The Colors of Space - Page 40/108

Bart was moving his hands experimentally. Once over the shock, they felt

quite normal. The claws didn't get in his way half so much as he'd

expected when he picked up a pen that lay beside him and, with the blunt

tip, made a few of the strange-looking dots and wedges that were the

Lhari alphabet.

"Practice writing this," said Raynor Three, and laid a plastic-encased

folder down beside him. It was a set of ship's papers printed in Lhari.

Bart read it through, seeing that it was made out to the equivalent of

Astrogator, First Class, Bartol.

"That's your name now, the name your father would have used. Memorize

it, get used to the sound of it, practice writing it. Don't worry too

much about the rating; it's an elementary one, what we'd call Apprentice

rating, and I have a training tape for you anyhow. My brother got hold

of it, don't ask me how--and don't ask him!"

"When am I going to see my face?"

"When I think you're ready for the shock," Raynor said bluntly. "It

almost threw you when I showed you your hands."

He made Bart walk around some more briefly, slowly, he unwound the

bandages; then turned and picked up a mirror at the bottom of his

medic's case, turning it right side up. "Here. But take it easy."

But when Bart looked in the mirror he felt no unexpected shock, only an

unnerving revulsion.

His hair was bleached-white and fluffy, almost feathery to the touch.

His skin was grayish-rose, and his eyelids had been altered just enough

to make his eyes look long, narrow and slanted. His nostrils were mere

slits, and he moved his tongue over lips that felt oddly thin.

"I did as little to your teeth as I thought I could get away with-capped

the front ones," Raynor Three told him. "So if you get a toothache

you're out of luck--you won't dare go to a Lhari dentist. I could have

done more, but it would have made you look too freakish when we changed

you back to human again--if you live that long," he added grimly.

I hadn't thought about that. And if Raynor is going to forget me, who

will do it? The cold knot of fear, never wholly absent, moved in him

again.

Watching his face, Raynor Three said gently, "It's a big network, Bart.

I'm not telling you much, for your own safety. But when you get to

Antares, they'll tell you all you need to know."