The Empire of Glass - Andy Lane [52]
Galileo took another swig of wine and put the bottle down beside him. It clinked against something metallic. He rolled over to look, and saw the Doctor's spyglass -telescope - where he had dropped it. He picked it up and looked it over. The tube was bent and buckled, and in two places there were tears in the metal. It sloshed as he shook it, but it began to dawn on him through his tiredness that the lenses looked as if they had survived unbroken. "Perhaps all is not lost," he said thoughtfully. "The lenses of my - telescope -
were broken, but the tube survived unscathed. The tube of your telescope is useless, but the lenses are perfectly all right."
The Doctor frowned slightly, and turned to gaze at Galileo. "Do you mean that we could construct a working telescope from the remnants of the two we have?"
"The lenses may be too large or too small," Galileo mused, "but with judicious amounts of stuffing we should be able to make them fit."
"Then you had better not make yourself too comfortable," the Doctor said, standing from the chair. "We have work to do!"
"You what?" Vicki exclaimed.
"Love you I," Albrellian stammered. His wings furled and unfurled against the hard red shell of his body, and his eyestalks were retracted so far that they were just glints in the darkness.
Vicki wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry. "But... but you hardly know me," she said finally. "I mean, we only talked twice. You can't suddenly decide you love me on the basis of two short conversations.
"Why not?" Albrellian's eyes poked slightly out from their hideaways.
"Because there could be all sorts of things you don't like about me but haven't had a chance to find out yet. I mean, I might hate arthropods, for all you know. Or I might have a fearsome temper.
Or -"
Albrellian held out a clawed hand to stop her. "Kind and friendly are you," he said, "and so few friendly faces here on Laputa are there. Drawn to you found myself when first rowing towards Venice saw you I. Since then following you have been I."
"You've been following me?" Vicki felt a surge of anger within her.
"Nothing sinister!" Albrellian protested. "Face to see and voice to hear your wanted I. Stop thinking about you cannot I."
Vicki folded her arms across her chest. This would have been disturbing if it hadn't been so funny. "Albrellian, this is going to have to stop. I want you to take me back to Venice now."
"A species thing it is?" he muttered, his shell dipping towards the floor.
"It is not a species thing. Some of my best friends were aliens, before I left Earth for Astra."
Albrellian's eyestalks suddenly extended upwards. "Someone else there is? That human male - Steven. Him it is?"
"No, no it's not him."
"Then is it who?"
Vicki sighed deeply. "Albrellian, this isn't funny. Stop it at once."
Albrellian moved forward and reached out a claw. Vicki"s first thought was to step backwards, but if Albrellian was doing something innocent then he might take offence. On the other hand
-
Before he could touch her, the door to his room slid open. A man was standing in the doorway, silhouetted by the light from the corridor. "Envoy Albrellian!" he snapped. "I presume that you have some explanation for your actions?"
Albrellian whirled around to face the newcomer. "Braxiatel, I -"
"He was just being friendly," Vicki said, surprising herself. "He hasn't hurt me."
Braxiatel stepped into the room and glanced at her. He was tall, with finely chiselled features and straight brown hair that fell in a slight curl over his eyes, and he wore a pair of half-moon spectacles that struck Vicki as curiously anachronistic in the midst of this futuristic island city, and yet which wouldn"t have attracted a second glance in Venice itself. He looked back at Albrellian.
"Envoy, you were made perfectly aware of the rules concerning the natives when you arrived. Fraternization is completely forbidden.
They must not know that we are here. The only thing that is keeping this girl sane now is the fact that she doesn't understand what is going on."