Дэймон Найт - Orbit 13

“Then let’s get the hell out of here,” said Genadee.

We went back to our shack and listened to records. It was a nice change to do that instead of standing in the corner until Creel fainted and we all fell on our heads.

A few days before, I was punching the buttons in the radar station and dropped my top down in one of the machines. I tried to get it out, but it was stuck in a crack and I couldn’t work it loose. Got irritated and punched wild and pushed a yellow button. Sister was born that day. She may not have been a genius, but I never asked her a question she couldn’t answer.

“You ever hear of Idio?” I said.

“Project Idio is on my tapes,” said Sister.

“Don’t recollect you being around before.”

“Who’s in that machine?” said Creel.

“Get the hell out,” said Genadee. “What do you think you’re doing hiding in there?”

“I respond to questions,” said Sister.

“How do you figure we can talk all of a sudden?” I said.

“You activated my mechanism.”

“What does that mean?”

“We are in communication.”

“Hell, this thing is another idiot,” said Genadee.

Brown and Green used to read books, but later they spent most of their time looking at pictures. I described some of the pictures to Sister and she said they were pornography. She said some of the people in the pictures were women.

“Bull,” said Creel.

‘Tit,” said Genadee.

“This Idio is women,” I said to Sister. “Why don’t we look like the pictures Brown and Green study all the time?”

“Idio is physically defective.”

“What does that mean?” said Genadee.

“It means we aren’t beautiful,” I said.

“Go to hell, I’m as good-looking as you any day,” said Creel.

“Why does Creel have four arms and all that piddling equipment?” I said to Sister.

“Define the word ‘piddling.’ “

“Going to the bathroom.”

“The Idio portion known as Creel is androgynous.”

“What kind of language is that?” I said.

“It only means she got four arms,” said Genadee.

“Never mind that stuff, I want to hear some more about pornography,” said Creel. “Why do Brown and Green read it all the time?”

Sister gave us a long lecture and we were all ears.

I sat in the hot sun and cried. Didn’t know why, just felt like crying.

“Darkness making faces?” said Creel. She stood behind me and patted my head.

“Something sure is.”

Pat, pat went her two hands on my head. I didn’t know which arms she was moving. It had to be only one pair, because she couldn’t use all of them at once. While she used one pair the other hung limp.

“You think maybe we’re getting smarter since we found Sister?”

“We have more information, that’s all,” I said. “We ask Sister a question and she answers it, but we don’t know what it means or how to use it any better than we did before.”

Creel patted my head. “I feel intelligent today. Think I’ll ask her how Idio works.”

“Done asked her. It works like a relay. The action goes from my head to yours, then to Genadee, then to the Cycler and back to me again.”

Just then Genadee came out of the shack and saw us. She stomped over and kicked sand on my feet.

“Let’s do something.”

“Like what?” I said.

“Hell, I don’t know, let’s just get clicking.”

We went to spy on Brown and Green. Their shack was no better on the outside than ours, but they kept the inside in order and it was a pleasure to look at it. Keeping things neat was something Idio found impossible. We peeked in one of the windows and saw them lying on their bunks looking at pictures.

“Remember what Sister said about appetite?” said Creel. “Those two nice boys are suffering from lack of tactile stimulation, and it’s a shame. We ought to do them a favor.”

“What does that mean?” said Genadee.

Creel looked at me. “You know what I’m thinking?”

“Yeah, except none of us looks like those pictures.”

“Sure as hell you or me don’t, but I been imagining Genadee here and the more I imagine it the better she looks.”

“What you talking about?” yelled Genadee.

Brown and Green heard her and threw away their magazines and got up cussing. Creel and I dragged our partner back to the shack and made her take a bath.

“How come you guys aren’t getting in here with me?” she wanted to know.

“You’re the one we’re trying to make good-looking,” I said.

The septic tank backed up into the shack, so Genadee and I took off for the sand and sun. We sat talking, and after a while Brown came out of his shack, yelling at the top of his lungs.

“What’s that smell?”

I told him.

He cussed for a while. “If I wanted to know anything I wouldn’t ask a mushmouth. It’s that damned tank again. I told you to quit flushing beer cans. Well, you’ll all have to get out of here till we get it cleaned up. Where’s the other one?”

I jabbed a hand toward the shack.

“It’ll have to get out, too,” he said. “Can’t have your valuable selves getting contaminated.”

“If I was you I wouldn’t go in there. Creel’s on the can and she isn’t amiable—”

“Mushmouth,” he said. He looked at Genadee.

We had made her wear a piece of curtain to hide her gourd figure. She looked pretty damn good. Her hair was her best feature. Thick and glossy, it was just like fur and fit her head neat, and brushed back the way it was, she didn’t look too much like a throwback to the cave. Her widow’s peak was so pronounced that she sort of resembled Dracula, but sitting there in the sun with her cheeks rosy and her eyes glittering . . . well, anyhow, Brown looked at her.

He took off toward the shack, and again I said, “If I was you I wouldn’t go in there.”

In he went, then a few minutes later came a ruckus, then he ran outside holding his stomach.

“Goddamn,” he said and went away to find Green so they could clean our house.

For supper we had ham and spinach. Creel and I sat on either side of Genadee and made her eat slow. We kept her chin clean and whenever she started growling we pinched her gourds.

“Just for that you have to stand in the corner,” said Brown. He was eyeing Creel.

“What’d I do?”

“You threw your plate on the floor, mushmouth. Get up and stand in the corner, both of you.”

I got up grinning, looked from him to Genadee.

“She didn’t do anything,” he said. “She’s acting like a lady. You two are hogs.”

Creel and I shoved our faces into the same corner. Knocking her out of the way, I said, “Go find your own.”

It took her five minutes of standing still to faint. I followed a second later and as I dropped I hoped Genadee wouldn’t slam into her plate and mess her makeup.

I needn’t have worried. Woke up and found Brown had pulled the plate away and stuck a pillow there. Genadee wasn’t messed and she didn’t have a sore head.

I was in love with Brown.

“Tit, tit, tit, tit, tit.” Five buttons punched. Nothing to do.

We went and beautified Genadee some more, cut her fingernails, scrubbed them with Creel’s toothbrush, then we put red polish on them. Had to do something about that black fuzz on her upper lip. Sandpapered it off while she bellowed.

Spent the afternoon drinking beer. So hot I finally took a bath. The septic tank backed up again so my feet stunk worse than ever, but they smelled better than Creel’s.

“Tit, tit, tit, tit, tit.” Five buttons pushed. Nothing to do.