Aliens Alien Harvest - By Robert Sheckley Page 0,65

walls.

"They've turned on the beam restraints," Badger said.

Glint came up from the rear and examined the situation.

"They sure did, Red, but they don't have them on full."

Badger looked again. "You're right, Walt. They must not be running full power through the ship's net. Probably because of the damage we caused in the control room. Those beams should be visible to a distance of six inches from the side of the wall."

Min Dwin looked the situation over and reported, "Their circle of interdiction will extend beyond their visible range."

"Sure it will," Badger said. "But there'll still be a hole we can get through."

The entrance to the corridor was like a tall O. The violet flame burned on all sides of it, surrounding it entirely, but leaving the middle of the hole open.

"Well have to dive through," Glint said. "Make sure not to touch the sides or the bottom."

"Shouldn't be too difficult," Badger said.

"Maybe not for you," Connie Mindanao said. "But I've been wounded. How am I going to take a good jump through?"

A cruel little light glittered in Red Badger's eyes. "Well take care of it for you, won't we, Glint? Grab her other arm."

Although she protested, the two big crewmen grabbed Connie. They swung her back and forth and, on the command from Badger, threw her headfirst through the corridor. Connie gave a shriek of protest as her foot trailed in the violet glow, but landed safe on the far side.

"Now the rest of us," Badger said. "The lander is just around the next bend. We're almost there!"
Chapter 52
"Do you ever get sick of us so called real people?" Julie asked suddenly.

Gill looked up, startled. He had been intent on the screen, watching as Norbert followed the group of aliens through the tunnels. Gill wanted to be ready to report to Dr. Myakovsky when the doctor awoke from his nap. But Julie's question seemed worthy of serious thought and he gave it, though not taking his eyes off the screen that showed Norbert's progress.

"I'm afraid," Gill said at last, "that I do not understand the question. It implies a precondition: that there is something in human behavior that I might get sick of. To what are you referring, Julie?"

"Wow!" Julie laughed. "I didn't expect to get that much out of you. But it isn't an answer."

"I am asking you to define your question, Miss Lish."

"You know very well what I mean," Julie said.

Gill found himself caught up and bewildered by the complexities of human thinking. It seemed to him that Julie was saying one thing and meaning another. The technical semanticists who had programmed his response bank had not given sufficient attention to the problem of ambiguity. Perhaps they couldn't solve it. Gill and Julie looked at each other for a few moments in silence. Then Gill spoke. "You are referring, perhaps, to the fact that human actions are not always logical in terms of advantage? That they sometimes appear to be downright self defeating?"

"Okay, that's one way of saying it," Julie said. "What do you think of that?"

Again Gill paused before answering. "I can only believe that illogic is essential to being human, since it is the one thing we synthetics are not capable of."

"You can't go against logic and programming, is that it?"

"It is, Miss Lish."

Julie didn't answer at once. Presently she reached out and took Gill's hand. Startled, the synthetic man let it go limp. Julie held it like she had never seen a hand before. She studied it, turning it slowly this way and that.

"What an amazing piece of construction this is." She marveled. "How perfectly the skin has been rendered and textured. It's hard to believe that anything as cunning as this could belong to someone not human."

"Yet so it is," Gill said.

"Is it? Or are you just being modest? A very human trait, I assure you."

"I don't know," Gill muttered. "One thing I do know is, Dr. Myakovsky loves you very much."

"Yes," Julie said, "I think he does. It's why he's here, isn't it?"

"I believe it is, Miss Lish."

"But why then am I here?"

"I do not know," Gill said. He hesitated. "It is a difficult way to get rich."

"Do you know of any easy ways?" Julie asked. "Do you know any better ways to pass your time on Earth than doing what I'm doing now?"

Gill shook his head. "I know nothing about these things."

Julie frowned and let his hand drop. "I like you, Gill, though you're very naive about some things. Look, Norbert seems