Tuning William - Fuzzy Bones

Mmmmmmm, The Rev thought, Christiana picked a pretty good guy, here. No wonder she's getting a little frantic to hang on to him.

Diamond rushed over and hugged Grego's leg. "Fuzzies makcHagga happy," he said. "That make Fuzzies happy. Everybody make friend, have fun, make help, be good."

Chapter 33

"You say why to me, plis."

"Not say why to you!"

Two tiny figures were silhouetted against the star-filled sky, and lighted faintly by Xerxes, which was at about the half-full phase. One of them had a khaki barracks cover cocked on the back of his head. The other was quietly smoking a little tobacco pipe. They were sitting on a rock outcropping above Fuzzy Valley.

"So noho-aki dovov heeva aid. Aki gashta, shi so," Little Fuzzy said intensely, lapsing into Lingua Fuzzy to make his point. "You tell me how no say to me. Me Fuzzy, like you."

"Is secret duty," Starwatcher said, speaking slowly as he worked through the unfamiliar Terran words for an abstract concept. "Come down from old one to me-to me when old one say I now Haigun of these Fuzzies. He told by old one who make him \htHaigun. That how duty pass from old one to young one-many-many times. So many-many no one know when start; just that is, so."

"Me see-is, so-but must know why," Little Fuzzy said.

"Me no have say you," Starwatcher replied tersely. "Me Haigun. Not have to make answer-no to gashta, no to Hagga."

"Hagga only want help Fuzzies," Little Fuzzy said.

Starwatcher fingered the visor of his barracks cover. "Me know," he said quietly.

"You, Haigun," Little Fuzzy said, "but, see." He took the two-inch silver disc that hung on a chain about his neck and showed it again to Starwatcher. The dim light glinted faintly on it, not enough to read the lettering, but enough to see it was there: the numeral 1. Below that was LITTLE FUZZY, and below that, JackHolloway, Cold Creek Valley, Beta Continent.

"You see-" Little Fuzzy paused. "-idee-disko. You, Haigun; me, Numba'-One Fuzzy. Big job, be Numba'-One Fuzzy. What if Pappy Jack ask Little Fuzzy why Starwatcher all the time look at stars and moons? If Little Fuzzy have to say,

'Me not know, Pappy Jack; he won't say to me,' so-then Pappy Jack maybe think Little Fuzzy not much of a Numba'-One Fuzzy. Not know easy fact, so-such.

Maybe Pappy Jack say, 'You Fuzzy; dem Fuzzies. Why you not know? You Numba'-One Fuzzy-and dem Fuzzies no trust you?' Make Little Fuzzy feel bad-let Pappy Jack down. Not help Pappy Jack is bad thing to do. Must be good to Pappy Jack. Pappy Jack find Fuzzies-help Fuzzies-save Fuzzies."

Little Fuzzy paused again, to let the importance of his remarks gain weight, knowing the silence would help to generate a reply from Starwatcher. Little Fuzzy hadn't failed to learn some diplomacy from watching the tactics of persuasion that Terrans used to convince each other.

"Me know," Starwatcher repeated slowly. "Fuzzies not have food. Pappy Jack give hosku-fusso." He moved his hand in a semi-circle to include all of Fuzzy Valley. "Old ones die, but new young ones not come. Starwatcher not know why.

Is Haigun-so-such must know why, but not. Pappy Jack give hoksu-fusso to eat.

Greensuit Hagga good, too, but Pappy Jack make them come this place. Pappy Jack Best Big One."

"If Pappy Jack ask," Little Fuzzy said, "so-then you say to him, 'Me Haigun.

Me no have say you why look at stars and moons.' You so-say Pappy Jack?"

"No," Starwatcher said softly. "No so-say Pappy Jack."

"Then say me," Little Fuzzy said. "I Pappy Jack's Numba'-One Fuzzy, but no say him why. He ask, then I say, but not say any time else."

Starwatcher took a deep breath. "Old Haigun make me Haigun, but not say me what duty is-most, but not sum of it." Starwatcher pointed toward the sky.

"Blue star go about white star three hands, before old Haigun die. Then, he so-say me, 'It be said, when lights come in sky,gashta go to far place. When lights come in sky, gashta be saved and taken up this place. You watch. You Haigun.' Then, he die."

Little Fuzzy digested this for a moment. "Prrrr- prrrophesy," he said, working hard over the unfamiliar "R" sound.

"What that mean?" Starwatcher asked.

"Is when you so-say thing happen before it happen," Little Fuzzy replied."But, why oldHaigun so-say you? Why watch for lights?"

"He no say," Starwatcher said. "He not know. Only know to watch. Only know stay in valley and watch. Rest is forgotten."

Little Fuzzy knocked out his pipe on a stone, blew through the stem, and thought for a moment. Then, he began to refill the pipe from his little tobacco pouch. This was going to be a two-pipe problem.

Xerxes was several degrees higher in the night sky before Little Fuzzy spoke

again. "See lights in sky?" he inquired.

Starwatcher held up two fingers. "Two times," he said. "Old Haigun not dead then. He see, too."

"What he say?" Little Fuzzy asked.

"He so-say, not lights we watch to see," Starwatcher said. "I ask him how he know, but he no say me how."

"When last time you see?" Little Fuzzy asked.

"Star turn hand-of-hands since," Starwatcher said, opening and closing his fist five times.

"You see on that place?" Little Fuzzy asked, pointing at Xerxes with his pipe stem.

Starwatcher nodded.

"That when gashta-Hagga-Big Ones-come this place," Little Fuzzy said. "Big Ones save Fuzzies. Prrrrrophesy now is, so. Fuzzies go to place where you see lights." He tapped his chest with his pipestem. "Me one of dem Fuzzies. Hagga teach many things to Fuzzies there."

Starwatcher jabbed his finger toward the ground."But, we not go. We here, yet.

So I watch."

The intercom chimed. Alex Napier thumbed the switch. "Yes?" he said.

"Lieutenant Moshe Gilbert is here to report," the yeoman replied.

"Send him in," Napier said. He broke the connection, laid his pipe in the large ashtray, and tugged the bottom of his tunic to smooth the front of it.

Napier could see nothing amiss in Lieutenant Gilbert's grasp of protocol. He reported properly and with briskness, but he looked awfully green to be a Class-A Agent. His two front teeth were markedly larger than they should be, which made him look younger than he was, and he had that well-scrubbed, just-out-of-the-Academy look about him, which is to say that innocence oozed from every pore. The only thing missing that Napier could think of was freckles. It taxed the mind to believe that this young man was a graduate of the Navy's Advanced Protection and Escort School, yet there it was in his records, along with a string of commendations for successfully completed assignments. But, then, Napier reflected, the most efficient and ruthless agent he had ever seen was a sweet young thing who looked like a cheerleader.

Napier toyed with the records jacket."When did you go to APES?" he asked, although the date was plainly entered on Gilbert's personnel form.

"Five years ago, sir," Gilbert replied. "Spring class of 650."

"I see," Napier said. "At ease, Lieutenant, and have a seat." He motioned him to a chair.

"Thank you, sir," Gilbert said.

Napier filled his pipe and leaned back in his chair while he lighted it.

"Relax, son," he said, talking around the pipe-stem, between puffs. "No need to sit at attention, too."

"Yes, sir," Gilbert said.

"Did Captain Greibenfeld tell you anything about the nature of this assignment?" Napier asked.

"Only that I would be assigned directly to your staff, sir-for an indefinite period," Gilbert said.

Napier smiled. "If you have any hot dates planned for the next year," he said,

"I suggest you cancel them." That would be enough to tell him, for the moment, Napier decided. Then, if any scuttlebutt got back to him about the duration of the mission, he would know that Gilbert wasn't the man he wanted. "I'll brief you on the final phase when the time comes," he continued. "In the meantime, your direct responsibility will be to create first-generation copies of several tapes and documents-as I furnish them to you. I consider this to be very sensitive information, Lieutenant. You are responsible to no one on this station, now, except myself. You will wear a sidearm at all times, whether you are engaged in building the duplicate file or not. If, any any time, based on your own judgement, any compromise of security has occurred, you are to arrest the parties concerned and bring them to me under guard." "And if they refuse?"