The Unreasoning Mask by Philip José Farmer Page A

as the spheres to kill

life? Neutron bombs would be far superior. What good would this destruction

be for war-makers? Unless they were so vicious that they wanted only total

destruction. I can't believe that."
     
     
"The bolg kills all but one. God is sick. Unbreakable flames fall from

the black sky. . . All die. Where to go?"
     
     
     
     
     
     
... 9 ...
     
     
Al-Buraq was in orbit over Walisk and awaiting orders from Ramstan for

the next destination. He was wondering where this would be when he got

a call from Doctor Hu.
     
     
"The Webnite is well enough to talk for a while. She wants to talk to you.

Lieutenant Davis will interpret."
     
     
Ramstan thanked her and said that he would be in the sickbay as soon as

he could get there.
     
     
"Does that mean right away, sir?" she said.
     
     
"Of course!" Ramstan said. "What the hell did you think I meant?"
     
     
Hu's face became rigid, but she said nothing. Ramstan regretted having

blazed out at her. His nerves were crawling like a mess of worms. He had

to get better control of himself. Walisk . . . the glyfa's continued refusal

to answer him. . . . the Tenolt . . . everything. . . . They were conspiring

to crush him.
     
     
He walked out of his quarters shaking his head. Conspiring was not

the correct word. It sounded as if he were becoming paranoiac.
     
     
He concentrated on the Webnite. She might be able to tell him something of

what had happened, though if she had been in the self-contained chamber

when the Raushghol ship was attacked, she might know very little. It was

luck that Davis was aboard, since she was the only one who could speak

Webnian. Al-Buraq had not been to Webn but Pegasus had. During her six-month

stay there, Davis, as a marine biologist, had been in intimate contact

with some of the native scientists and had taken the opportunity to master

as much of the language as she could. She also knew the coordinates for

navigation to Webn, or at least had enough data so that al-Buraq's

astrogators could extrapolate the rest needed. In fact, if it were not

for Davis, there would have been no way to get to Webn except by going

to Raushghol and getting the data from its alaraf navy.
     
     
The Webnite and Davis were in the same sickbay. The Earth-woman was there

for two reasons. One, to interpret if the Webnite should recover enough

to talk. Two, she still had a fever, the cause of which was unknown. She

had been probed by machines and had conducted a self-probing, but the

fever continued to keep her body temperature above normal. Hu had told

Ramstan that she suspected the fever was psychosomatic. It did not seem

to be infectious or contagious, and there was no valid reason to isolate

her. That had been determined within three hours after she had entered

al-Buraq.
     
     
Ramstan entered the sickbay. The Webnite was floating in a large plastic

tank. A technician-nurse, Hu, and Toyce were also there. Branwen sat in

a chair by the tank. Her left hand was enfolded in the huge webbed hand

of the Webnite. The creature watched Ramstan with large, soft, dark eyes.
     
     
"We're ready to record," Hu said. "But I'll be watching to make sure

she doesn't tire herself out."
     
     
Ramstan bowed to the creature, hoping that she would understand that it was

a gesture of respect. Davis spoke to her in a language with many sibilants

and stops. She then said, "I explained what your bowing meant."
     
     
"You aren't reading my mind, are you?" he said half seriously.
     
     
"I'm just trying to anticipate."
     
     
The Webnite spoke for perhaps ten seconds. Davis said, "She will address

herself to you, since you are the captain. The Webnites are very formal in

certain situations. She believes this is a special situation; she believes

that she is dying."
     
     
Ramistan looked at Hu. "Is she?"
     
     
Hu shrugged and said, "I wouldn't have thought so. But maybe she knows

more about herself than I do. Most patients do, even