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.Page 70ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlSo he pranced out in front of her, lifting his forelegs high, and cameto stand face-to-face, inches away from her.She smiled at him and put an armover his shoulder and turned her head slightly to kiss him, then became awareof his frontal erection.She looked startled, but did not back away."Sir, I hardly know thee," she sang, in formal mode."It has been a short time," he agreed."But a love as strong as mine sometimesgrows quickly, in the manner of those-who-walk-on-two-legs.If she wouldpermit, I would propose a union to my lady.""Sing it, then.""A trio.Myself the hindmother.I know not if I have spoken of it, but Ihave never been a hindmother.""You are young.""That is true.""Mixolydian?""Lydian.And Serpent for the hindfather."She lowered her eyes in thought."Sharped?" she sang."Yes."What he had outlined was a Sharped Lydian Trio, one of the most common of theTwenty-nine Ways.He and Valiha would have frontal intercourse to produce asemi-fertilized egg: Rocky the forefather, Valiha the foremother.The egg would be activated by Cirocco Jones, implanted in Rocky's womb, andquickened by Serpent: Rocky the hindmother, Serpent the hindfather.He could see her adding it up.Genetics was as instinctive in Titanides as itwas imponderable to humans.He knew she would find no flaw in his proposal,though the fact that Valiha was Serpent's hindmother might make it seemincestuous to a human.But incest was a genetic problem to Titanides only inspecial and limited cases, and morally it was no problem at all."It is a good mating," she sang, finally."It will require some thought.""As she wills it.""It is not thee, sir," she began, then dropped back into a less formal mode."Dammit, Rocky, I'm beginning to love you, too, and you're an admirablefellow, but the times bother me.""I know, Valiha.The world spins badly.""I don't know if we should bring babies into a world like this.""In your own hindmother's time, did we not war with the angels?"She nodded, and wiped away a tear.She forced a smile."I know it.And Serpent will love it.Have you spoken of this to him?""No other soul knows of it.""Then I pray you, hold it within thy heart while the world spins anotherthousand times.Then thou shalt have thy answer."They kissed, and heard Serpent come out of the jungle at a full gallop.His hooves sprayed dirt as he thundered across the plowed field."I thought you two were plowing!" he sang."I felt so guilty, staying home andbaking, my only burden that fierce human child, while you labored like commonfarm hands.So I hurried, only to find you-"He stopped, digging in with all four hooves, and stood perfectly still for twolong seconds.Then he reared on his hind legs, wheeled, and dashed off the wayhe came."Zombies!" he shouted, in English, but by then Rocky and Valiha had smelledthem, too, and were in hot pursuit."Rescue a kid and what does it get you?" Conal asked himself.He glanced atAdam.There was spit dripping down his chin."You get to be a babysitter,that's what."He yawned, and settled deeper into the couch.He was in a corner room on thefirst floor of the main house at the Junction, one with a lot of windowsPage 71ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmland a good view of the waterfall.Nova was somewhere upstairs, doing somethingthat had produced a strange smell for a while.Whatever it was, it had madeher throw up.Before that, she had been running all over the house, actinglike a spy.But there had been no sound out of her for over an hour."Too good to sit with her baby brother," he told Adam.The infant regarded himsolemnly, and then threw a Titanide egg at him.Actually, Conal didn't mind.He just got a lot of satisfaction out of feelingput-upon.The kid was okay.Not a howler.Real smart, and real strong.He could probablystart with the weights in another year or so, just as soon as he had his feetsolidly under him.He had the bones for it.And in a way, Conal was proud thatRobin had trusted him enough to leave the baby with him.He had set the kid up in the middle of the floor with some toys he'dscrounged, and Adam seemed happy to sit there and throw them around, thencrawl after them.His favorite was the rack of old Titanide eggs.They wereround, about the size of a golf ball, and came in all colors.They were toobig for him to put in his mouth, though that didn't prevent him from trying,and they wouldn't break.About their only drawback was a tendency to rollunder furniture, so Conal had rigged a palisade of pillows all around Adam,four meters wide.He didn't manage to chunk too many that far.He stumpedaround in there, naked, not falling down much, and bouncing right back up whenhe did.Conal watched Adam grow still, and start peeing on the floor.Conal laughed,and Adam turned awkwardly and started laughing, too."Ma!" Adam squeaked."Tye-Nye! Ma!""Pee-pee," Conal told him, getting up."Gotta learn that, kid.Say, 'Gotta gopee-pee.'" Adam laughed louder, nodding.Conal got a towel out of the bathroom and mopped it up [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]