The Legend That Was Earth Read Online Free Page A
Author: James P. Hogan
were either returning from Washington to their posts in South America or going on to Chryse. Vrel didn't know them well enough to guess who would be going where. Given Orzin's lead, most of them might opt for Cade's party, if for no greater reason than curiosity. Three sitting together, upright and proper, would no doubt be going back to the mission with Shayle. Somehow, Vrel couldn't imagine Terrans making such an issue out of an invitation to attend a party. Maybe he was starting to think a little bit like one.
The transport landed, and the Hyadeans disembarked via a covered escalator brought up to the door. Shayle and the three that Vrel had picked out departed at once in a Terran automobile, registering disapproval by declining to say a word. Luke and Dee were standing in front of a limousine-quality minibus. Vrel introduced the remaining Hyadeans except Krossig, whom they already knew because he worked with Vrel in LA. Dee had shoulder-length blond hair, fringed at the front, and was wearing a light wrap over a stretchy orange dress. She slipped an arm through Vrel's as they began walking around the bus. He had to suppress an impulse to flinch at the public display, reminding himself that he was back among Terrans now. A week of conforming to Hyadean protocols had reawakened his social reflexes. One of the arrivals nudged a companion and raised his eyebrows, not a little enviously. Terran women had a reputation among Hyadeans for being sensuous. Vrel pretended not to notice, resisting the conflicting urge to put on a little showiness. Opportunistic exhibitions of good fortune or superiority were considered bad manners here.
"Good flight?" Dee asked him.
"Just fine."
"I was a bit worried... with all that trouble on the news this afternoon."
"It was ugly. But we weren't really involved. How's Roland?"
"Oh, he never changes. Going with the flow."
That was a new one. Vrel checked with his veebee. It returned the best it could come up with. "He's on the river?" Vrel repeated, looking puzzled.
Dee laughed. "It means living life as it comes. Not fighting it. Making the best of whatever comes along."
"That sounds like Roland," Vrel agreed.
"One day you'll learn how not to rely on a computer all the time and develop your instincts instead," Dee told him. They climbed into the minibus. There were all-round leather seats, a screen, and a bar. Background music was playing of a kind that Vrel had learned to identify as strings. Classical Terran music had a big following among Hyadeans.
"Who was the composer of this piece?" Vrel asked the veebee in Hyadean.
"Antonio Vivaldi. 1678 to 1741. Born in Venice, Italy."
"And did you get the thing about the river.... What was it again?"
"Going with the flow."
"Oh, right. It means..." Vrel frowned and thought back. "Not fighting life. Taking things as they come. Is that right?"
"Close enough," the veebee replied.
CHAPTER THREE
OTHER HYADEANS HAD ARRIVED direct from the Trade and Cultural Mission by the time Luke and Dee returned with the party from the airport. A number of unattached Terran women, all of them attractive, stylish, sophisticated, and sociable, had also begun arriving.
To most Terrans, Hyadeans came across as rather conformist and image-conscious. From what they were told or saw on Hyadean productions carried by Terran media, life on Chryse and its colonized worlds seemed overstructured and regimented. An example was the rigidity of rules governing dealings between the sexes, which by most Terran standards came across as stiff and prudish. Partly in consequence, Hyadeans found Earth a mysterious, exciting place, where sensual indulgence and freedom of expression which at best would have been frowned upon back home were regarded as normal. Biological nature being apparently much the same in at least the nearby regions of the galaxy, it followed that more than a few Hyadeans would develop a taste for, or curiosity to sample, at least, a little of the risqué that
The transport landed, and the Hyadeans disembarked via a covered escalator brought up to the door. Shayle and the three that Vrel had picked out departed at once in a Terran automobile, registering disapproval by declining to say a word. Luke and Dee were standing in front of a limousine-quality minibus. Vrel introduced the remaining Hyadeans except Krossig, whom they already knew because he worked with Vrel in LA. Dee had shoulder-length blond hair, fringed at the front, and was wearing a light wrap over a stretchy orange dress. She slipped an arm through Vrel's as they began walking around the bus. He had to suppress an impulse to flinch at the public display, reminding himself that he was back among Terrans now. A week of conforming to Hyadean protocols had reawakened his social reflexes. One of the arrivals nudged a companion and raised his eyebrows, not a little enviously. Terran women had a reputation among Hyadeans for being sensuous. Vrel pretended not to notice, resisting the conflicting urge to put on a little showiness. Opportunistic exhibitions of good fortune or superiority were considered bad manners here.
"Good flight?" Dee asked him.
"Just fine."
"I was a bit worried... with all that trouble on the news this afternoon."
"It was ugly. But we weren't really involved. How's Roland?"
"Oh, he never changes. Going with the flow."
That was a new one. Vrel checked with his veebee. It returned the best it could come up with. "He's on the river?" Vrel repeated, looking puzzled.
Dee laughed. "It means living life as it comes. Not fighting it. Making the best of whatever comes along."
"That sounds like Roland," Vrel agreed.
"One day you'll learn how not to rely on a computer all the time and develop your instincts instead," Dee told him. They climbed into the minibus. There were all-round leather seats, a screen, and a bar. Background music was playing of a kind that Vrel had learned to identify as strings. Classical Terran music had a big following among Hyadeans.
"Who was the composer of this piece?" Vrel asked the veebee in Hyadean.
"Antonio Vivaldi. 1678 to 1741. Born in Venice, Italy."
"And did you get the thing about the river.... What was it again?"
"Going with the flow."
"Oh, right. It means..." Vrel frowned and thought back. "Not fighting life. Taking things as they come. Is that right?"
"Close enough," the veebee replied.
CHAPTER THREE
OTHER HYADEANS HAD ARRIVED direct from the Trade and Cultural Mission by the time Luke and Dee returned with the party from the airport. A number of unattached Terran women, all of them attractive, stylish, sophisticated, and sociable, had also begun arriving.
To most Terrans, Hyadeans came across as rather conformist and image-conscious. From what they were told or saw on Hyadean productions carried by Terran media, life on Chryse and its colonized worlds seemed overstructured and regimented. An example was the rigidity of rules governing dealings between the sexes, which by most Terran standards came across as stiff and prudish. Partly in consequence, Hyadeans found Earth a mysterious, exciting place, where sensual indulgence and freedom of expression which at best would have been frowned upon back home were regarded as normal. Biological nature being apparently much the same in at least the nearby regions of the galaxy, it followed that more than a few Hyadeans would develop a taste for, or curiosity to sample, at least, a little of the risqué that
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