Stairway to the Stars | Page 8

poor, defenseless Earth-creatures...."
His mouth twisted. "Poor, defenseless Earth-creatures! How was I to know they couldn't swim? Just imagine--beings that live on a world with almost as much water as ours, who can't use their natural abilities any more than that! It's ridiculous. I never saw such morons--the big, ugly one especially!"
He had intended that to sting, and it did. Dor raised her nose another notch. "I think he's cute, and I'm learning he's pretty intelligent, too. He catches on fast to everything I tell him. He and his little friend will have their spaceship finished soon now, and...."
"That's another thing!" Garf snapped, keeping her on the defensive. "Maybe I violated Security by going to Earth when they accidentally opened the gate, but what are you doing? What would the Fed say if they knew you were giving out information the Earthmen hadn't acquired by themselves--helping them get into space? What about that?"
Dor shrugged. "I'm not telling them anything, really. Just dropping a few hints of the most elementary sort. Things they'd have figured out soon anyway--and things they still have to work hard to make practicable. Even if some of the inventions they've worked out so far have enabled them to make enough money to live on nicely--after all, those things are the merest toys to us--what could it possibly matter?"
Garf considered. This bickering was, as usual, getting them exactly nowhere. He gave up. "All right, dear," he said. "You win; you're right, of course, and I'm wrong. I only hope you won't bother so much with talking to that Earth-slug on the radio after we're married."
Dor laughed a tinkly laugh and came into his waiting arms. "Darling," she cooed. "What a thing to say. I actually believe you're jealous--and you know I only love you."
Which wasn't strictly true. The big Earthman was cute, she thought, and it was quaint of him to be in love with her, and to tell her so every day over the radio built into the robot-nonapus. Of course, he was inferior to her in every way, and she wouldn't think of marrying him or anything like that. But even his inferiority was interesting, in a way.
Yes, it was nice to know he loved her.
And she loved him, too--like an amusing baby brother.
+--------------------------------------------------------------+ | Transcriber's Note | | | | This etext was produced from "Future combined with Science | | Fiction stories" September 1951. Extensive research did not | | uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this | | publication was renewed. | | | | | | Errata | | | | The following typographical errors have been corrected: | | | | |Error |Correction | | | |effected |affected | | | |to to |to | | | | +--------------------------------------------------------------+

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Stairway to the Stars, by Larry Shaw
*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STAIRWAY TO THE STARS ***
***** This file should be named 23159.txt or 23159.zip ***** This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/1/5/23159/
Produced by Greg Weeks, LN Yaddanapudi and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will be renamed.
Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is subject to the trademark license, especially commercial redistribution.

*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at http://gutenberg.org/license).
Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to and accept all the terms of this license and