narobe. Do podrobnosti
smo vam vse pojasnili. In
potem ste začeli s popravljanjem. Spet na hitro in
spet narobe. Prav žalostno
je, da ste na tej civilizacijski stopnji vse skupaj tako
malo razumeli.«
Ostrini so ponovno vzrojili. Tisti, ki mu je Čutin
govoril, je odvrnil:
»Pri nas ni bilo nikakršnega popravljanja na podlagi vaših ugotovitev in
še manj na podlagi vaših
priporočil. Uvedli smo le
nekaj sprememb v našem
nenehno delujočem procesu
samoizgrajevanja,
ki traja vse od primitivne
ravni, na kakršni so današnji Zemljani.«
Tedaj je pristopila pogajalska delegacija Čutinov.
Njihov vodja je sicer ujel le
nekaj zadnjih besed, toda
očitno mu je bilo takoj vse
jasno.
“Keep to the agreement,
please,” he said in a serious 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 pointed towards the table – “let
us continue the negotiations!”
400
»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
He made a gesture to indicate 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 precedence 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
401
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 ustvariti 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 vzpodbudne 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 civilizacije omogočiti globlje
understanding of the differences 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 innocently bare neck. She radiated so much alluring tenderness 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 conviction... 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 negotiators 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 cripples…”
“Yes, well... That was putting it a bit strongly, but
there really is something
402
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 nedolžno
razkritega
vratu.
Toliko mikavne mehkobe
je prihajalo iz nje, da govorjenje 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 razmišljanju. . . Da, prav neverjetno… 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-
questionable if not unhinged about the mentality
of these Acutins. At first
I agreed that their genetic
deformation was insignificant, but now that it is the
very source of these actions of theirs that are causing conflicts, hostilities
and probably, as you yourself have been able to see,
even war between us, my
opinion has changed.”
Naturally everything that
triggers a war is important, terribly important,
I thought. “How are they
actually different from
you? I can hardly see a
difference,” I asked.
At my words Honaja flinched and indicated with
a gesture of her hand that
these differences were
far from being small. She
smiled: “We are very different.”
“Who actually are the
Acutins?” I asked.
“They are a civilisation
with an origin similar to
your human civilisation
on earth, but then they
403
šljiv, če že ne zmešan.
Sprva sem se še strinjala
glede nepomembnosti njihove genske deformacije,
a sedaj, ko se prav iz nje
razvija njihovo delovanje,
ki sproža nasprotja, sovraštva in prav verjetno, kot si
lahko sam videl, še vojno
med nami, razmišljam že
drugače.«
Seveda je vse, kar sproža
vojno, pomembno, hudirjevo pomembno, sem razmišljal. »V čem se pa pravzaprav ločijo od vas? Jaz
skoraj ne vidim razlike,«
sem vprašal.
Toda ob teh mojih besedah se je Honaja zdrznila
in s kretnjo roke nakazala, kakor da te razlike še
zdaleč niso majhne, ter se
nasmehnila: »Precej se razlikujemo.«
»Kdo pa so pravzaprav
Ostrini?« sem vprašal.
»So civilizacija z nastankom, podobnim vašemu,
človeškemu na Zemlji,
toda potem so presekali
interrupted their evolutionary 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 breaching of the agreed rules
both with regard to the
triggering of military conflicts and in general, but
after a brief exchange of
words they finally agreed
on the topics to which priority 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,
404
svojo evolucijsko pot. In
to nasilno. Neodgovorno.
Čeprav delno tudi po
nesrečnem naključju, po
katerem je prišlo do jedrske vojne med njimi.«
Medtem so vsi okoli
naju že prisluhnili pogajanjem, tako da sva ob
nastali tišini še midva s
Honajo prekinila najin
pogovor.
Začeli so z medsebojnim
obtoževanjem zaradi kršenja 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
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 uncertainty 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 different parties in a dispute on
Earth, especially before
military conflicts but also
after them, when major or
minor disputes were involved. But the main dispute
between the Acutins and
the Sensins nevertheless
probably derived from the
partly destroyed balance
of power, I assumed. I stopped to consider the like405
namigom na predigro, na
uvodno ogrevanje. Najpomembnejše bo prišlo na
dnevni red pozneje. Zdaj
nam bodo najprej naprtili
odgovornost za prve spopade, 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 področjih, za katera bodo potem
dokazovali njihovo povezanost z začetnimi spopadi
ali kaj podobnega.
To je bilo dovolj podobno
ravnanju različnih sprtih
strani na Zemlji, še posebej pred vojaškimi spopadi, 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 ravnotežja sil, sem domneval. Moje razmišljanje je
zastalo ob verjetnosti take
lihood of this explanation.
Another perfectly possible
reason for the dispute lay
in the more efficient management of energy resources 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 foundation, something had to
be behind them, I thought, although the words
themselves may not have
had much cogency. The
responses of the two sides,
particularly the emotional 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.
406
razlage. Povsem možen
razlog spora je bil tudi v
uspešnejšem zagotavljanju energetskih virov ene
od strani. Najbrž Čutinov.
Da, začelo se je rušiti ravnotežje. Toda tudi druge
razlike med tema civilizacijama so videti precejšnje 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 zanikal 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.
“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 attitude 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 embarrassment had been unpleasant to watch, although
she had stood up for herself with great self-assurance, 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.
407
»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 sporekla, 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 samozavestno 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 skupine Ostrinov, na katerih zlaganost in nesramnost se je Honaja tako
čustveno odzvala.
Oba Ostrina sta se primaknila še za korak bliže,
dovolj za pogovor, ki sem
se mu nameraval izogniti.
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 coincidence? If it was really
merely a coincidence…
“My friend Orhan and
I were admiring your
friend. She is very beautiful,” said the nearer
Acutin. There was something slightly provocative
about his manner.
“Of course,” replied his
neighbour, although this
rather cynical compliment had been addressed 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 obliged to intervene in her
defence, and that was also
what I wanted to do, but
I couldn’t find the right
408
Tudi Honaja ju je opazila in
po izrazu njenega obraza
sem lahko zaznal rahlo
nejevoljo, čeprav jima je
vljudno odzdravila. Napetost pa je v trenutku narasla. Da smo se morali prav
tu tako nenadoma srečati!
Po naključju? Če je bilo to
res zgolj naključje…
»S prijateljem Orhanom
občudujeva vašo prijateljico. Zelo lepa je,« mi je v
rahlo izzivalni drži navrgel
bližnji Ostrin.
»Seveda,« je odgovoril
njegov sosed, čeprav je
bil ta, z nekakšnim cinizmom izrečeni kompliment
namenjen meni. »Čutini
sledijo vsem dogajanjem
na Zemlji, še posebej
oblikovalskim dosežkom
Zemljanov, ki jih zelo uspešno posnemajo.«
Honaja je ostala tiho.
Nekajkrat sem jo pogledal. Čutil sem se sicer dolžnega posredovati v njeno
obrambo, to bi tudi prav
rad storil, pa nisem našel
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 Acutins. At least that is how
they responded. I had the
impression that this sort of
conversation came naturally 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 seriousness, the other Acutin
took his cue:
“Yes, that is the interesting thing,” he replied.
“Things have their own
form, which in the end is
what it is. And this is the
409
nobene ustrezne besede.
Ozadje, na katerem je
temeljilo to nesramno
drezanje, mi ni bilo le prikrito, neznano, ampak je
v nejasnih obrisih dajalo
slutiti nekaj pomembnega.
Honajina in moja zadržanost pa sta se obema Ostrinoma 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 oblikovanje z zunanjostjo živih
teles.« Orhan je govoril svojemu 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
most important thing. If
the form of Earthwomen
is written in the genetic
code, and the Sensins achieve the same appearance
through design, then in the
end there is no longer any
difference, is there?”
The Acutin laughed cynically. 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, containing 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 cle410
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 razumevajoči pogled, v svojem
besu se mi je namreč zdela
še posebno lepa, je pogasil njeno jezo, kot sem
lahko razbral iz njenih
oči. Ostrina sta jo očitno
arly wanted to provoke her
with their insults. They
were simply being malicious.
“You surprise me, did you
know that?” said Honaja,
half turning towards the
Acutins.
The Acutin closer to us
immediately responded
cheerfully: “We’ve noticed.” His comrade smirked.
“I had long been convinced 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. Including 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. Everything was destroyed.
Every living creature perished and all life on their
planet was exterminated.
And despite everything,
the few Acutins who sur411
hotela jeziti s svojimi žalitvami. Njuno govorjenje je
bilo preprosto zlobno.
»Ali vesta, da me presenečata?« 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 prepričana, 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 oblikovnem. Razpoznavanje vam
dela težave. Pa nič zato.«
Honaja se je obrnila k
meni: »Svoj planet so uničili z jedrskimi bombami.
Vse je bilo uničeno. Vsa
živa bitja z vsem življenjem na njihovem planetu so bila iztrebljena.
In tistih nekaj Ostrinov,
ki so preživeli, teh nekaj
vived, these few mental
cripples, remained convinced of their own superiority. 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 terrible. But what you have
hinted at is not correct.”
“Only a small number of
your entire population sur412
umskih kripljev je kljub
vsemu ostalo prepričanih
o svoji večvrednosti. To je
posebna vrsta deformacij. Umskih seveda. Posameznika 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 vzrojil Ostrin iz kroga poslušalcev v najini neposredni
bližini, sicer bolj umirjenega 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.
vived. All the others died,”
continued Honaja.
“There were no genetic
changes as a result of radioactive radiation, which
is what you are trying
to imply,” answered the
Acutin coldly.
“In the final consequences 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 foremost, 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 deficiencies 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
413
Vsi ostali so pomrli,« je
nadaljevala Honaja.
»Nobenih genskih sprememb ni bilo zaradi radioaktivnega sevanja, kot v
svojem dvomljivem izražanju namigujete,« ji je s trdo
resnostjo hladno nasprotoval Ostrin.
»V končnih posledicah so
bile, to smo vam dokazali.
In te genske spremembe
se zdaj kažejo kot usodne.«
»Gospa, to je laž! Govorjenja teh dveh gospodov,«
je Ostrin pokazal na svoja
tovariša, »ne odobravam,
saj ni pravilno. Vendar vam
to ne daje pravice do sprenevedanja. 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 zdavnaj odpravili.«
»Saj stvar je ravno v tem,
da jih niste. Ali pa ste jih
napačno, in zato smo zdaj
tam, kjer smo - tik pred
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 through the wall. I looked
around the hall. Quite a
number of lively discussions had started up. Judging 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 resulting from the blocked
access to the energy fields
still seemed to the main
cause. If the Acutins were
to discover their current
414
vojno,« je ob odobravajočem kimanju ostalih Čutinov vse bolj odločno nadaljevala Honaja.
»O čem pa govori ta lepo
dizajnirana lutka?« je vpadel
spet eden od dvojice Ostrinov. »Saj ne morem verjeti! Genske nepravilnosti
nam očita nekdo, ki genov
sploh nima!«
»Prosim za tišino!« se je
zaslišal glas, okrepljen
skozi stene. Pogledal sem
po dvorani. Precej živahnih pogovorov je bilo že
vzpostavljenih, najbrž so
bili podobni našemu prerekanju, vsaj po živahnosti sodeč. Spor med njimi
je bil očitno res zaostren.
Zavrgel sem nekaj pomislekov o zadevi, še naprej pa
se mi je v ospredju kazalo
neravnovesje sil zaradi
blokiranega dostopa do
energetskih polj. Prav
lahko bi Ostrini ob spoznanju svoje trenutne
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 feeling their way, provoking
the Sensins with local
attacks and then – negotiations. 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 background, 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 insigni415
premoči izkoristili priložnost 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, izzivanja 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 ponovnem vzpostavljanju nadzora nad največjim kompleksom energetskih polj.
In zadaj mora biti še neka
razlika med njimi. Hm.
Ta razlika, hja, presneto.
Morda sploh ni tako
majhna. Nekatera znamenja so nakazovala še druga,
ne ravno nepomembna raz-
ficant. With a civilisation 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 difference that would be unacceptable 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
416
hajanja. Pri civilizaciji na
tej ravni bi pričakoval strpnost 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 poškodbah, ki naj bi bile posledica
nuklearne vojne, je kar
kruto. Poškodba možganov, 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
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, particularly in contrast to the
almost excessive tolerance
and conciliatoriness of the
Sensins. How could they
behave with such impudence at their level of
civilisation? Well perhaps
they were not all like that.
The Acutin who had intervened in the last discussion 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
417
hočejo. To že ne more biti
dobro za Zemljane. Pa tudi
za Honajo prevlada Ostrinov 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 prirojen. 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 spravljivosti. Le kako morejo na svoji
civilizacijski ravni nastopati s tako nesramnostjo?
No, najbrž niso vsi taki.
Možak iz zadnjega pogovora je bil vseeno precej
drugačen, čeprav je še
vedno ostajal na ostrinovskih stališčih. Morda
bolje rečeno – izhodiščih.
Saj tudi on ni kazal posebnega prijateljstva do Čuti-
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 difference between Sensins
and Acutins to be a serious
matter, something which
at this moment pointed to
a certain ambiguity where
the Sensins were concerned. Yes, there was something 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 coldness 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
418
nov. A se je bil vsaj pripravljen pogovoriti na bolj
dostopen način, čeprav je
bilo po njegovih besedah,
še bolj pa po načinu govorjenja zaznati, da jemlje
različnost med Čutini in
Ostrini kot resno zadevo,
to pa je v tem trenutku
kazalo na določeno nejasnost glede Čutinov. Hja,
tudi na njih je bilo nekaj
skrivnostnega. Tisto z
roboti je bila sicer res žalitev, a deloma morda sprejemljiva, vsaj kolikor kaže
na določeno značilnost
Čutinov. Morda v njihovih
značajih.
Toda Honaji očitati hladnost ali celo brezčutnost
je oslarija. To že ne more
veljati v tem smislu. Sta pa
bila ta dva Ostrina nedvomno sugestivna v svojem
nastopu. Pa še ta spravljivi
Ostrin ni omenil ničesar
said anything more specific on that topic, probably because he had had
to rebut Honaja’s accusations. 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 clearer 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-point for better understanding. The ordinary abilities of Earthmen were
good enough (or probably
were) to evaluate whatever it was that the Acutins
and Sensins were accusing 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
419
bolj konkretnega na to
temo, najbrž zato, ker je
moral zavrniti Honajine
obtožbe. Škoda, da vsaj on
ni povedal kaj več o Čutinih. 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 izhodišče za boljše razumevanje. 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 drugemu. Morebitno norost
ali pa (zakaj ne?) robotsko
obnašanje, tudi če gre le
za pomanjkanje čutnosti
confusion in their emotional 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 company, in everyday life. That
would be good. Unfortunately 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 reactions 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
420
ali za zmešnjavo v čutnem
odzivanju, ne glede iz katerega vzroka je povzročena
- to že lahko zasledim.To
vsekakor. Pomembno je,
da bi končno le izvedel,
na kaj moram biti pozoren. Malo pa bom še sam
občasno podrezal. Da,
vse, kar res potrebujem,
je nekaj pogovorov. Tako
z enimi kot z drugimi. Najbolje 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 odzivov 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,
some extremely dangerous situations, and that
in itself was quite strange.
It was true that according
to their subsequent explanations 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 battles 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 discussion. The Acutins insisted
on giving priority to a
discussion of the violation
of the laws prohibiting
interference on the part of
highly developed civilisations in the evolution of
421
in to v nekaterih izjemno
nevarnih položajih, kar
je bilo dovolj nenavadno.
Res pa po njihovih poznejših razlagah zadeva ni bila
tako nevarna, kot je bila
videti, ker njihovi materiali
vzdržijo neprimerno večje
obremenitve, kot bi pričakoval Zemljan. Potem so
bili nekaj časa sredi bitk,
zdaj pa so sredi pogajanj.
Pogledal sem po obrazih 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 vztrajali na prednostni obravnavi kršenja zakonov o
prepovedi posegov višje
razvitih civilizacij v evo-
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 already involved a wide area
from sector ER22 to sector
ER742.
“In any case,” added the
Sensin, “we do not interfere in the evolutionary
development of any civilisation, 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 development of the Earthmen...”
422
lucijo razumskih bitij na
nižji razvojni stopnji, vodja
Čutinov pa je to označil
za rahlo cinično govorjenje, 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 poudarjenimi obrvmi na koščenem obrazu in z nekoliko
naprej potisnjeno brado.
»Vaši obiski na Zemlji so
postali že nekaj povsem
običajnega. Spuščate se
nanjo, potem pa odpeljete nekatere ljudi, vsega
vašega početja tam niti
ne moremo preverjati, in
zdaj tukaj zagotavljate, da
ne posegate v evolucijski
razvoj Zemljanov…«
“Our visits to Earth are
few and far between and
there is nothing ill-intentioned 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 civilisation is part of it, but
this is only one step from
occupying the Earth on
the pretext of your coexistence with the biblical
purgatory.”
“Such talk is inadmissible!” objected a Sensin to
the left of the main negotiator with slightly lighter
423
»Ti naši spusti na Zemljo
so zanemarljivo redki in
so brez kakršnekoli zlonamernosti. Nič spornega
ni pri tem z naše strani.
Prav gotovo ne počnemo
ničesar, kar bi lahko povzročilo zmedo ali kakršenkoli strah med Zemljani.
Po drugi strani so bili vaši
spusti na Zemljo veliko
pogostejši od naših, o
čemer se lahko prepričamo, saj imamo oboji
organizirano opazovanje.«
Ostrin pa je samo smehljaje
se
odkimaval:
»Kakšno govorjenje! Kaj
pa Vice? Zgradili ste svoje
Vice in Zemljane nameravate prepričati, da je vaša
civilizacija del njih, to
pa je le korak do okupacije Zemlje pod pretvezo
vašega sobivanja z biblijskimi Vicami.«
»Tako čvekanje je nedopustno!« je nasprotoval Čutin
na levi strani osrednjega
pogajalca, nekoliko sve-
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 accusations of pretence, deceit and
other dishonest conduct
are insulting. I would therefore ask you to be respectful 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 difficulty. 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. Everyone was speaking at
once. Most of the Acutins
were shaking their heads
as if to say that this wasn’t
true. The Sensins talked
424
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 različnosti, ki nas ločujejo, kajti
četudi so velike, ni nobene
potrebe po vojnem spopadu zaradi njih.«
»Dobro. Zgradili ste pač,
kar ste zgradili. Tudi mi bi
lahko kaj takega naredili
brez težav. Toda zakaj imenujete to Vice? Dajte temu
vsaj kakšno drugo ime!«
»Ampak to so Vice!«
Zdaj je v dvorani nastal
močan hrum. Vsi so govorili vsevprek. Ostrini so
večinoma
odkimavali,
češ da to ne gre, da to ni
res, Čutini pa so omenjali
svojo tradicijo, svoj razvoj
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 culture, that this would be the
best thing for them, rather
than rejecting an achievement of highly developed
civilisations without verifying 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 staring 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 cynical Acutins. It was Orhan’s
friend. He was responding
425
in da so Vice del njihove
posebnosti, njihove kulture, predvsem pa, to so
še posebej glasno omenjali, lahko ta del njihove
kulture prevzamejo tudi
Ostrini, to bi bilo zanje še
najbolje, ne pa da dosežek
visoko razvitih civilizacij
odklanjajo brez predhodnega 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 mrmranje 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 nenadoma od strani priletelo
v pojasnilo. Pogledal sem
smehljajoči se obraz bližnjega od tistih dveh cinič-
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 explanation from these two cynical Acutins as well-intentioned. I was also disturbed
by the slightly patronising
tone that had taken the
place of their usual cynicism. 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 original 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 surreptitious observation, but now
I had to modify this plan
by going into this question
426
nih Ostrinov. Bil je Orhanov prijatelj. Odzval se je
na moje polglasno razmišljanje. »Ti Čutini blefirajo.
Mar tega še niste uganili?«
je navrgel objestno.
Odmaknil sem pogled, ker
od teh dveh ciničnih Ostrinov bi bilo težko sprejeti
kakršnokoli pojasnilo kot
dobronamerno. Motil pa
me je tudi rahlo pokroviteljski ton namesto njunega običajnega cinizma.
Preveč, da bi pograbil za
navrženo besedo in ju kar
naravnost povprašal za
njuno razlago o tem nenavadnem pojmu »Vice«.
Čeprav bi seveda potreboval 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 prikritim detektivskim opazovanjem še nekoliko preveril vse skupaj, sem moral
sedaj dopolniti s poglobitvijo v smislu, da so Vice
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 question was how they had
managed to place their
attitude towards Earthmen
right at the start of negotiations. 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 mentioned. What I was supposed to think about all of
this was another question
427
del njihovih posebnosti,
kot pravijo Čutini, to pa se
nikakor ne ujema z odzivi
Ostrinov na to temo, ki so
skušali razkrinkati sprenevedanje Čutinov kot prevarantov ali nekaj podobnega. 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 Zemljanov na prvem mestu.
Ostrini so vztrajali pri tem.
Čutini pa so se pri omembah Vic sklicevali na svoje
civilizacijske
posebnosti. Kaj naj si o vsem tem
mislim jaz, je pa bilo spet
nekaj drugega. Odkimal
again. I shook my head
at my inability to understand.
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 genuinely have caused differences 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 mentioned 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 different – 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
428
sem sam sebi spričo nemožnosti razumevanja.
Nobenih pravih predstav
si nisem mogel ustvariti
iz vsega, kar sem vedel.
Nisem namreč zaznal ničesar, 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 Nebotičniku, 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
full beard. Hmm. Purgatory? In what sense? As
an expiation of sins before
entering heaven? Probably 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 established. 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
429
bi mogel reči. Hm, Vice?
V kakšnem smislu? Kot
pokora za grehe pred vstopom v nebesa? Kaj takega
najbrž ne, vsaj v tem preprostem smislu ne, kajti
potem bi morali imeti
nekakšno sodno preverjanje. Pa ni videti nikakršne naravnanosti Čutinov
v tej smeri. Za Ostrine pa
naj bi bila ta zadeva sploh
nesprejemljiva. Zakaj? Oziroma kaj je zanje nesprejemljivo? Mogoče Vice pomenijo le neki prostor, ime za
neko. . . Toda kaj lahko to
pomeni za Zemljane? Oziroma 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 kodiranja in varnostne zapore
barriers based on verbal
and emotional responses
at some insignificant kids’
party on Earth. In other
words there is some connection in the background. 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 connection or link or whatever
I should call this relationship 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 observers then, which apparently meant a more correct
attitude, although they
seem considerably more
cynical than the Sensins,
430
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 navzočnost v vsem tem dosedanjem dogajanju kaže
na zveze, povezave ali
kakorkoli naj bi že imenoval 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 spuščali na Zemljo, vendar,
kot je dejal tisti Ostrin,
brez poseganja v zemeljsko evolucijo, torej najbrž
bolj v vlogi opazovalcev, kar naj bi pomenilo
bolj korekten odnos,
čeprav so videti precej
bolj cinični od Čutinov,
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 provoke her with their “beautifully designed,” presumably an allusion to “designing” robots. Yes, hmm,
these Acutins insult them
by calling them robots...
Why robots? Because of
a lack of sensitiveness?
There was nothing metallic, 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
431
ki so, vsaj glede Honaje
se nisem mogel motiti,
neprimerno bolj čutni.
Honaja? Vice? Ostrina sta
jo dražila z »lepo oblikovana«, torej z namigovanjem na nekakšno »dizajniranje« robotov. Ja, hm, kar
z roboti jih zmerjajo tile
Ostrini… Roboti? Zakaj?
Zaradi pomanjkanja čutnosti? Na Honaji ni bilo ničesar kovinskega, ničesar
robotskega, bila je daleč od
brezčutnosti. Prav nasprotno. Toliko življenja s človeško 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 upoštevati. Za pogajalsko mizo
so Ostrini med obravnavo
odnosa do manj razvitih
civilizacij v nasprotju s
Sensins, had constantly
mentioned Earthmen and
human civilisation. The
Sensins on the other hand
had merely talked about
less developed civilisations in general, and had
only mentioned terrestrial
civilisation when explaining how a deeply respectful relationship had been
established between them
and us Earthmen; this
accorded with my experience or rather with my
feelings regarding the Sensins’ attitude towards me,
and thus probably towards
Earthmen in general. And
when this constant working of the Earthmen issue
into the negotiations had
become more and more
like an academic discussion – 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 Sensins and the Acutins – the
Acutin in the centre of the
432
Čutini nenehno omenjali
Zemljane, človeško civilizacijo. Čutini pa so govorili zgolj o manj razvitih
civilizacijah nasploh, o
zemeljski pa le v obrazložitvi, kako je med njimi in
Zemljani vzpostavljen globoko spoštljiv odnos; to se
je ujemalo z mojimi izkušnjami oziroma z mojimi
občutki glede odnosa Čutinov do mene in s tem verjetno tudi do Zemljanov.
In ko je to nenehno vpletanje vprašanja o Zemljanih
v pogajanja postajalo vse
bolj podobno akademski
razpravi, že kar nerazumljivi zaradi posvečanja
tolikšnega časa tako nepomembno majhni Zemlji,
vsaj v primeri s civilizacijama Čutinov in Ostrinov,
je Ostrin sredi pogajalske
negotiating group interrupted the discussion with
a request for an immediate
suspension of all contacts
with less developed civilisations. 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 recognition of the right to evolutionary development.
This was followed by a
short break which the Sensins 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 negotiating 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 barriers that have been erected
in the asteroid belt and
also in other parts of the
433
skupine presekal to govorjenje z zahtevo po takojšnji
prekinitvi vseh stikov z
manj razvitimi civilizacijami. Prekinitev naj bi trajala vse do skupnega dogovora o koncu izjemnega
stanja, po katerem naj bi
pod okrepljenim nadzorstvom ponovno vzpostavili ravnovesje na podlagi
vzajemnega spoštovanja
in priznavanja pravice
do lastnega evolucijskega
razvoja.
Temu je na zahtevo Čutinov 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 vprašanje prostih prehodov, ki so,
kot vsi vemo, ob postavljenih zaporah v asteroidnem
pasu in tudi na drugih pre-
galaxy, have been closed
or rendered more difficult.”
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 talking loudly. Evidently
those on the commission
had already known something, but probably not the
details, since otherwise
they would have concentrated even more on me
and not on the Earthmen
as a whole.
“Peter,” whispered Honaja,
gesturing at me to move
434
delih vesolja ali zaprti ali
oteženi.« Zdaj so pa Ostrini
zahtevali premor za posvetovanje. Dobil sem vtis, da
jih je tako hiter pristanek
Čutinov presenetil do pravega vznemirjenja v njihovih vrstah. Vsi Ostrini
okoli mene so se vidno
vznemirili. »Kar so potrebovali, 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 Ostrinov je dvigovala svoje glasove. Očitno so v komisiji
že morali nekaj vedeti, le
da najbrž ne v podrobnostih, ker potem bi se bolj
osredotočili name in ne na
Zemljane v celoti.
»Peter,« je z namigom, naj
se ji primaknem, zašepe-
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 increasingly keenly.I bent close
to Honaja’s mouth so that
I felt her warm breath as
she said:”Peter, the Acutins have linked our more
frequent flights to Earth in
the recent period with their
conjectures about our possible difficulties in managing the energy fields. In
view of their sudden excitement 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
435
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 pogovarjala z vse ostrejšim pogledovanjem vanjo.
Sklonil sem se tik do Honajinih 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 težavah pri upravljanju z energetskimi polji. Glede na
njihovo nenadno razburjenje, ko smo privolili k prekinitvi povezav z Zemljo
že lahko sklepamo, kaj jim
je uspelo ugotoviti o teh
naših težavah. Stalni informacijski pretok z Zemljani
naj bi bil po njihovih ugotovitvah za nas nujen,
čeprav ne vedo, zakaj. Zato
so tudi zapirali vse poti
skozi asteroidne pasove.
Zdaj so pa spoznali, da ta
that this flow of information is no longer so vital
to us and – something that
could be dangerous for us
– they believe that the purpose 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 assumptions about our urgent
need for information from
Earth are correct. But now
they are looking at this as
something that has already been done, despite all
their forecasts and blockades. They have established that the information
that our present mission is
supposed to be bringing is
effectively the only information we still need. They
don’t know what kind of
information this is supposed to be, but their teams
of analysts have already begun studying everything connected with
436
pretok za nas ni več tako
nujen in, kar je lahko za
nas nevarno, da je prav
naša misija namenjena prenosu zadnjih informacij, ki
naj bi nam po njihovi zdajšnji 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 informacij z Zemlje. Toda zdaj
gledajo na to kot na nekaj,
kar je že opravljeno kljub
vsem njihovim predvidevanjem in blokadam. Ugotovili so, da v bistvu potrebujemo 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 preučevanje vsega, kar je povezano
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 information. 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 preparations to fully acquaint
you with our civilisation.
This time, when we have
told you everything, you
437
z našo misijo, s tem našim
poletom. Morda bodo celo
ugotovili dejanski razlog
zanj. Dotlej pa bodo verjetno storili vse, kar je v
njihovi moči, da bi zaustavili 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 verjetno ne bodo hoteli spustiti. 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 pripravili vse za tvojo popolno
seznanitev z našo civilizacijo. Tokrat, ob tej seznanitvi boš lahko šele razumel
will finally understand
the essence of our civilisation, which is the complete 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 incomparably more robotic than
us. They are metal cynics
without feelings.”
I wanted to look over at the
Acutins, but then I noticed them right next to me.
They must have approached 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 considerable
importance,”
began Orhan. “Not only
for the Sensins, but also for
us, and for the Earthmen
in particular. We are figh438
bistvo naše civilizacije, ki
je pravo nasprotje tega,
kar nam Ostrini podtikajo v svojem zmerjanju z
roboti. Prav nasprotno je
res. Oni so postali zaradi
genskih deformacij neprimerno 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 besedami sta morala pristopiti, in to tako neopazno,
da sem se zdrznil, ko sem
ju nenadoma začutil. Bila
pa sta povsem zresnjena,
brez ciničnega nasmihanja. 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.
ting for evolution. For the
normal progress of evolution, 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 technological 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,” interrupted Orhan, with the
evident intention of diverting my attention from
Honaja, whom he was
already pushing aside as
he moved closer to me. But
our conversation had already attracted the attention
of both Acutins and Sensins. They were all following it, I saw, in the same
moment that I saw Orhan
439
Bojujemo se za evolucijo.
Za normalen potek evolucije, 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 brezčutni!«
»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 približevanjem 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
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 protective instincts, at least in
situations that were unpleasant 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 forward 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 evolutionary path. Of the kind
that will one day await
you Earthmen too. But the
Sensins wish to interrupt
this evolutionary path of
440
odrivanjem Honaje, za kar
v tistem trenutku ni bilo
pravega razloga, saj ni bilo
potrebno govoriti s take
bližine, za normalen pogovor 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 položajih, obhajali še zaščitniški
občutki. Z privzdigovanjem in počasnim spuščanjem 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 evolucijo, kot se skoznjo prebijate Zemljani, se borimo
za obstoj naše evolucijske
poti. Take, kot nekoč čaka
tudi vas Zemljane. Čutini
pa želijo to vašo evolucijsko pot presekati in vam
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 destroyed, is at least partially
destroyed. Their genes
have been destroyed, although what they have are not
actually genes but merely
computer programs that
were used by that destroyed civilisation.”
“That isn’t true!” snapped
Honaja. “We do not derive
from any decayed civilisation! What shamelessness!
Do you even know what
you are saying? You are
only now arriving at the
level of partial understanding of highly developed
civilisations, the level that
we are now it, and your
problem is above all your
weak ability to comprehend these facts. Weak
because of your cynicism and arrogance. If the
Earthmen were to see how
you look down on them,
they would lose even the
441
vsiliti svojo, temelječo
zgolj na delnih informacijskih 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 uporabljala tista uničena civilizacija.«
»To ni res!« je vzkliknila
Honaja. »Iz nobene propadle civilizacije ne izhajamo! Kakšna nesramnost!
Ali sploh veš, kaj govoriš?
Vi šele zdaj prihajate na
raven delnega razumevanja višje razvitih civilizacij,
na kateri smo sedaj mi, in
vaš problem je predvsem v
vaši šibki zmožnosti dojemanja teh dejstev. Šibki
zaradi vašega cinizma in
nadutosti. Ko bi Zemljani
videli, kako zviška gledate
nanje, bi jih minilo vsako,
smallest desire to cooperate with you. Not only
that, your arrogance would
make them realise how
unimportant and superfluous 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 civilisations! The reason that we
do not approach them
more closely lies in our
conscious decision not to
interfere in the evolution
of new civilisations. Including human civilisation.”
“Yes, you have labelled
them as a slightly more
developed animal species, that is something we
have been able to establish
countless times already,”
replied Honaja angrily.
“That is not true! Our attitude to them is far from
being either disdainful or
442
tudi najmanjše veselje do
sodelovanja z vami. Pa ne le
to. Po vaši nadutosti bi spoznali, kako nepomembni
in odvečni so za vas ter da
vidite v njih le neko nepotrebno ponavljanje vaše že
prehojene poti. Če ne bi
bilo nas, bi jih vi že zdavnaj uničili.«
»To pa že ni res!« je zdaj
vzkipel Orhan »Mi ne uničujemo manj razvitih civilizacij! Da se jim bolj ne
približujemo, je vzrok v
naši zavestni opredelitvi
za nevmešavanje v evolucijo novonastalih civilizacij. Tudi človeške.«
»Da, označili ste jih kot
malo bolj razvito živalsko 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-
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 attitude towards Earthmen
is going too far. It simply
isn’t fair.”
But the Sensin’s only reactions to Orhan’s words
were jeers and a general
shaking of heads.
“Always and everywhere
you have acted the same
way,” said a Sensin standing two or three paces
to my right. “You attack
and destroy everything
that clashes with your
interests. And several factors 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
443
jemo njihovo evolucijsko
pot. Marsikaj pri njih nas
spominja na otroška leta
naše civilizacije. Da pa se
zdijo nekateri njihovi običaji in odzivi našim posameznikom zabavni, je sicer
res, vendar iz tega sklepati
na našo nadutost in prezirljiv odnos do Zemljanov je
le preveč. To preprosto ni
pošteno.«
Vendar je Orhan med prisotnimi Čutini s svojimi
besedami sprožil le odkimavanje 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 planeta Zemlje. Ta planet vam
je postal všeč. Planet brez
nepotrebne človeške civilizacije pa bi bil še bolj po
vašem okusu.«
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 shouting 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 running Acutins stopped next
to Orhan. The other Acutins in the vicinity moved
towards him too and there
was a hurried whispered
conversation. It had to be
something very exciting.
The Acutins first dispersed into separate groups,
and then individuals began
jumping up and down and
waving clenched fists.
Their discussions and
various
interpretations
were becoming increasingly noisy, and then we
heard a shout:
“The Sensins cannot reach
their energy fields!”
“What?” shouted some
444
»Ta je pa zlobna!« je vzrojil
Ostrin z njegove leve ter
že hotel nadaljevati, ko se
je iz osrednjega dela dvorane, 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 kateremu so se primaknili
še Ostrini naokoli, ter se
spustil z njimi v živahen
šepetajoč pogovor. Vsekakor je moralo biti nekaj
zelo razburljivega. Ostrini
so se najprej razšli v posamezne skupine, kmalu
zatem pa so posamezniki
že kar poskakovali ali pa
vsaj občasno zamahnili s
stisnjeno pestjo. In tudi
njihovo govorjenje z različnimi razlagami vred je
postajalo vse bolj glasno,
tja do vzklika: »Čutini ne
morejo do svojih energetskih polj!«
»Kaj?« je vzkliknilo nekaj
of the Acutins who had
hitherto remained calm.
“What has happened?”
“The latest analyses of
the situation have confirmed our assumption that
the entrance to the Sensins’ 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 facetiously.
“Participants in the negotiations: 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.”
445
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 dejstvo. Ves njihov povečan promet z Zemljo je
posledica teh blokad.«
Na Orhanu se je vse smejalo, kar zažarel je od veselja. 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 srečanja. »Do nadaljnjega prekinjamo pogajanja zaradi
spremenjenih razmer.«
“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 mission to the end. We Sensins 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 traffic jam had formed, and
there was a dense throng
of flying craft. They were
landing and taking off,
singly or in swarms of
446
»Hitro!« sem zaslišal Honajin glas. »To pomeni vojno.
Ostrini bodo napadli. Vse
imajo pripravljeno. Le na
potrditev svojega analizatorskega centra so še
čakali. Po njihovih izračunih 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 zgradbami dajala vtis velikega
mestnega trga, je nastal
gost promet s pravo gnečo
letečih plovil. Pristajala so
in vzletavala, posamič in
varying size. They stopped by the running Sensins and Acutins and took
off again as soon as they
had climbed aboard. Everything was happening
very quickly. I was walking 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 immediately turned in that direction, 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 screeched to a halt like sports
447
tudi v manjših ali večjih
jatah, se ustavljala ob tekajočih Čutnih in Ostrinih
ter po njihovem vstopanju
vanje takoj spet odletela.
Vse je potekalo zelo hitro.
S pospešenim korakom
sem stopal v manjši skupini Čutinov, večinoma
iz naše posadke, tik ob
Honaji. »Tja!« je z vzklikom
pokazala na prosti del ploščadi, kamor smo se usmerili 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
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 holodisplay gave us the most
urgent information during
the flight. Everything was
in turmoil. Not only us. At
least judging from the bulletins 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 activity, 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
448
Zemlji, se na naši strani
razprla za prost vstop s
skokom vanje, vse je bilo
opravljeno v nekaj trenutkih, in kakor prejšnji vzlet
v jati smo tudi mi zdaj poleteli z nekaj sto plovili v zaokroženem letu k izhodu in
proti naši matični ladji iz
razreda ladjenosilk.
Kratka sporočila v našem
holiju so nam med potjo
dajala najnujnejše informacije. 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 OSVAJALEC 949 in nato še prazen,
pred kratkim prenapolnjen »Trgu miru« pred
veliko dvorano s pogajalskim omizjem, za katerim
ni bilo več nikogar. Zatem
pa se je v holiju prikazala
v tistem delu še bleščeča
eksplozija s kratkim spo-
sector with a brief message 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 started…”
“War... It’s war..” repeated 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 revealed 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
449
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 polglasno ponavljali drug za
drugim.
»Vse sile, z obeh strani,
se bodo zdaj spopadle.«
Honaja se je močneje oprijela 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
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 readiness. But the scene was
magnificent.
“Look at the holo-display!”
someone shouted. We all
turned. From the opposite 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 probable outcome of events.
Everything indicated that
450
vse večji deli trupov. Nastal
je trenutek tišine z nemim
navdušenjem.
Seveda
je imela tudi nasprotna 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 presekajo!« 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 verjetnega razpleta dogajanja.
Res je vse kazalo na naš
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 beneath our feet shook several times in succession.
The question that was
now raised was whether
it made sense to flee into
the interior of the shipcarrier, away from our
STORMBIRD, given that
451
pravočasen umik. »Izmaknili se bomo,« je v umirjenem razmišljanju povzel
Čutin ob holiju. »Toda kaj
bo potem? Napadli bodo
našo ladjenosilko in še
preden nam bo uspelo pristati 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 potrdili naša predvidevanja. V
sprednje dele naše velike
ladjenosilke so začeli zadevati energetski izstrelki že
takoj po našem pristanku
z malim VIHARNIKOM,
in to s silo, ki nam je kar
nekajkrat zapovrstjo stresla tla pod nogami. Zastavilo pa se je vprašanje o
smiselnosti bega v notranjost ladjenosilke, stran
od našega VIHARNIKA,
in the case of the ship-carrier 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-carrier, and therefore vulnerable in the case of a succession of hits by energy
bombs in that section. The
interior was in any case
better protected because
of the enormous dimensions of the ship-carrier.
Some members of the
crew expressed their misgivings, while others
insisted that despite everything we should stay
aboard the STORMBIRD,
ready to take off immediately 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
452
kajti ob morebitnem razpadu ladjenosilke na njene
sestavne dele se bo treba
vrniti na manjšega, vendar
hitrega
in
okretnega
VIHARNIKA. Toda pristajališče s hangarji je bilo tik
pod zunanjim delom ladjenosilke in zato ranljivo v
primeru zaporednih zadetkov energetskih bomb v
tisti predel, tako da je bila
notranjost vseeno bolje
zaščitena zaradi izjemno
velikih dimenzij ladjenosilke.
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 prevladalo priporočilo poveljstva. Vseeno naj bi bilo tako
bolje za nas. Pri tem pa je
bila že izbira besed poveljstva precej drugačna od
from headquarters was
different from usual. Our
protection was apparently
one of their most important concerns. As though
they were well aware of
the importance of our mission, 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 retreating. 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-display, 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
453
običajnih. Naša zaščita naj
bi bila za poveljstvo med
najpomembnejšimi nalogami. 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 prihajajočim 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 obširen del vesolja okoli nas z
vsemi asteroidnimi pasovi
in razporeditvami tako
naših kot ostrinovskih ladjevij. Obstreljevanja so že
potekala po vseh mejnih
področjih tja daleč v vesolje in znotraj celotnega
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 explosions. This was the area
around that section of the
asteroid belt where there
was the greatest concentration of Sensins. A kind
of pincer attack appeared
to be taking place against 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 shipcarriers, or even the majority of them.
“Why do they want this
part of the asteroid belt?”
I asked after a long, close
observation. The two Sensins next to me looked at
each other but they didn’t
reply. Not immediately,
at least. But then, when
the sense of my question
454
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 območje Čutinov.
Zdaj se je vse skupaj kazalo
v nekakšnem obkolitvenem 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 asteroidnega pasu?« sem vprašal
po daljšem zavzetem opazovanju. Čutina ob meni
sta se spogledala. Toda
odgovorila nista. Vsaj ne
takoj. Potem pa, ko je smiselnost mojega vprašanja
became increasingly apparent, 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 powerful bombardment directed 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 bombardment stopped. This
seemed very strange. At
least to me. Then, through
the window, I caught sight
of the movement of enormous spaceships immediately above us and further
ahead. The ships from
455
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 obstreljevanje naše ladjenosilke je
kljub obrambnemu ognju
iz vseh naših orožij že tanjšalo ali celo prebijalo oklepne ščite njenega trupa.
Nenadoma pa je obstreljevanje prenehalo; to je bilo
seveda čudno. Vsaj zame.
Skozi okno, tik nad nami in
tudi dalje naprej, sem tedaj
nenadoma zagledal premikanje ogromnih trupov
naših vesoljskih ladij. Tiste
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 encircled section of the asteroid
belt. They were coming to
help. They broke through
the surrounding ring, with
the result that the Acutins were forced to retreat
along the whole line of the
attacking Sensin fleet. This
was a rapid and unexpected transformation of the
balance of forces on the
battlefield; now the Sensins had taken the initiative along the whole line.
“It’s going to work!” shouted a Sensin by the holodisplay, which everyone
456
iz oblakov so nas prehitevale in že pritegnile nase
sovražno obstreljevanje.
Vsa moč nasprotnega
ognja se je zdaj usmerjala
nanje. Toda to jih ni ustavilo. Bilo jih je preveč.
Skoraj vse ladjevje, ali vsaj
njegov velik del iz gostih
temnih oblakov, je moralo
sodelovati v napadu. Prodirali so naravnost proti najhujšemu obstreljevanju.
Da, prebijali so se proti
obkoljenemu delu asteroidnega pasu. Prihajali so na
pomoč. Razbijali so obkolitveni obroč, tako da so se
bili Ostrini prisiljeni umikati po vsej smeri napadajočega 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
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 nodding 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. Although 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 Benesens. “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.
457
so vsi napeto zrli. Tudi jaz.
Pogled na holijev prikaz
pa ni bil niti malo razveseljiv. Pogledal sem odzive
Čutinov, toda ti so se samo
smehljali in zadovoljno
prikimavali.
»Zakaj pa tako zadovoljstvo?« sem vprašal. V prikazu 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 razbili njihove obkolitvene
obroče, bodo že tukaj,«
sem dejal Dobročutu z
namigom glede zame nerazumljivih 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.
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 everything. When, in the past,
we allowed some of your
fellow Earthmen to live
among us and adapt to our
way of life, they very quickly 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 themselves. 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 cautiously. Here…” Benesens
pointed towards the calm
section of the asteroid belt
around which the fiercest
458
In ni nam težko razlagati posebnosti iz našega
življenja. Tudi dovolj izkušenj imamo z Zemljani.
Vseh vrst izkušenj. Toda
Zemljani morajo najprej
vse podoživeti, nas učijo
izkušnje. Ko smo nekaterim vašim posameznikom omogočili življenje
med nami in prilagoditev
našemu načinu življenja,
so zelo hitro sprejemali
tudi naše vrednote. Prav
všeč so jim postale. Navdušeni 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 asteroidnega pasu, okoli katerega
so potekale najhujše bitke,
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 reaction of Earthmen to such
activity on the part of our
civilisation is still something of an unknown.”
I didn’t know what I was
supposed to think about
all of this. I merely repeated part of his words:
“Such activity…” Then,
falteringly, I added: “You
haven’t talked about this
with any Earthman…” I
frowned and looked closely at Benesens. “What
did you talk about with
them? I mean…?”
The Sensin had guessed my doubts. “Oh, we
showed them many things.
We accepted them among
us. They lived among us,
459
»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 govorili z Zemljani. Tako da je
za nas tudi odziv Zemljanov na tovrstno delovanje
naše civilizacije še precej
neznan.«
Nisem vedel, kaj naj si
mislim o vsem tem. Le
ponovil sem del Čutinovih
besed: »Tovrstno delovanje. . .« 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
we made their acquaintance. Many Earthmen
found good friends among
us. We discussed both our
common inclinations and
our possible differences.”
“What do you mean ‘possible 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 feeling.”
We were interrupted by
an announcement instructing the crew to prepare
to receive cargo from the
asteroid belt:”Warning for
rescue teams. Some asteroids from the purgatory
sector have been damaged.”
I turned to Benesens:
“What does this mean?”
“I don’t know.” Benesens
looked at me. “You already 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 techno460
med nami, poznanstva
smo navezali z njimi, marsikateri Zemljan je našel
dobre prijatelje med nami.
Pogovarjali smo se tako o
naših skupnih nagnjenjih
kot o morebitnih razhajanjih.«
»Kako to mislite- o morebitnih 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 asteroidi iz predela Vic so poškodovani.«
Obrnil sem se k Dobročutu: »Kaj to pomeni?«
»Ne vem.« Dobročut se je
zazrl vame. »Vi že imate
zadolžitev,
pomembno,
zelo pomembno zadolžitev. Zato ostanite tu! Bodo
že reševalne skupine opravile to delo. Gotovo je bil
logy has probably been
damaged during the Acutins’ bombardment. I can
hardly imagine the sort
of complications can arise
during the reception and
reassembly of such a complex 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 encircling ring. The explosions 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 bombardment 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
461
del naše vrhunske tehnike
poškodovan med tem
ostrinovskim obstreljevanjem. Kakšni zapleti lahko
nastanejo ob prevzemu
in ponovnem sestavljanju
tako kompleksnega sistema, kot so Vice, si pa bolj
težko predstavljam.«
V holiju smo lahko videli
prve spopade naših ladjenosilk z zunanjimi ladjenosilkami Ostrinov iz
njihovega obkolitvenega
obroča. Eksplozije energetskih bomb so s svojimi
silovitimi slepečimi bliski
prekrile najprej le redkejši
zunanji del obkolitvenega
obroča, toda ob napredovanju sil Čutinov je obstreljevanje prehajalo vse
globlje in kmalu prek vse
poloble. Njihove ladjenosilke so prodirale nezadržno. To je bilo videti dovolj
očitno. Toda ko je že kazalo
na popolno razbitje napadalnega obroča Ostrinov,
jim je uspelo v notranjosti ponovno urediti svoje
vrste ladjevij. Ladjenosilke
did not cause the slightest hesitation on the part
of the Sensins’ ship-carriers. They immediately
attacked them along the
whole length of their line
and with equally destructive 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 themselves with all available
firepower from all their
groups of ships and quickly 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 distribution of forces became
apparent. As I looked
away from the display in
order to observe the reac462
Čutinov pa se zaradi tega
niso niti najmanj obirale.
Takoj so udarile po njih, po
vsej širini in z enako uničujočo silo, ter jih postopoma trgale in uničevale,
tako da so se bili Ostrini
prisiljeni umikati pred
tem nevzdržnim napadom.
Vendar paničnega bega z
razpadom urejenega delovanja 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 razporeditev sil začelo polegati. Med vse pogostejšim
odmikanjem pogleda s
holija, da bi videl odzive
tions of the Sensins, I realised 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 commence 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 – purgatory and high technology – simply didn’t go
together. I had too little
information about all of
this, of course. But I could
comprehend its importance for the Sensins: judging from the size of the
forces sent to rescue us, it
must have been something
vital to them. But the Acu463
Čutinov, mi je zastajal dih.
Njihova nenadna zadržanost je potrjevala mojo
bojazen zaradi prehitrega
prihoda ladjenosilk Ostrinov na ta bojna prostranstva. Ostrinom je, kot je
bilo videti, uspelo pridobiti 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 označil tisto njihovo zadevo, ki
ji Čutini pravijo Vice, da,
to bo verjetno neke vrste
vrhunska tehnologija… Ta
dva pojma - Vice in vrhunska tehnologija - mi nikakor nista šla skupaj. Premalo 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 reševanje, morali pripisovati
že kar usodnost. Pa tudi
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 indefiniteness. Since in any case it
wasn’t nothing. Something
definite had already been
said. Something important, 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-carrier 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 bombardments of the ship-carriers from both sides. I
slowly scanned the whole
of the display: the Sensins
464
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 nedoločenosti. Kajti nič to vsekakor
ni bilo. Nekaj določenega
je že bilo povedano. Nekaj
pomembnega, da, četudi
si na podlagi tega še nisem
mogel izoblikovati nobenih pravih predstav o
vsem skupaj. Spopadli pa
so se zaradi te zadeve, in to
prekleto zares. No, da, ladjenosilko, 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 daljinsko obstreljevanje ladjenosilk z obeh strani. S
pogledom sem prešel prek
celotnega prikaza v holiju:
pravzaprav so Čutini res
really had thrown the majority 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 shipcarriers 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 happened, nothing indicated a
rapid end to this conflict.
465
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 bojnega 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.
Chapter XIII
XIII. poglavje
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 energies 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 Sensins... Now I looked at my
466
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 preleteli 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 Dobročut. »Poleg tega, ne glede,
kako se bo to vse skupaj
obrnilo, bomo mi morali
biti zelo prisebni. Ukrepati bomo morali, Peter.«
Potem sem z večjo skupino Čutinov odšel spat…
Zdaj sem pogledal na uro,
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 happened in that time. I got up
and went over to the holodisplay. 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-display 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 special cargo. The Acutins
were already right up with
them. At any moment they
would be alongside. I pointed towards the section of
the holo-display where
these ship-carriers were.
‘Are they retreating?’
467
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 napredovanje ladjenosilk Ostrinov.
Pogledal sem še proti ladjenosilkam za prevoz težkega posebnega tovora.
Že povsem ob njih so bili.
Vsak čas bodo vštric naše
ladjenosilke. S prstom sem
pokazal proti predelu holijevega prikaza s temi ladjenosilkami. »Ali se umikajo?«
‘Yes, but they still managed 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. Looking round, I could see the
same mixture of anxiousness and satisfaction on
the faces of the other Sensins.
I concentrated on the holodisplay, to try and understand 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, shielded by our ship-carriers.’
Benesens flashed another
glance at me as he followed the images on the
holo-display.
468
»Da, vendar jim je še uspelo
naložiti ves tovor,« se je
prebrisano nasmehnil in
me ošinil s pogledom.
To jim je torej uspelo oziroma nam je uspelo. Tudi
na drugih obrazih sta se
izmenično kazala zaskrbljenost in zadovoljstvo.
Zatopil sem se v holijev prikaz, da bi razbral
nadaljnji potek dogajanja,
in ugotovil sem umikanje
naših sil. To sem že lahko
razbral. Kaj pa je to pravzaprav 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 ladjenosilk umaknili k našim
energetskim
poljem.«
Dobročut me je spet ošinil
s pogledom, medtem ko je
spremljal prikaz v holiju.
‘We still have that crossing 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 incomparably 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 disintegrate. We watched the
whole thing through the
viewing window. As we
469
»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 spoznanje 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 predvidenega umika na lupinaste
ploskve energetskih polj,
tega nisem mogel razbrati.
Tedaj je začela po nizu
zaporednih eksplozij v
vsej dolžini trupa razpadati naša sosednja ladjenosilka. Vse smo gledali
skozi veliko okno. Brez
gazed at this scene, hardly
breathing, explosions tore
apart the remaining sections 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 spearhead of our fleet. This created a gap large enough for
the Acutins to break through. Even before the Sensins had time to reposition
their forces, the Acutins
were hurtling towards the
gap, and with a concentrated attack on the fleet’s
second line they destroyed
the next six ship-carriers.
This meant that our freighters now found themselves 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 manoeuvring by the Sensin
fleet to plug the gap, three
470
diha smo zrli v ta prizor,
ki se je nadaljeval še z
eksplozijami njenih preostalih 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 Čutinov v zaporo vrzeli so tri
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 holodisplay in order to get the
fullest possible picture of
the situation and the distribution 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 abandon 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
471
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 ladjevjem Ostrinov. Poškodovane nosilke tovora so
bile v dosegu naše ladjenosilke. Lahko bi mi prevzeli njihov tovor z vsem
osebjem. Prav ljudi ne bi
smeli pustiti na cedilu,
sem pomislil. Slišati je
bilo kar nekaj negodovanja nad našim obotavljanjem. Toda takoj zatem se
je v holiju pokazala spremenjena razporeditev sil,
ko so ladjevja Čutinov
attacking the flank of the
Acutin
breakthrough.
Once again the sector was
full of a large number of
our ship-carriers escorted by smaller, nimbler
ships armed with laser
cannon and rocket-propelled 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 immediately triggered an enthusiastic 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
472
udarila v bok prodoru
Ostrinov. Spet je bilo v
tem delu večje število
naših ladjenosilk v spremstvu manjših okretnejših
ladij, oboroženih z laserskimi topovi in raketami
z energetskimi bombami.
In napad Čutinov je bil po
silovitosti še močnejši od
pravkar izvedenega prodora Ostrinov. V holiju se
je celo pokazala odsekana
konica ostrinovskih prodirajočih sil. Ladje Čutinov so se vsekale mednje
takoj za njihovimi prednjimi ladjenosilkami.
»Kmalu jih bomo uničili,«
je dejal Dobročut. »Iz tega
našega obroča se ne bodo
več rešili.«
Tedaj smo začutili močnejše obračanje naše ladjenosilke, to pa je takoj sprožilo 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
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 asteroid-shaped containers.
Judging from the images
of the battle on the holodisplay, rescuing the cargo
would be possible without
much risk, since all the
Acutin ship-carriers from
the spearhead of the breakthrough were busy fighting for their own survival.
Now that we were heading
for the damaged ships,
individual groups of Sensins 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 imme473
odpadli večji kosi trupa,
skupaj z deli skladišč in s
pravkar naloženim tovorom. Pomembnim tovorom, ki je že izpadel in je
zdaj lebdel v svojih asteroidno oblikovanih zabojnikih.
Po holijevem prikazu
poteka bitke bi reševanje
tovora moralo biti izvedljivo brez večjega tveganja, ker so se vse ladjenosilke Ostrinov iz konice
njihovega prodora morale
boriti za lasten obstoj.
Takoj po usmeritvi k
poškodovanim ladjam so
posamezne skupine Čutinov 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 poškodovanih ladjah. Takoj smo
diately began the transfer.
Our little tugs attached
themselves to the asteroid-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 distant observer of the hologram images of this rescue
operation would get the
impression that everything
was being ‘sucked up’, as
though by a giant vacuum
cleaner. As though everything were flying of its
own accord into our storage 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
474
začeli s prenosom tovora.
Naše majhne ladje-vlačilci
so se oprijemale tisočkrat
večjih asteroidno oblikovanih zabojnikov z zame
skrivnostnim
tovorom
ter ga, kot je bilo videti v
pomanjšanem holijevem
prikazu, v strnjenih, hitro
pomikajočih se kolonah
vnašale v našo ladjenosilko. Nekoliko oddaljen
opazovalec holijevega prikaza te reševalne akcije je
najbrž moral dobiti vtis
nekakšnega
»posesavanja« vsega, tudi razsutega
tovora v našo ladjenosilko. 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 področja 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-
losses, and establish a corridor 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 shipcarrier. Our initial retreat
had now become a headlong flight, but it was
clear that the weight of
the cargo was slowing us
down, despite our powerful 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, brought up from the rear and
through the conical space
they had occupied, suddenly attacked this protec475
stavili prehod za že pripravljene sveže ladje iz
ozadja, da so lahko nemoteno zletele skozi nastali
storžasto oblikovani prostor njihovega preboja ter
se usmerile naravnost v
našo, sprva odmikajočo
se, potem pa že kar bežečo
ladjenosilko s tovorom, ki
jo je kljub močnim pogonskim motorjem upočasnil najbrž precej težki
tovor. Prav na nas so se
usmerili, to pa so očitno
tudi Čutini takoj razbrali
in nam v hitro izvedenem manevru postavili
enajst ladjenosilk ob bok,
v pravo zaščitno spremstvo, mimo katerega ni
mogel nihče, tudi izstreljeni energetski naboji ne,
tako tesen ščit so naredile
skupaj s svojimi manjšimi
ladjami. Toda sile ostrinovskih ladjenosilk, primaknjene iz ozadja in skozi
njihov osvojeni storžasti prostor so nenadoma
udarile prav v to zaščitno
tive escort with such force
that after a powerful bombardment they broke through 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 engaged 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-carrier the same size as us. A
terrible breaking and grinding sound followed the
collision. We all immediately put on our spacesuits – or rather jumped
into them as quickly as we
could – and moved away
from the point of impact.
But the enormous momentum of the two ship-carriers had a terrible effect.
Hundreds of decks, thousands of compartments
were crushed, all the way
to the giant hangars and
the storage bays with the
just-loaded cargo. Bulkhe476
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. Strahovito 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 ladjenosilk so imele strahotno
vztrajnost. Na stotine nadstropij, na tisoče notranjih prostorov je bilo
zgnetenih vse do orjaških
hangarjev in skladiščnih
prostorov s pravkar naloženim tovorom. Stene
ads were ripped open. The
Sensins fled, jumping into
speeder-shuttles or engaging their photon-drive
backpacks and disappearing along the long corridors used for internal
shipboard traffic. Along
with the remaining Sensins 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, immediately afterwards, disintegrated 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 colliding with each other and
suddenly changing direction. But I didn’t lose my
head. I dodged them like
the Sensins were doing
477
so se parale. Čutini so
bežali, skakali na hitra
notranja plovila ali vklapljali nahrbtne fotonske
motorje za samostojen let
ter izginjali skozi nekakšne dolge hodnike, po
katerih je potekal notranji promet. Tudi jaz sem
se skupaj z ostalimi Čutni
iz naše skupine usmeril
k eni od prometa upočasnjenih kolon, ko se je
naša ladjenosilka preklala
na dvoje ter takoj zatem
še na več svojih sestavnih 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 medsebojnega zaletavanja in nenehnega spreminjanja smeri.
Vendar nisem izgubil prisebnosti. Izmikal sem se
kakor Čutini, se spustil
and landed on a large section of ship so as to protect
myself from the smaller
pieces. I spotted a large
section of hull hurtling
towards me, but fortunately I was able to get out of
the way in time. I sprang
to the side, and back, and
managed to dodge it. Looking round, I saw a tornoff section of bulkheads
and compartments floating not far away. I headed
towards it, grabbed its
edge and tried to collect
my strength. I also had to
collect my thoughts. Everything was happening
too quickly. ‘My spacesuit!’ 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 bro478
na neki večji kos, da bi
se zaščitil pred manjšimi
deli, nakar sem zaznal
hitro približevanje velikega 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. Usmeril sem se nanj, se oprijel
roba in poskušal ponovno
zbrati moči. Moral sem
zbrati tudi misli. Dogajanje je bilo prehitro.
»Skafander!« me je opozorilno prešinilo. Potipal
sem se po telesu. Ničesar
poškodovanega
nisem
zaznal. Sicer pa bi bil že
mrtev, če bi bil skafander raztrgan. Postopoma
sem začel prihajati k sebi
ter se ponovno ozirati
naokrog. Nekakšni prostori iz notranjosti ladje
Ostrinov so se mi nakazovali na tem odtrganem
ken-off section suggested
some kind of compartments from the interior of
the Acutins’ ship, although of course the bulkheads 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 awkward, 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 asteroid-like chunk of ship,
it was probable that there
were quite a few undamaged 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
479
kosu, seveda, s štrlečimi
stenami. Na spodnjem
delu sem zagledal vrata.
Zaprta. Bila so še nepoškodovana. 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 verjetno, vsaj po velikosti tega
asteroidnega kosa ladje
sodeč, kar nekaj nepoškodovanih prostorov. Nahajal sem se na delno odtrgani in izkrivljeni plošči,
ki je na ladjenosilki predstavljala nadstropje nad
prostori s temi vrati pod
njimi. Bil sem nasproti
opposite the door, on top
of a compartment whose
ceiling had been wrenched
off and whose walls were
buckled. I moved back slightly 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 opening of the door below me.
Moving back, I hid myself
behind a broken pillar and
480
tem vratom na vrhu prostora z odtrganim stropom 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 ladjenosilke, s hangarji in najbrž
tudi s tistim tovorom, razsutim naokoli. Razločil
sem lahko nekakšne kepe
asteroidnih oblik . Tedaj je
mojo pozornost pritegnilo
odpiranje tistih vrat pod
mano. Z umikom za odtrgani steber sem se pritajil
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 shipcarrier and began moving
around in various directions, apparently looking
for a rescue craft or a large
section of their ship, just
as I had done a little earlier. 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-loaded cargo now really did
seem to be the most sensible course of action.
I retreated to the opposite side of the broken-off
section of the Acutin shipcarrier, switched on my
photon drive and set off
in a curving flight towards
481
ter tako skrivaj pogledoval k vratom, vse dokler
se ni po počasnem, verjetno 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 ladjenosilke, se pomikali zdaj
sem, zdaj tja ter se tako
kot maloprej jaz ozirali
po morebitnih reševalnih
plovilih ali večjem odtrganem delu njihove ladje.
Šest, sedem, osem sem jih
naštel. Pa bo res najbolje
odleteti na kakšen drug
kos ali pa na enega od asteroidov iz našega pravkar
naloženega tovora, to se
mi je zdelo še najbolj smiselno.
Umaknil sem se na nasprotno stran tega iztrganega
dela ostrinovske ladjenosilke, prižgal svoj nahrbtni
fotonski motor in se nameril v krivuljni let proti
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 floating 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
482
razsutemu tovoru, kot so
bili od daleč videti asteroidi skupaj z razpadlimi
stenami skladiščnih prostorov naše ladjenosilke.
Najprej sem se oddaljeval
po tisti strani, ki je bila za
hrbti Ostrinov, prikrit njihovim 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, skrivnostni 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 srhljivega je sicer bilo prisotno.
Toda ne pretirano. Ničesar
takega ni bilo, kar bi me
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 through 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 through it. I inspected the other
doors carefully. There
was no sign of movement
anywhere. There’s proba483
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 zunanjosti asteroida. Primaknil 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 razgledom v nekak večji razsvetljen prostor za njimi. Vsaj
kolikor sem lahko videl
skozi. Previdno sem pogledal še po ostalih vratih.
Nikjer ni bilo zaslediti
nobenega gibanja, ničesar
živega. Le neživi tovor je
bly only inanimate cargo
stored in here, I thought to
myself. This could easily
be a storeroom for material 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 transparent 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 atmospheric conditions had
been re-established. The
entrance door, a solid plate,
closed behind me and I
484
najbrž spravljen notri, sem
pomislil. Prav lahko bi
bilo tu le skladišče zapakiranega 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 česarkoli, po čemer bi lahko
sklepal, da je bilo karkoli
odstranjeno.
Pomaknil sem se do prozornih vrat, skozi katera
sem s pogledom zajel
veliko razsvetljeno dvorano. V njej so bili stoli
in mize, ob stenah pa so
se dvigale skulpture vse
do stropa, ki je bil presojen, 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-
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 consisted 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 murmured to myself, and the
device immediately lit up
with a display of an elongated 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 friendly voice from the transparent door announced
that I could enter, welcomed me and wished me a
pleasant stay, and warned
me of possible difficulties
485
nje zunanjega tlaka, pogledal sem, po čem bi ugotovil njegovo višino, ničesar takega nisem mogel
zaznati, pomislil sem na
zapestni prikazovalnik, v
tej napravi je bil prav verjetno tudi tlakomer, le da
jaz nisem vedel, kako naj
s tem ravnam. Različni
gumbi so bili razvrščeni
v krogu, skupaj z nekakšnimi 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 podolgovatega 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
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 message ended.
I entered the chamber
and looked around. Once
again there were several
doors and several corridors, without any indications of where they led to.
The sides were lined with
sculptures and unintelligible Sensin hieroglyphics
– although perhaps these
were simply works of art
too. After a brief examination I decided to go
straight ahead. The corridor seemed to be quite
long, and also curved,
since I couldn’t see its
486
so nastale ob trčenju ladjenosilk in naletu večjih
kosov vanje, se pravi v ta
asteroid, to pa naj bi povzročilo prekinitev povezav
in onemogočilo nadzor
nad delovanjem nekaterih naprav. »Naš nadzorni
sistem nima več pregleda
nad dogajanjem v posameznih prostorih,« se je končalo sporočilo.
Vstopil sem v prostor,
pogledal naokrog, spet je
bilo več vrat in več hodnikov, brez kakršnih koli
oznak, kam vodijo, ob straneh so bile zgolj skulpture
in zame nerazumljivi hieroglifi Čutinov, ki bi lahko
bili tudi zgolj reliefno oblikovana umetniška stvaritev. Po krajšem ogledovanju 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.
end. There were probably
doors along the sides too,
only it wasn’t possible to
distinguish them from the
walls. I walked on, looking 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 collision…’
Najbrž so bila tudi vrata
ob straneh, le da jih ni
bilo možno ločiti od sten.
Stopil sem naprej, pogledal 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 zverižene so postajale tako
stene kot strop in tla pod
mano. Potem sem zagledal večjo razpoko na levi,
malo naprej še eno, dve,
tri in spet zverižene stene.
»Presneto,« sem zamrmral,
»to je bilo kar krepko trčenje…«
I looked into another
crack. Nothing but darkness. The next ones didn’t
reveal much either: just
rooms a little larger than
living rooms on Earth, but
Pogledal sem v še eno razpoko, v njej je bila tema,
in tudi skozi nekaj naslednjih ni bilo dosti videti,
le prostore kot malo večje
bivalne sobe na Zemlji,
487
everything was empty. I
walked on, and then stopped mid-step. My attention 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 different 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, unusually 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.
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 drugačno 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.
I held my breath. Just
seven or eight metres
away from me, with the
ecstasy of a priestess carrying out a ritual, she was
gazing in front of her and
moving her lips as she
murmured what could
Pritajil sem dih. Le sedem,
osem metrov od mene je z
zamaknjenostjo svečenice
pri opravljanju obreda
zrla predse in premikala
ustnice
med
mrmranjem verjetno nekakšne
488
have been vows. Suddenly
she stiffened. Standing
still, she gazed at a transparent 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 priestess, 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 transparent sphere, and the image
of a bed on which an old
Earthwoman was lying
became increasingly visible. She was lying on her
back with her eyes closed.
Slowly she opened them,
but only a little and just for
489
zaobljube. Nenadoma je
povsem otrpnila. Stoje je
zrla proti dobre tri metre
oddaljeni prozorni krogli
na tleh, pokritih s prtom.
Vse je delovalo precej svečano. Kar dolgo je tako
nepremično stala, tako
da sem se že hotel prestopiti, 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 slovesnem pričakovanju nekakšnega sprejemanja. Tedaj
je v prozorni krogli zasijala 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,
a few moments. Then her
eyelids drooped and her
eyes remained closed for
a while. Then they opened
again. She lay there motionless.
A transparent figure, outwardly 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
490
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, izginjajoč v daljavo, se v polkrogu
obrnil in še enkrat zaokrožil nad svojim ležečim
telesom, se spet pomanjšal
v oddaljenosti, dokler se
ni obrnil navzgor in zletel
proti stoječi Čutinki. Približal se ji je v rastočem
prikazu in v naravni velikosti pristal tik ob njej,
ona pa ga je pričakala z razširjenimi rokami, nasmehljana v neskritem veselju
nad njegovim prihodom.
Presojni lik Zemljanke pa
je neodločno obstal. Brez
dvoma je bila to tista starejša Zemljanka s postelje
from the bed, or rather a
transparent image of her,
since her body was still
lying immobile in the
sphere. And this transparent image now looked at
the Sensin, and now at the
image of the woman lying
motionlessly in that transparent sphere. Then the
figure gave a half smile
and without moving forwards 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 experienced, 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 apparition of the Earthwoman.
The glances exchanged
between the transparent
figure and the Sensin grew
longer and longer, and
their smiles became increasingly relaxed. Then the
Sensin opened her arms as
though to offer a friendly
491
oziroma njen presojni lik,
ker je telo še vedno nepremično 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 nasmehnil in brez premikanja
naprej ali nazaj z globokim vdihom odprl usta,
jih počasi zaprl, si položil
roko čeznje v neskritem
presenečenju nad pravkar
doživetim dogajanjem ter
se ob prijaznem Čutinkinem nasmehu še sam začel
vse pogosteje nasmihati.
Da, prijateljski nasmeh
Čutinke je tudi Zemljankinemu liku izvabil nasmeh.
Spogledovanje med presojnim likom in Čutinko je
postajalo vse daljše, njuno
nasmihanje vse bolj sproščeno. Nato je Čutinka
razširila roke, kot da vabi
v prijateljski objem, ki se
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 expectation of the embrace.
I held my breath. The Sensins 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 transparent 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 disappeared. She could no
longer be seen. Yes: she
had disappeared into the
Sensin, who then straigh492
ga presojni lik Zemljanke
očitno ni več bal. Stopili
sta druga k drugi, tudi
presojni lik je razširil roke
v pričakovanju prijateljskega objema.
Še naprej sem zadrževal
dih. O čem podobnem mi
Čutini niso govorili. Kaj
pravzaprav počnejo s tem
obredom..? Po nekaj globokih vdihih sem počasi
spuščal sapo skozi napol
priprta usta. Namesto
stiska v objemu sem zdaj
lahko videl samo pogrezanje presojnega Zemljankinega lika v Čutinko.
Kar izginjala je v njej. Vsa,
v celoti. Počasi in brez
naglice je Zemljanka vstopala v Čutinko. Obe sta
se ves čas smehljali, tudi
med nenavadnim združevanjem, 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
tened, folded her hands
across her breast and, breathing calmly and deeply,
stood with her face turned
upwards. Then she repeated all the movements
in the same sequence and
stood there unseeing, as
before, with her face upturned. 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 expression of her face certainly
suggested a turmoil inside
493
zravnala, spet prekrižala
roke na prsih in med počasnim, že kar zadrževanim globokim dihanjem
obstala z obrazom, obrnjenim 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 zaporednih 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 umirila. Sklonila je glavo, telo
se ji je iz napete vzravnanosti sprostilo v normalno
držo, tudi roke je spustila
s prsi in se z vidno utrujenim 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
her that was so powerful
that she had to hold tight
to that panel to avoid falling. Her strength was failing 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 motionless 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 lightly over the sphere in a
trancelike manner. Tears
494
njej, da se je morala oprijeti
tiste plošče, sicer bi verjetno 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 pogledala 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
began to course down her
cheeks and with a sorrowful 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 impression 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 surrounded 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 checking my surroundings? I
looked at him more carefully. He was an Acutin.
Oh no! Had the Acutins
got here before me? But
not the ones from the section of the ship-carrier
495
teči po licih, ko je z izrazom žalovanja na obrazu
nerazločno mrmrala neke
besede, verjetno imena
tistih ob postelji. Vsaj jaz
sem dobil tak vtis. Presneto prepričljivo je bilo
videti vse skupaj, tako da
sem še sam moral umakniti pogled in si obrisati
oči, orošene za nekaj trenutkov. Toda med ponovnim pogledom po zatemnjenem 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 Čutinkinim obredom toliko prizadel, 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 ladjenosilke, na katerem sem bil
where I had hidden, not
those Acutins who came
through that door. Probably not. But what difference 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 pointed towards the Sensin and
once again put his finger
to his lips. I nodded, although 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 direction of the Sensin. Actually he was looking more
at the Sensin. That was so
obvious that I turned back
to the scene by the transparent sphere, switching
my gaze from the Acutin
to the Sensin. Still visibly
496
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 drugega 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. Prikimal sem, čeprav nisem
vedel, ali je tako prav ali
pa bi moral zakričati.
Ostrin ni bil videti napadalen, prav nič nevarno
ni deloval. Tam je pogledoval 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
affected, she continued to
stare at the scene around
the Earthwoman’s bed.
She was moving with slightly opened arms above
that image in the transparent 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 surprised 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 watching the Sensin’s performance. I hope you haven’t
been taken in by it…’
I shook my head noncommittally: ‘Well, yes, I don’t
know whether I really
497
je med tem še kar naprej
vidno prizadeta strmela
v dogajanje ob postelji
Zemljanke. Kar pomikala
se je z narahlo razprtimi
rokami nad tistim prikazom 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. Ostrinova pripomba me je
vseeno presenetila, pa še z
odporom je bila izrečena,
z neko nejevoljo.
»Vi ste eden tistih Zemljanov, kajne?« je vprašal
Ostrin in mirno nadaljeval: »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
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.
498
razumel. Za kaj pa pravzaprav gre?« In po krajšem
premisleku mi je pod vplivom predirnega Ostrinovega 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 zmerjali 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.
‘Wow,’ I gasped. I still
wasn’t sure how much credence 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 sensuality. 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 thought of the individual is
connected to both brain
and body. In the Sensins there is no such con499
Ušel mi je »huh« skozi sapo.
Ostrinove besede sem
sicer še vedno jemal s pridržkom, 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 čutnosti v sebi. Vso njeno žensko
bit sem občutil med objemanjem, 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 najinem 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-
nection. With them the
body is one thing and the
brain another. Thinking,
together with character
and passions, is something completely different
again.’
‘So their bodies are made
from some kind of material?’ 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 telling 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 something wrong with them,
that they are suffering the
500
zave. Pri njih je telo eno,
možgani drugo, mišljenje 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 pomislekov.
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 odločiti, 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
after-effects of that nuclear
war of theirs. I looked at
the Acutin. I couldn’t see
any signs of nuclear aftereffects. 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 understandable given that they are an
extremely highly developed civilisation. Even on
Earth it is ‘normal’ for
more highly developed
nations to consider themselves somewhat superior
to those that are less developed.
bi pustila posledice. Pogledal sem Ostrina. Takole
na pogled na njem ni bilo
videti nikakršnih jedrskih
posledic. Nič posebnega
oziroma nič takega, kar bi
kazalo na določene telesne 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 arogantni, 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 stopnji. 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 razvitih.
Now the Acutin, who
didn’t like my appraising
glances, quickly realised
Zdaj je Ostrin, ki so ga
zmotili ti moji ocenjujoči
pogledi, hitro ugotovil, kaj
501
what was behind them.
Smiling, he shook his
head: ‘What have the Sensins 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’ accusations, 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
502
je zadaj. Smehljajoč se, je
rahlo odkimal: »Kaj so vam
Čutini natvezili o nas? Da
smo kriplji, kajne? Duševni
kriplji? Ker smo imeli jedrsko vojno?« Nepremično
me je opazoval.
Nedoločeno
sem
se
nakremžil, saj nisem želel
ponavljati očitkov s strani
Čutinov in še manj njihovega zmerjanja. Vendar pa
tudi nisem mogel zanikati
Ostrinovega ugibanja.
»Veste,«
je
nadaljeval
Ostrin, »glede naše jedrske
vojne so zadeve povsem
jasne, to pa Čutinom nikakor ne ustreza. Zato si
vedno znova nekaj izmišljajo 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 Zemljanov. Poznajo vaše izkušnje in povedo le tisti del,
serve as a basis for you to
reach your own conclusions – 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 exaggerated.’
‘They weren’t exaggerating, 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 themselves, but because they
do they same thing in all
other cases too.’ He pronounced these last words
with real indignation.
503
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 pretiravali.«
»Kaj pretiravali, speljali so
vas v napačno razmišljanje!« Ostrin je bil videti
že kar jezen. »Preusmerili
so vas na povsem krivo
pot razumevanja. Ne da
pretiravajo, ampak zavajajo, razumete, zavajanje
je prava beseda. Sami se
boste prepričali. Tega ne
govorim le zaradi naše jedrske vojne, glede katere so
stvari dovolj očitne, ampak
zato, ker delajo enako tudi
v vseh drugih primerih.«
Zadnje besede je izrekel s
pravim gnevom.
I didn’t say anything. I
would have to argue with
this Acutin if I contradicted him now, and I didn’t
want that. I had no desire
for an unnecessary dispute.
‘As for our nuclear war,
it was like this,’ continued 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 conflict. It was very similar to
what happened on Earth
at the time of the Cold
War, except that we threw
ourselves even more enthusiastically into the production of nuclear bombs,
thanks to the greater
accessibility of minerals,
especially uranium. Then
the conflicts grew increasingly severe. And since a
nuclear war began to seem
quite likely, both sides
started building powerful
nuclear shelters designed
504
Ostal sem tiho. Moral bi se
sporeči s tem Ostrinom,
če bi mu zdaj nasprotoval,
tega pa nisem maral. Nič
kaj si nisem želel nepotrebnega spora.
»Z našo jedrsko vojno je
bilo pa takole,« je Ostrin
nadaljeval v bolj umirjenem tonu. »Dva prevladujoča 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 proizvodnjo 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 protijedrska zaklonišča za dolgo
to ensure long-term survival. 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 severity for centuries before
that, a warrior culture had
developed. To be the best
soldier was the highest
virtue of all. We inspected the young recruits on
enlistment and during
training. We ranked them
according to how they carried themselves on the battlefield, 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 commander dreams of. And both
sides, theirs and ours,
505
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 namestitvi 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 bojevnika. 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 bojevnikov, takih, kot si jih je
vsak poveljnik lahko samo
želel. In obe strani, njihova
in naša, sta se odločili, da
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 strengthen 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 priority list. Evidently, though,
the leaders on the two
sides were still not convinced that a nuclear war
was a serious possibility.
In the end they were taken
by surprise. The possibility of an error cannot be
excluded. Another contribution to total war came
from the command positions in the shelters, although later checks shows
that they only launched
their systems after the
enemy’s first bombs had
exploded. In the end, all
506
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 vzpodbuditi mladino k vključevanju 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 zakloniščih, čeprav so poznejša
preverjanja pokazala, da
so sprožila svoje sisteme
šele po eksplozijah prvih
nasprotnikovih
bomb.
life throughout our planet
was destroyed. The only
survivors were in the shelters. Since then our development 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 perfectly healthy survivors.
The genetic changes that
the Sensins accuse us
of are supposed to have
been, so they say, the consequence of the selection
of recruits through testing,
and to a certain extent that
may even be true, since
later we carried out corrections on the corresponding 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
507
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 majhnega 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 popolnoma zdravi preživeli.
Genske spremembe, ki
nam jih očitajo Čutini, pa
naj bi bile, spet po njihovih 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 nedorečenosti našega sosedstva,
ker je bilo mogoče sklepati na ponovno potrebo
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 evidently disturb the Sensins
so much.’
‘This is all a bit different
from what I had imagined,’ 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 looking for one set of abilities they had completely
forgotten about the others,
then it would be possible. Hmm. It’s true that
it wouldn’t be very nice
having a militaristic, highly-developed civilisation
508
po krepitvi obrambnih sil
in vojaškega duha. Pogum
in pripravljenost izvrševati povelja s samožrtvovanjem za blagor naše civilizacije sta nam Ostrinom
prirojena in niti na misel
nam ne pride, da bi spreminjali ti dve naši poglavitni 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 Ostrinovimi 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-
like this for a neighbour,
so in that sense I could
understand the Sensins. It
wouldn’t be exactly fortunate for Earthpeople either,
to put it mildly. From this
point of view the Sensins
are probably better partners 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 partnership 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
509
tno imeti za sosedo, tako
da bi v tem smislu lahko
razumel Čutine. Pa tudi za
Zemljane to ne bi bila pretirana sreča, če ne uporabimo nasprotnega izraza,
ki je verjetno bolj primeren. V tem pogledu so za
Zemljane najbrž boljši
partner Čutini, a bolje, da
temu Ostrinu tega ne omenjam. Ampak tudi Čutini
so čudni. Če so res duhovi,
kot pravi Ostrin in kot
vse skupaj zdaj kaže, partnerstvo tudi z njimi ne
more biti posebno prijetno. 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 razmišljati o njih. Vsaj zame
ne, ker v duhove sploh
believe in ghosts. I still
don’t believe in them. It’s
true that there was something 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 possible. 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 relatives of the dead woman. At
least that’s what it looked
like. After everything I
had been through recen510
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 značilnosti tako nakazanih, da je
marsikaj lahko možno. Ja,
marsikaj…
Pogledal sem Ostrina, obrnjenega 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 brisali 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
tly, and taking into account the little that I had
been able to understand, I
was no longer sure about
anything.
‘The evolution of your
civilisation is very interesting,’ I began. ‘It is difficult for me to imagine
what is possible at such a
high level of civilisation,
which means that not even
your dispute with the Sensins is exactly clear to me.
But judging from all these
conflicts,’ I went on, alluding to their incredible
scale, ‘it seems to be a terribly serious business.’
The Acutin carried on
watching the Sensin standing 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
511
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 predstavljam, kaj vse je možno
na tako visoki civilizacijski 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 hudirjevo 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
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 important. 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 contemplated me for a few
moments with his penetrating 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 interference. At least for the
most part. At our very first
meeting with the Sensins
we made them agree not
to interfere in the development of younger civilisa512
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 nemoteno. Vsaj v glavnem. Že
ob našem prvem srečanju
s Čutini smo postavili zahtevo po nevmešavanju v
razvoj mlajših civilizacij.
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 noticed 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 thought, either tasteless or… . .
hmm, cruel. ‘You mentioned an agreement on allowing less developed civilisations the right to their
own development, so the
comparison with pigs…’
‘Well of course this agreement has remained in
force until now. At least
513
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 civilizacij,« sem navrgel. »Ničesar
sovražnega do nas Zemljanov nisem mogel zaznati
pri njih.«
»Ničesar
sovražnega!«
je ponovil moje besede
Ostrin ter se skoraj obešenjaško zasmejal. »Hah! Saj
tudi vi ne sovražite prašičev, ki jih pojeste, kajne?«
Ta pripomba je bila, sem
pomišljal, ali neokusna ali
. . . hm, okrutna. »Omenili
ste sporazum o dopuščanju pravice manj razvitih civilizacij do lastnega
razvoja, tako da primera s
prašiči…«
»No, seveda je ta dogovor
veljal doslej. Vsaj do meje
as far as we can see. Your
evolution has been undisturbed until now thanks
to our insistence on noninterference in the evolutionary development of
less developed civilisations. But if we hadn’t been
there and the Sensins had
been able to do what they
wanted, without any kind
of supervision, the comparison with pigs would be
worth considering.’
I made a face and repeated 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
514
opaznosti. Vaša evolucija
do sedaj res ni bila motena
po zaslugi našega vztrajanja 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 upoštevanja vredna.«
Rahlo sem se nakremžil in
polglasno ponovil: »Upoštevanja vredna… Hm.
Zakaj pa? Kaj pa jih žene
v tako početje?« Stiskal
sem ustnice zaradi nerazumevanja in nesprejemanja 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 nekakšni stiski ali strahu, kot je
bilo razvidno po njenem
obrazu, obrnila k prikazu
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 security control panel outside
the entrance to this asteroid 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 compartments 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
515
v prozorni krogli ter nato
v prižigajoče se lučke nad
sabo, se hitro odmaknila
za korak, kakor da mora
zbežati, potem je spet stopila 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. Pogledoval je po prižigajočih
se lučkah in v holijevski
prikazovalnik na svojem
zapestju: »Uničili so mi
varnostno kontrolno ploščico 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 zgornjih prostorov morava iti.«
Ostrin je s prstom pote-
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 bearings. 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. Simultaneously, 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 disappeared with him through the
door. I was left alone with
the robots.
516
gnil po predvideni poti
čez holijev prikaz prostorov. 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 ustaviti. V tistem trenutku so
se skozi vrata na obeh straneh 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.
‘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 mission.’
‘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 STORMBIRD was on its way, and
that our crew was already
assembled aboard. Everything was in order and I
should get some rest. The
bringer of this message,
517
»Upam, da vas nismo
poškodovali,« se mi je
spoštljivo opravičil robot
s povsem človeško zunanjostjo ter me zaprosil, naj
mu sledim v osrednjo dvorano, kjer je bil nekakšen
zbirni center. »Ostali člani
vaše posadke so preživeli
trčenje,« mi je še dejal, »in
naše poveljstvo je že ukazalo, naj nadaljujete vašo
misijo.«
»Aja!« sem dejal s porajajočimi se pomisleki in z nekakšno 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 VIHARNIK, 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
another humanoid robot,
suggested to me a more
suitable place, somewhere
‘very pleasant’, and when
I nodded my agreement it
went on: ‘There are special compartments for rest
and relaxation after great
exertions. Our guests also
use them very frequently.’
The robot invited me to
follow it. But the explanation that the Sensins had
special rest compartments
on this asteroid was slightly at odds with my experiences 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 impression I got from what the
robot said, they were used
to dealing with the tiredness of Sensins. Tired
from what? I thought of
the Sensin by the transparent sphere. I wonder?
The robot led me into a
large chamber with comfortable bunks along the
walls, six rows of couches
518
s človeško zunanjostjo, mi
je pri tem svetoval bolj primeren 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 prostori. Tudi naši gostje jih
zelo pogosto uporabljajo.«
Potem me je povabil, naj
mu sledim v smeri teh prostorov. Toda pojasnilo, da
imajo Čutini na tem asteroidu posebne prostore za
počitek, se je nekoliko razlikovalo od mojih dosedanjih izkušenj. Nič kaj pogosto 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 prozorni krogli. Hm?
Robot me je peljal v
veliko dvorano z udobnimi pogradi ob stenah, s
šestimi vrstami ležalnikov,
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
519
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 naokrog. 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 odsotnosti duha kot nekakšen živi
mrtvec. Prav lahko bi bil
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 explanations 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?
520
duh. Pa tudi ostali Čutini
v tem prostoru niso delovali dosti drugače. Odsotnost 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 ničesar 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 poigravanje. Ali bi v tej resničnosti lahko obstajali tudi
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 transparent 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. Something like what? I didn’t
exactly know, of course.
But what are the possibilities? 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 categories into which it was
easiest to fit them. I could
easily picture the body
521
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 razmišljanja o vsem tem dogajanju! Kakor da bi umrli ali
pravkar vstali od mrtvih…
Točno tako. V ti dve skupini bi jih še najlaže uvrstil. Prav lahko sem si predstavljal tam doli na Zemlji
down there on Earth from
which that thing, whatever 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? Corpses 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 occasionally 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 resurrected? 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
522
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 mrtvašnici 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.
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 beginning to get the creeps. It
wasn’t that I was exactly
scared. But it wasn’t exactly 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
523
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 presodil 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
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 straight 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 motionlessly, 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 looking at me? Actually I
couldn’t make out what he
was looking at.
524
lepo kašo sem zašel. Oziroma 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 naokrog. Čutin, oddaljen dva
ali tri metre, je bil obrnjen
naravnost vame. Da, naravnost 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 prostorih. Še enkrat sem pogledal 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.
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 impression of a certain combativeness: at least his sharper
movements had that effect.
I walked on as calmly as
possible, staring in front of
me as though deep in thought. In fact I wasn’t thinking 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 continued to look past me. He
didn’t appear to be dangerous 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
525
Odločil sem se. Počasi
sem vstal, s pogledom
obšel prostor in se zlagoma sprehodil mimo
njega. Še en Čutin je tam
postaval ob strani, navidez podoben, le da je dajal
vtis nekakšne bojevitosti,
vsaj njegovi ostrejši gibi
so tako delovali. Kolikor je bilo mogoče, sem
z umirjenim korakom
stopil naprej, pogled pa
sem upiral predse v globoki 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
do in this room. Then for a
little while I stared in front
of me, which the Sensin
next to me must have noticed, 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, murmuring 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.
526
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 ohranil pregled po prostoru
brez posebnega obračanja 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. Prisluhnil sem. Nekaj bi že moral
razbrati iz tega mrmranja.
Toda ni šlo. Mrmranje je
bilo preveč nejasno, izgubljalo se je šepetu, pravzaprav 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 pomilovanje. »Ubogi . . .« sem
‘Poor…’ I could make out,
followed by something
unintelligible. And then
again ‘poor...’ Perhaps she
was saying ‘my poor children…’ She repeated this
at the end of each murmur.
I listened even more attentively and furtively observed 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 relatives or close acquaintances. 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 remained 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
527
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 opazoval 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-
had come back to life and
was watching her surviving relatives. Hmm…
‘Poor children...’ I repeated 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 Sensins in this room, but that
was the least of my problems. I waved my hand
and the Sensin accepted
the gesture as something
normal, which suggested that in this case my
response conformed to
what she expected. She
looked at me another two,
three times. She was probably trying to remember something. But what
should I say? What does
one say on such occasions? Something commonplace? What was
commonplace for Sensins
in such cases? I looked at
528
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 najmanjši problem. Zato sem
odmahnil z roko, Čutinka
pa je to sprejela kot samoumevno 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 priložnostih? Nekaj običajnega?
Kaj je za Čutine v takih primerih nekaj običajnega?
Pogledal sem po drugih
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 children,’ I said, murmuring
as though lost in thought.
‘Yes.’ The Sensin nodded.
‘Although they are all provided 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 provided 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 decided to keep quiet. That
had worked quite well
529
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 odsotnem razmišljanju.
»Da,« je narahlo prikimala
Čutinka. »Čeprav so že
vsi preskrbljeni, z družinami, vsi imajo službe,
urejene dohodke, družine, otroke…« Obrisala si
je solze. V njenih besedah
je bilo zaznati tudi starševsko zadovoljstvo s preskrbljenostjo 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 prikimavanjem. Hotel sem
sicer še nekaj pripomniti,
pa sem po premisleku
raje ostal tiho. Do zdaj
sem se še kar dobro odre-
up till now. I didn’t know
enough about what constituted normal conversation 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 civilisation? Perhaps that wasn’t
the right word, but at any
right it was a specific
‘civilisation’.
Whatever
they are, they are a civilisation of some kind, even
though the Acutins don’t
recognise them as living
beings.
A robohostess came
towards me. Her appearance was pleasant but
different from the Sensins,
who had evidently ensured that there was a sufficiently visible difference
between them and the
robots. Hmm... Between
them and the robots? She
told me I had a visitor.
530
zal. Kaj vse sodi med običajno 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 civilizacije? 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 robohostesa prijetne, vendar
drugačne zunanjosti kot
Čutini, ki so tako poskrbeli za dovolj vidno različnost med njimi in roboti.
Hm… Med njimi in roboti?
Obisk imam, mi je spo-
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.
531
ročila. Honaja je prišla. Z
našo ladjo so prišli pome.
Hitro sem vstal. Še enkrat
sem pogledal objokano
Čutinko in se odpravil za
robohosteso.
Chapter XIV
XIV. poglavje
Honaja and I were walking
down the entrance corridor of the STORMBIRD.
She had come to the asteroid to get me but after all
that I had been through I
was still mentally shattered 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 shipcarrier. 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
532
S Honajo sva šla po vhodnem hodniku našega
VIHARNIKA. Po njenem
prihodu pome na asteroid
sem bil še kar miselno razrahljan od vsega tistega
razmišljanja, po katerem
se ni mogel povsem sprostiti niti ob Honajinem
veselju nad najinim ponovnim 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 ladjenosilke, zelo hitro, toda
pred tem so bile tudi žrtve.
In to ne v majhnem številu, mi je navrgla Honaja.
Prikimal sem. Pravzaprav
because I wasn’t fully able
to share her enthusiasm at
our being back together. I
even found myself involuntarily doubting the sincerity 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 walking next to her and forcing myself to smile.
533
mi je bilo neprijetno, ker
se nisem v enaki meri
pridružil njenemu navdušenju nad najinim srečanjem. 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 občutkov. Potem pa je tudi
njeno igrivo spogledovanje postajalo vse bolj zadržano, to pa spet ni bilo prijetno, zato sem začel iskati
malo bolj živahno temo
pogovora. Toda nič primernega mi ni hotelo priti
z jezika. Čudno. Prej nisem
v družbi s Honajo nikoli
imel težave zaradi pomanjkanja besed. Celo preveč
jih je bilo, obema so tekle
besede brez kakršnega
koli naprezanja. Same od
sebe so se nama porajale,
brez posebnega razmišljanja. Zdaj pa sem hodil ob
njej in se prisiljeno nasmihal.
“You know, Peter,” began
Honaja after a pause – not
a long one, but still quite
disturbing, “my fatigued
kinsmen in that rest chamber seem to have made
quite a strong impression
on you.”
I smiled. At that moment
the word “impression”
seemed faintly amusing.
Various blackly humorous 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 difficult for me to read hers
either. At least not then; I
534
»Veš, Peter,« je po premoru,
sicer ne pretirano dolgem,
vendar že kar motečem,
začela Honaja, »moji utrujeni rojaki v tistem prostoru za počitek so, kot
kaže, naredili nate precej
močan vtis.«
Nasmehnil sem se. Beseda
»vtis« mi je v tistem trenutku delovala rahlo duhovito. Kar nekam humorno
obešenjaški prebliski so
me obhajali. »Malo drugačni so bili videti od vas
tukaj. Mislim reči, drugačni . . .« sem skušal pojasniti.
Tudi Honaja se je nasmehnila 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 ugotoviti njenih. Vsaj tedaj ne;
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 expression 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 question was a mere formality.
I could tell from her face.
535
imel sem občutek, da se ne
motim.
Nenadoma pa se je Honaja
zvonko zasmejala, se ustavila, se hitro obrnila k
meni in me igrivo pogledala: »Ostrin, kajne?«
Nisem vedel, kaj naj odgovorim. Nagajiva prebrisanost se je poigravala zdaj v
njenih očeh, zdaj na kotičkih njenih ustnic.
»Z Ostrini nismo prijatelji.
O tem si se že imel priložnost 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 pogovarjal, kajne?« Honaja pravzaprav sploh ni potrebovala
odgovora. Le zgolj zaradi
lepšega mi je zastavila to
vprašanje, kot sem dovolj
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 feelings.
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.
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 obremenitev.
Zazrla se je vame: »Verjameš 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 verjameš!«
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. Presneto lepa.
My search for an answer
Moje iskanje sklepa z raz-
536
– a process that involved
analysing all my random
thoughts and then reassembling them to form different conclusions – must
have been reflected in my
face. I loved her. Despite
everything. She was smiling 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.”
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.
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,
Nasmehnil sem se, odobravajoč 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
537
»Veš, Peter,« je spet začela,
»mi smo stara civilizacija. Tako stara, da je
vaša beseda ‘tradicija’ pri
nas lahko samo delno
uporabna. Vsaj glede na
našo povezavo različnih
pojmov z njo. Tu so določena, 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 spoštovanje gojimo do vsega
živega.«
but before that you need to
know about the Acutins.”
Honaja paused. I listened
in silence, since although 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 mentioned 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 unfortunate 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
538
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 jedrski 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 posameznikov vsega skupaj.«
»Kaj? Samo nekaj deset?«
Tako majhno število je bilo
zame presenečenje. »Razu-
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 members of this elite. They
were genuinely handicapped in the sphere of the
emotions. And not only
in the emotional sphere.
And then these surviving
Acutins continued the
development of their civilisation with a deep belief
in the superiority of their
own elite minority and in
their mission. They forged
539
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 najpomembnejše hitro odzivanje v
vojnih razmerah. Cel kup
pomembnih sposobnosti,
ki jih je sicer imel povprečen Ostrin, je manjkal tem
izbrancem. Že kar pravi
kriplji so bili na čustvenem področju. Pa ne samo
na čustvenem. In potem so
ravno ti preživeli Ostrini
nadaljevali razvoj njihove
civilizacije v globokem
prepričanju o superiornosti lastne elitne manjšine
in o svojem poslanstvu.
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 minimise 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 civilisation and we are familiar with the development
540
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 razmišljanja, vse dokler jim sčasoma niso te njihove opredelitve prešle v navado,
ki so jo pozneje preimenovali 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. Oziroma, natančneje, sprva
smo še precej časa živeli
kot sosedje z bolj malo
medsebojnih stikov. Kljub
temu pa smo vse bolj in
bolj spoznavali drug drugega in mi smo lahko vse
jasneje ugotavljali to njihovo hibo. Zelo previdno
smo jim jo potem tudi omenili. Mi smo starejša civilizacija, ki pozna razvojno
pot mnogih drugih civi-
paths of many other civilisations on different planets. 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 supplementation. But then they
got bogged down in a dispute about deviating from
their tradition. Then they
started asking themselves
what derived from genes
and what from loyalty to
their values, their tradition, which some of them
once again began to stress
at the top of their voices.
A powerful group emerged claiming that progress could be achieved
without modifying genes,
and finally the whole business was complicated by
a growing exaltation of
their own development. It
ended with them claiming
that it was us who should
541
lizacij na različnih planetih. Vemo, kaj je bilo izgubljeno v tisti njihovi jedrski vojni. In povedali smo
jim, kako lahko odpravijo
posamezne slabost. Sprva
so prisluhnili. Kazalo je
celo, da bodo pristali na
postopno gensko dograjevanje. 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 poudarjati.
Nastala je močna skupina,
ki je trdila, da je napredek
možno doseči brez spreminjanja genov, nazadnje
pa se je vse skupaj zapletlo ob rastočem veličanju
njihovega lastnega razvoja
s končno ugotovitvijo, da
bi oni morali spremeniti
be changed and not them.
That is when the problems started. They hadn’t
understood anything. Everything we had told them
about themselves, they
rejected as unacceptable.
All of a sudden, nothing
about us was right any
longer. Everything bothered 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,
considerably 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
542
nas in ne sebe. Potem se
je začelo. Razumeli niso
nič. Kar smo jim povedali
o sebi, so vse zavračali kot
nesprejemljivo. Kar naenkrat 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 dejstvo pa zavračajo tako s
preprostim zanikanjem,
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 guaranteed 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 countless myths from what they
call their history, although
the majority of them were
invented later by magnifying and distorting relatively minor incidents
and turning them into
utterly unbelievable stories. We have carried out
an analysis of the origin
of these stories. Their
543
da bi bile tudi zanje sprejemljive drugačne oblike
življenja, kot tudi z zaničevanjem naše višje civilizacijske 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 osvajalskih sposobnostih, to
pa je posledica neštetih
mitov iz njihove, kot pravijo, zgodovine, čeprav so
si jih večino šele naknadno izmislili oziroma
so nekatere sorazmerno
malo pomembne dogodke
tako poveličali in spremenili, da so potem iz
njih nastale že povsem
neverjetne zgodbe. Naredili smo analizo nastanka
teh zgodb. Vojskovodij
ancestors also had many
military leaders, and thus
a basis of this kind does
exist. But many of the
brilliant exploits of individuals are to a considerable 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 reality. Then some extremists
found themselves, as you
say on Earth, in the right
place at the right time, and
this is when they decided to try and break into
our energy fields. As you
have seen, they did considerable damage to us,
but they were not able to
break through our protection. 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.”
so res imeli tudi njihovi
predniki veliko, tako da
obstaja tovrstna podlaga.
Toda pri tem so številna
bleščeča dejanja posameznikov v znatni meri le
plod kasnejše domišljije.
Zaradi nenehne prisotnosti teh legend v njihovem
vsakdanjem življenju so
nekateri Ostrini že izgubili občutek za realnost.
Potem se je nekaj skrajnežev znašlo na kupu ali,
kot pravite na Zemlji, ob
pravem času na pravem
mestu. Sledil je poskus
vdora na naša energetska 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.«
“But now you can’t get
into your energy fields
»Toda tudi vi ne morete
zdaj na svoja energetska
544
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 underestimated 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 apparent after a conflict, after
a war that could be avoided of we were to release 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
545
polja. Vsekakor je to bil
hud napad,« sem rekel z
namenom, da bi nakazal
nevarnost Ostrinov, ki jih
je Honaja, po njenih besedah sodeč, le malo preveč
podcenjevala, vsaj glede
vojaškega področja. Zame
morebitni zmagovalec v
tej njihovi vojni nikakor ni
bil povsem razviden.
Toda Honaja je odkimavala: »Ne morejo nas premagati. 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 sprostili naše sile iz tistih energetskih 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
where there are conflicts
nothing will be left alive.
Your whole planet will be
destroyed. We must prevent 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 Sensins 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 extremely problematic.
“It seems very odd that a
highly developed civilisation should concern itself
only with building its
military potential,” I said
546
spopadi, ne bo ostalo nič
živega. Ves vaš planet bo
uničen. To moramo preprečiti.«
»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 življenja 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 problematično.
»Prav čudno se zdi, da se
neka visoko razvita civilizacija tako ozko usmeri le
v izgradnjo svojega vojaškega potenciala,« sem
doubtfully. “Still, it’s a
good thing that at least you
have followed a normal
evolutionary path.”
navrgel enega od svojih
dvomov. »No, da, še dobro,
da ste vsaj vi šli po bolj normalni evolucijski poti.«
“Yes,” agreed Honaja with
a smile, as she watched
the changes in my expression. My words certainly
weren’t entirely convincing: at that moment they
coincided with what I actually 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.
»Da,« je z nasmehom pritrdila Honaja in opazovala spremembe izraza
na mojem obrazu. Seveda
nisem bil povsem prepričljiv s svojimi besedami,
ki so bile le za trenutek v
skladu z mojim razmišljanjem, sicer pa najbrž ne,
kajti marsikaj je bilo treba
upoštevati, jaz pa nisem
mogel reči česa bolj določenega, 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 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
547
Honaja me je še naprej
motrila. Spet je takoj uganila moje misli. »Peter, glej,
saj ni več nobenih ovir.
Ničesar več mi ni treba
skrivati pred tabo. Videl
si naše bitke. To si moral
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 maintained peace right up until
now, and will continue to
do so. You too can contribute something to this.
And since you Earthmen
cannot bypass this conflict 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 perceive 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
548
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 prijateljsko nagnjenje do vas
Zemljanov, to je doslej tudi
zadostovalo.«
Honaja je govorila zelo
umirjeno. In tudi samozavestno.
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-
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 accepted them as our neighbours. There is enough
space here for us, for
them, and for the people
of Earth too. We left them
in peace, since the proximity of other civilisations is actually agreeable
to us, while at the same
time they represented no
danger to us. We maintained our acquaintance
at occasional encounters
at which we gradually got
to know each other thro549
gli visoko stopnjo razvoja,
smo zgradili velike vesoljske 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 prijateljski 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 bližina drugih civilizacij, pa
tudi nikakršne nevarnosti 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.
ugh discussions, and we
would visit each other. A
considerable amount of
time passed like this, and
everything suggested that
lasting neighbourly relations had been established.
We all had enough of everything 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 advantage. 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
550
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 tehnološko dohitevati. Opozorila so se nanašala tudi na
njihovo vojaško tradicijo,
prežeto z legendami, polnimi okrutnosti in čaščenja vojskovodij. Vendar so
vse naše analize primerljivosti 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 nepričakovanega napada oziroma
poskusa vdora na energetska polja, to pa je takoj
that immediately converted 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 carried 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 Sensins. Everything seemed to
be based on artificial constructs. Suddenly curious,
I asked: “What did they
actually come up with?”
My fingers toyed with
Honaja’s wrist as we
exchanged glances. Whenever she looked at me I
could feel her emotional
warmth, but not always
with the same intensity:
551
spremenilo dotlej mirno
sosedsko sobivanje v sovražno stanje. Zakaj ste to storili, smo jih vprašali takoj
na prvih pogajanjih. Pa so
kar naenkrat privlekli na
dan argumente, zasnovane
na nekakšnih njihovih preučevanjih 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 radovednosti navrgel: »In kaj so si
pravzaprav izmislili?«
Moji prsti so se v rahlih
stiskih poigravali s Honajinim zapestjem, medtem ko
sva si izmenjavala poglede,
ob katerih sem vedno
znova začutil njeno človeško toplino, pa čeprav ne
ves čas enako, ker jo je pre-
she was having to choose
her words carefully and
this inhibited what would
otherwise have been an
entirely
spontaneous
demonstration of her feelings. 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 considered the possibility that
the difference between us
and the Acutins is greater than, for example, the
difference between us
and human civilisation on
Earth.”
I nodded my head to indicate my provisional acceptance of this possibility:
“That your differences
552
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 duhovih zdaj že spet skušal izražati vse bolj sproščeno.
»Peter, da naša razmerja z
Ostrini niso preprosta, si
že sam spoznal, toda razsežnosti teh nasprotij si
najbrž bolj težko predstavljaš. Verjetno niti pomislil nisi na možnost večje
različnosti med nami in
Ostrini, kot je na primer
razlika med nami in človeško civilizacijo na Zemlji.«
Zmignil sem z glavo, češ
da pogojno sprejemam
tako razmišljanje: »Da so
have brought you to a state
of war is something I already 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 slightly embarrassed. “There
are quite a few things here
that are difficult to reconcile. What is it that most
bothers the Acutins?”
“Our endorsement of different forms of life,” was
Honaja’s immediate reply,
without hesitation.
“Oh yes?”
Various thoughts flashed through my brain.
It really was difficult for
me to reconcile that business with the ghosts and
Honaja. Unpleasant was
perhaps a better word.
Suddenly a possible internal difference occurred to
me: That among the Sen553
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 spoznal šele v zadnjem času,
čeprav povsem jasne predstave 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 različnih življenjskih oblik,« je
bil takojšnji Honajin odgovor, brez premišljanja.
»A tako?« V hipu so mi zleteli 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
sins there were ghosts and
but also “different” Sensins, like Honaja for example. 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 superiority, 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
554
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 človeško obliko življenja na
Zemlji,« je nadaljevala
Honaja, »je po mnenju
Ostrinov ponižujoče. Bilo
naj bi priznavanje enakovrednosti primitivnim
rasam, če že ne večvrednosti. Zaman smo jim
razlagali, da nič takega
ni res in da prevzemamo
od ljudi le njihove strasti,
njihova hrepenenja. Da,
Peter, človeško hrepenenje nas osvežuje. Človeška bit je bogata v svojem
čustvovanju in kadar prevzamemo od vas že izžeto
dušo, prazno, izpraznjeno
čustev, nas prav tako poživlja, ker nas sili v hitro
personalities and because this provokes creativity in us, which fills us
with life once again. This
means that we are in constant 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 creature, with such misery in
it that resistance to accepting 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 developed civilisation, nothing
more. In their opinion
the only logical explanation for our behaviour is
that all the members of
the crew of our pioneering fleet died and that
only we robots were left,
555
lastno izgrajevanje osebnosti in ker v nas izzove
ustvarjalnost, to pa nas
spet napolni z življenjem.
Tako smo v stalnem preoblikovanju, enkrat zaradi
združitve z zanimivo človeško osebnostjo, z bitjem
polnim življenja, polnim
vseh vrst življenjskih odzivov, od gneva in besa do
veselja in življenjskih radostih, drugič zaradi spojitve 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 življenja lahko ugotovili le to, da
smo zgolj roboti neke, sicer
zelo razvite civilizacije,
nič drugega. Po njihovem
mnenju je v našem početju logično le to, da so vsi
člani našega pionirskega
ladjevja pomrli, ostali smo
along with programs for
maintaining life, and therefore we sought a specific
living species with which
to establish symbiosis. In
the Acutins’ opinion, the
living representatives of
highly developed civilisations would never have
done something like this.
This is of course nonsense. And yet such thinking may well be the most
natural thinking for the
representatives of a civilisation that is as arrogant
and inward-looking as that
of the Acutins.”
Honaja’s explanation had
the effect of making everything 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 convinced by it either. Yet in
the end, Honaja’s explanation was also possible.
556
le roboti skupaj s programi
za vzdrževanje življenja, in
zato smo si poiskali določeno življenjsko vrsto, s
katero naj bi potem vzpostavili simbiozo. Resnično
živi predstavniki višje razvitih civilizacij po mnenju
Ostrinov nikoli ne bi
počeli česa takega. To je
seveda nesmisel. Čeprav
je tako nadutim in vase
zagledanim
predstavnikom neke civilizacije, kot
so Ostrini, tako razmišljanje 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 opredeljevanje 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
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 advantages, 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 mysterious smile. “We know
quite a lot about you
557
razlaga. Da se nikakršna
res živa bitja ne bi odločila
za razvojno obliko Čutinov, 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 opazovalcu 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 življenja je zanimiva,« je dejala
Honaja z igrivo skrivnostnim nasmehom na ustnicah. »Kar precej vemo o
Earthmen, about humanity, 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 intellectual capacities. With
you, building the personality is subordinated to
more random occurrences. In this we are quite
different from you. This is
actually the key to the greatest 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 characteristics. We absorb them into
558
vas Zemljanih, o človeštvu, 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 izkoriščanja svojih umskih zmogljivosti. Tudi izgradnja
osebnosti je pri vas podvržena 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 naredili veliko več. Poznamo
sposobnosti vaših posameznikov, ne gre le za
njihove strasti, za njihovo
čutnost, ampak tudi za njihove speče lastnosti. Mi jih
prevzemamo vase in jih
ourselves and then build
on them according to our
customs.”
nato izgrajujemo po naših
običajih.«
“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?”
»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 domnevaš, posameznikova pridnost pri tem ne zadostuje.
Vedeti je treba, kako se to
počne.«
Honaja laughed: “We Sensins have more passion,
sensuality and longings
than you Earthmen, and
Honaja se je zvonko
zasmejala: »Več strasti,
čutnosti in raznih hrepenenj imamo mi Čutini
kakor Zemljani, in na
559
»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?«
it is on this basis that we
build our personalities.
There are many differences between us. But you
Earthmen also have many
different passions and
yearnings in you which
you have to harmonise
logically with the environment in which you are
situated. In this you are
very amusing. At least to
the outside observer.” Her
voice became more serious: “Until, of course, a
confusion occurs in the
interweaving of your passions with your intellect,
when finally you don’t
know what will prevail.
We on the other hand are
better able to control ourselves.”
“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
560
tej podlagi izgrajujemo
svoje osebnosti. Tu je
precej razlik med nami,
da. Ampak tudi Zemljani
imate v sebi nemalo različnih 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 prepletanju vaših strasti z razumom, ko na koncu ne
veš, kaj bo prevladalo. Mi
se imamo bolj pod kontrolo.«
»In kako ste to dosegli?«
»Morali smo. Saj bi sicer s
prevzemom vseh nagnjenj
katerega od vaših morilsko
nagnjenih posameznikov
lahko kdo od nas povzročil pravi pomor med nami.
Tega seveda nismo mogli
allow that. We have also
obtained sufficient experience. We have developed
the right mental systems.”
“And so you can take from
a human being his passions, emotions and everything that defines the
individual and build on
this with your own knowledge in order to build
a personality and in this
way obtain a new living
being?” I guessed.
“Yes. We have already achieved quite good
results in this direction.”
Honaja seemed to be enjoying herself. “Very good
results.”
“But you could send knowledge 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 knowledge be enough on its
own? You wouldn’t need
anything else?”
“Yes, it could be enough.”
561
dopustiti. Pa tudi dovolj
izkušenj smo si pridobili.
Prave miselne sisteme smo
si izoblikovali.«
»Torej
lahko
človeku
odvzamete strasti, čustvovanje in sploh vse, kar
določa posameznika, ter
to nadgradite s svojim znanjem za izgradnjo osebnosti 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 kakršnega koli medija za prenos
podatkov in na tej podlagi
potem zgradili civilizacijo,
podobno vaši? Ali bi zadostovalo zgolj to znanje? Nič
drugega?«
»Da, lahko bi zadostovalo.«
“And if you were a civilisation 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 doubtfully, “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 selfassurance through those
few glances when she saw
how difficult it was for me
to express my thoughts.
“It is right for you to give
562
»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 prižela k meni. Zdaj je bila že
povsem sproščena, očitno
ji je bilo všeč ob meni, a
meni ni bilo najbolj prijetno.
»Toda po tem, kar si povedala,« malce sem pomislil
v dvomu, »lahko domnevam, 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 samozavesti je prišlo iz nje skozi
tistih nekaj iskrivih pogledov, ko je opazovala, kako
težko mi je izraziti svoja
spoznanja.
»Prav je in tudi zelo lepo,«
your imagination free rein.”
Her voice became slightly
patronising. “Many things
are possible. Very many.
Too many for us to comprehend everything quickly. But thinking about all
these possibilities is fun in
its own way, isn’t it?”
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 razmišljanje o vseh teh možnostih zabavno, kajne?«
Once again I had to
repeat my noncommittal “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 femininity was all that she transmitted. An abundance
of life. No doubt of mine
could seriously connect
her to any kind of robot.
Not even that explanation of the Acutins according to which the crew
of Sensins were supposed
to have died and left the
development of their civilisation to be continued
by robots. Because in that
Spet sem moral ponoviti svoj »hm.« Zadnja
Honajina pripomba me
je nenadoma preusmerila na nekakšno zabavno
področje na rahlo zmedeni podlagi. »Zabavno!?«
Pogled mi je zdrsnil po
njenih licih. Nič robotskega ni bilo na njej. Nič.
Le obilje ženskosti je prihajalo iz nje. Obilje življenja. 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 civilizacije nadaljevali roboti.
Ker potem bi bila Honaja
563
case Honaja would be a
robot, and that was something 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 irritated. And now she was
suggesting that thinking
about all this was amusing 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 thought... 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
564
robot, to pa se mi je zdelo
nesprejemljivo. Tega preprosto nisem mogel sprejeti, 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 udeležencev 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.
at any rate. But I couldn’t
be completely sure, since
after all some of the explanations 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 yourself by thinking too much.
It is better to let yourself
by guided by your feelings, as people usually do
when things are not clear
in the rational sense.”
I nodded and looked doubtfully at Honaja:
“You know, relying on
your feelings is also
more...” I paused. “Even
thinking about this subject
can be amusing. Like your
565
Ampak popolnoma stoodstotno se le ne morem
opredeliti, kajti nekatere utemeljitve tistega
Ostrina so se mi vendarle
zdele precej umestne.
Presneto umestne. Če ne
bi bilo Honaje, se najbrž
sploh ne bi mogel odločiti. Še zdaj se težko odločim. Med rahlim odkimavanjem sem ustavil ta
svoja razmišljanja. Morda
bi vseeno moral pomagati
Ostrinom . . .?
»Peter,« je spet spregovorila
Honaja, »nikar se ne obremenjuj s pretiranim razmišljanjem. Raje se prepusti
ravnanju po občutku, kot
običajno počnete ljudje,
ko vam stvari niso v celoti
razumsko jasne.«
Prikimal sem in se dvoumno zazrl v Honajo: »Veš,
to razmišljanje na osnovi
občutkov je tudi bolj tako…
tako…« Malce sem pomolčal. »Tudi razmišljanje na
to temo je lahko zabavno.
consideration of various
possibilities. You never
get to the end of them...
How many stupid decisions people make just like
that – on the basis of feelings.”
“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.”
Kot tista tvoje razmišljanje 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 drugače.«
***
***
Lost in thought, I observed the distribution of the
various conflicts shown
in the holo-display. Thousands of battles were already taking place across
all the boundary areas
separating the Sensins and
566
Zamišljeno sem opazoval
v holiju prikazano prostorsko razporeditev spopadov.
Na tisoče bitk je potekalo
po vseh mejnih ploskvah
med Čutini in Ostrini, a
Acutins, and new conflicts
continued to flare up in
hitherto calm areas. Flashes 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 appeared next to it in the form
of brightly shining spherical 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 destroyed all life on Earth. Both
Sensins and Acutins have
more than enough of these
bombs. Judging from the
flashes in the display, billions of them had already
567
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 eksplozije močnih jedrskih ali
energetskih bomb, verjetno iz antimaterije. Na
tisoče, morda na milijone
jih je moralo eksplodirati
v tej medsebojno uničujočih se bitkah med Čutini
in Ostrini. In še preden
je ugasnil sij posamezne
eksplozije, se je v neposredni 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 življenje na Zemlji. Tako Čutini
kot Ostrini so imeli več
kakor dovolj takih bomb.
Sodeč po svetlikanju v
holiju, jih je najbrž eksplodiralo že na milijarde. Mili-
exploded. A billion didn’t
mean much at this scale.
And the Earth meant even
less. It was so vulnerable.
***
jarda ima v teh vesoljskih
razsežnostih bolj majhen
pomen. Zemlja pa še manjšega. Tako ranljiva.
***
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 reestablishing of the balance
of power and, consequently, 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
568
Z ustnicami sem se dotaknil 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 ravnovesja 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
just moved a little closer. I
pulled her towards me.
“What about your husband?”
“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 individuals 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 something 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 selfbuilding in a more natural
way.”
569
malo bolj se je privila k
meni, pa sem jo še sam stisnil 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 pozornosti.«
»Hm. Zanimivo, da. Pri nas
na Zemlji je to zgolj nekaj,
kar se tako ali tako samo
oblikuje, čeprav nekateri posamezniki glasno
govorijo o tem, tudi strokovno, vendar brez množičnega 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 prisoten, da bi bili zmožni bolj
sproščenega samoizgrajevanja.«
“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 complained 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 witticism, 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 hopeless cases. Everyone on
Earth could immediately
provide you with a list of
acquaintances who are suitable candidates for a total
overhaul.” I laughed at my
own wit but stopped when
570
»Ne vem, glede tega bi
težko rekel kaj bolj določenega. Poleg tega se mi
doslej še nihče ni pritoževal nad svojo osebnostjo.
Kolikor
vem,
nas bolj motijo slabosti
raznih oseb v naši bližini 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 osebnosti so ljudje okoli njega, bi
se prav gotovo strinjal, da
je nujna njihova nadaljnja
izgradnja ali da je priporočljiva celotna prenova,
saj gre večinoma za brezupne primere. Vsakdo
na Zemlji bi ti prav hitro
naštel nekaj svojih znancev kot kandidate za
celotno prenovo.« Skoraj
užival sem v svoji duhovitosti, temu primerno
sem še sproščeno zasme-
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 percentage 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 interests 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 husband, 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.”
571
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 spremeniti. 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: » Sorodnost 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 različnih oblik življenja.«
“Different forms of life?” I
repeated. Perhaps this was
what it was really about.
Honaja was clearly different from, for example,
that female Sensin there
in “purgatory”, or whatever 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 question of Honaja’s husband.
And building personalities. Perhaps it was all
connected somehow.
“When it comes to understanding 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
572
»Različnih oblik življenja?« sem ponovil. Res
bi lahko šlo prav za to.
Honaja je bila izrazito drugačna na primer od one
Čutinke tam v Vicah ali
karkoli je že bilo tisto, pa
tudi kakršno koli enačenje 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 osebnosti. Vse skupaj naj bi se
morda medsebojno povezovalo.
»Pri razumevanju različnih oblik življenja se
najpogosteje
pojavljajo
težave zaradi naše prevelike odmaknjenosti, ko na
podlagi izkušenj in določenega znanja prehitro
prihajamo do površnih
sklepov in ugotovitev.
Škoda, ker nimava dovolj
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 understanding 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 civilisation 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-establish 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
573
časa. Prav rada bi te vpeljala 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 vzpostavljenem miru, kajne? Če
bo odprtje vaših energetskih polj lahko zagotovilo
mir...«
»Seveda, v najinem primeru bodo morali dopustiti izjemo.«
»In kaj tebi še vedno
pomeni
tvoj
pokojni
mož?«
»Pravzaprav vaju vse težje
harder and harder for me
to distinguish between the
two of you. You are very
similar. We Sensins interpret the building of personality 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 personality. This is something
in which we differ significantly from you Earthmen,
although we still have an
unbelievable amount of
things in common. For
you Earthmen your personality 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: besides our basic self, determined by evolution, other
living beings live in us. We
transfer most of these into
ourselves after their death,
574
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. Zemljanom se osebnost izgrajuje
na podlagi hotenj in sposobnosti, pa tudi strasti in
danih okoliščin, v katere
ste vrženi. Mi Čutini vse
to poznamo. Toda v nas
živijo poleg našega osnovnega jaza, podanega skozi
evolucijo, še drugi živa
bitja. Večino od teh prenesemo vase po njihovi
smrti, nekatere zveze,
but we also establish some
connections with living
individuals – although
these are rarer because we
are prohibited from disturbing the evolution of less
developed civilisations.”
“And your husband established 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 passions and inclinations of
the chosen individual, but
how much of this we then
allow to come to life in us
is another question. Often
575
sicer bolj redke zaradi
prepovedi motenja evolucije manj razvitih civilizacij, 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 pogosto omenjal. Kako globoka je vez med vama, in
predvsem kako živa je, pa
nisem vedela. Vse strasti
in nagnjenja lahko iz izbranega posameznika prenesemo vase, koliko tega
potem pustimo, da v nas
zaživi, je pa drugo vprašanje. Pogosto je odvisno od
it depends on the time
involved, but we always
act according to our artistic 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 transfer takes place after the
death of the Earthman.
But in some cases the situation is like this one with
you and my husband.”
576
časovnih obdobij, vedno
pa se ravnamo po našem
umetniškem
čutu
za
ustvarjanje osebnosti. Zato
je bilo zame nemogoče
oceniti stopnjo podobnosti 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 nekaterih primerih pa je zadeva
taka kot s tabo in mojim
možem.«
“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 ‘purgatory’...”
She giggled, slightly awkwardly, it seemed to me.
“It’s a kind of halfway station. No-one has complained 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?”
577
»Huh!« Spet so me obšli
razni pomisleki. Tiste njihove 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 asteroidnem oblaku bi težko
rekel Vice…«
Zahehetala se je. Kar malo
poredno. In rekla: »Nekakšna vmesna postaja so.
Nihče se doslej še ni pritoževal nad postanki v njih.
Celo nasprotno. Večina jih
je označila kot zelo zanimivo 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?«
“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 considered the Sensins’ operations “an interesting idea”.
578
»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 prepričljiva nevarnost se je
nakazovala. Sicer bi bilo
dobro slišati še Ostrine,
kaj pravijo o vsem tem,
toda zdaj očitno ni več
časa. Ampak kako hudirjevo so tudi oni prepričani, da imajo prav! Češ
da se tega ne dela. Takih
stvari, kot so eksperimenti Čutinov. Po svoje je
početje Čutinov vseeno
nenavadno. Ko bi lahko
vsaj še malo premislil o
vsem tem. Toda po Honajinih besedah je večina
ljudi označila delovanje
Čutinov kot zanimivo
pogruntavščino. Ostrini
And the Acutins continue
to call them robots. On
the other hand the Acutins 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 reconciled 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 reasonable. 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 complications at the entrance to the
energy fields, peace reigned in this part of space.
It lasted for a long time. A
very long time. And it was
very possible that it would
579
pa jih vztrajno zmerjajo
z roboti. Po drugi strani
pa so Ostrini tako samozadostni, 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 sprijaznili. In kaj bo potem,
ko bom prišel skozi tista
vhodna preverjanja in
skozi vse zapore ter sprostil 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 presoditi, je pred vsemi sedanjimi zapleti na vhodu
v energetska polja v teh
predelih vladal mir. Dolgo
je trajal. Zelo dolgo. In
prav lahko, da bo kmalu
soon reign again, and for
even longer. That was it: I
had to open up the entrances 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 njihove prehode do energetskih polj. To moram
storiti zanje. In zase. In za
Honajo . . .
KONEC
580