Serpent's Gift Read Online Free Page B

Serge snorted, but managed to turn the sound into a fairly genuine-sounding cough. He was from Belgium, and his manners were perfect, touched with an Old European formality
    she'd always found charming. "So, what have you been doing
    these days?" he asked, evidently deciding that a change of subject was politic.
    "Studying, trying to sandwich in a few extra credits in Simiu," she said. "I'm beginning to think I might like to work on Hurrreeah [ someday. Also, we're doing a new play, and I'm assistant director, as well as playing the embittered mother."
    "Would I know it?"
    < "I doubt it. It's They Don't Make Pennies Anymore, by Eunice ( Goldberg.
    One of those really intense dramas that are a bitch to do, but if you do your job right, there won't be a dry eye in the house." She glanced up at him.
    "What about you?"
    "I have been spending most of my time out at the dig with Professor Greyshine." His eyes flashed excitedly. "We might be on to something very big."
    "Can you tell me about it?"
    "We cannot say for certain as yet, because we still need more proof, but the Professor thinks that the artifacts we have in our possession may have been left by the Mizari Lost Colony. He believes they visited this asteroid after their departure from Shassiszss, over four thousand years ago."
    Hing was impressed. 'That's a long time..." she said. Four thousand years ago on Earth, the pyramids and Stonehenge were relatively new, slavery and war had characterized the most advanced human civilizations, and the great majority -of people had spent their brief lives trying to propitiate the
    'gods so they wouldn't starve or die of pestilence. By contrast, the large, reptilian Mizari had already possessed interstellar travel!
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    "This Lost Colony," she ventured, "don't they have any idea of where they went?"
    Serge shook his head. "No .. . unless our site turns out to be that very clue.
    The preliminary dating we have done indicates that the time-span for these artifacts is right, but tests must be done in the lab before we will be certain. I wish we could uncover more artifacts. We've been at it for months, now, without locating a single new one. But the Professor says that often happens on digs--you make several discoveries, then weeks or months go by where you find nothing. It's odd, really .. . some things about this site simply don't add up ... but, of course, this is my first dig, so I have nothing with which to compare it."
    "I wish I could see a real dig," Hing said impulsively.
    "Vraiment?" Even though he kept his voice casual, his slip into his native tongue revealed his excitement, his eagerness. Hing wasn't sure whether he'd noticed his lapse--people who habitual y conversed in several different languages on any given day often switched back and forth in midsentence.
    But with Serge, she'd learned, such slips usually betrayed intense emotion and/or excitement. "I could arrange a visit."
    Uh-oh, back off, Hing, she scolded herself. Don't go giving him any wrong ideas. "I'd love to go," she said cautiously, "but I'll have to see how rehearsals work out."
    "I understand," Serge said, not meeting her eyes.
    The silence between them hung heavy as they reached the end of the docking tube, then mounted the escalator to the station's multispecies lounge with its spectacular viewports. As they entered, Hing scanned the waiting crowd of new students for a flash of red hair.
    The lounge was not really crowded, but it seemed filled because of the variety of beings waiting there. It looked like an Intergalactic Geographic documentary.
    Hing caught a whiff of frying bacon, then the beach at low tide, followed by fresh blueberries as two Vardi engaged in conversation in their olfactory-based language. The two-metertal aliens, resembling giant stalks of purple-green broccoli, stood (since they weren't designed to sit) on the far side of the room She was relieved to see that they were both wearing special voder so they could understand spoken