The Sparrow - Mary Doria Russell [123]
"And they imagined you to be a child with this function?" Johannes Voelker asked.
"Yes."
"Presumably because you were somewhat smaller than others in the party," Felipe Reyes supposed.
"Yes. And because I carried on all the earliest attempts at communication, as such an interpreter would have. Actually, for a long time, only Mr. Quinn was accepted as an adult. He was about average height for a Runao."
"And they were not frightened at the beginning? Surely they’d never seen anything like you before," Giuliani said. "I find that remarkable."
"The Runa are very tolerant of novelty. And we were obviously not a threat to them physically. They assumed, evidently, that whatever we were, we had come to trade. They fit us into their worldview on that basis."
"How old was the child Askama at the time of contact, would you estimate?" Voelker asked, coming back to the child. Sandoz did not stiffen, Giuliani noted. His voice remained, as it had throughout the session, unstressed and even.
"Dr. Edwards thought at first that Askama was the equivalent of a human child at seven or eight years of age. Later on we decided that she was only about five. It is difficult to compare the species but it was our impression that Runa maturation rates are relatively accelerated."
Voelker made a note of this response as Giuliani commented, "I was under the impression that intelligence was inversely correlated with rate of maturation."
"Yes. Father Robichaux and Dr. Edwards discussed that. I think they decided that it was not a tight correlation, either between or within species. I may be remembering that wrong. In any case, the generalization may not hold in other biological systems."
"What was your impression of the Runa’s intelligence in general?" Felipe asked. "Did you find the Runa to be our equals or of greater or lesser capacity?"
There was a hesitation, for the first time that morning. "They are different," Sandoz said at last, moving his arms from the table to his lap. "It’s hard to say." He fell silent, clearly trying to settle this in his own mind. "No, I’m sorry. I can’t answer that question with any confidence. There is a wide range of variation in intelligence. As among us."
"Dr. Sandoz," Johannes Voelker said, "what precisely was your relationship with Askama?"
"Exasperating," Sandoz said promptly. That got a laugh, and Felipe Reyes realized it was the first sign of Emilio’s normal sense of humor he’d seen since arriving in Naples.
Smiling thinly in spite of himself, Voelker said, "I don’t suppose you could expand upon that somewhat?"
"She was my teacher and my pupil and a reluctant collaborator in my research. She was spunky and bright. Insistent, relentless and a huge pain in the neck. She drove me crazy. I loved her without reservation."
"And did this child love you?" Voelker asked in the silence that fell at Sandoz’s last statement. The man had, after all, admitted to killing Askama. John Candotti held his breath.
"This is another difficult question, like ’How intelligent are the Runa?’ " Sandoz said neutrally. "Did she love me? Not maturely. At least not in the beginning. She was a child, yes? She liked the magic tricks. I was the best toy she could imagine. She was pleased by the attention I showed her and liked the status of being a foreigner’s friend and she enjoyed ordering me around and correcting me and teaching me manners. Marc Robichaux believed that there was an element of imprinting—a biological factor in her craving to be with me all the time, but it was also her conscious choice. She could get angry with me and resentful when I refused to acquiesce to her demands, and that would upset everyone. But yes, I believe that she loved me."
" ’A reluctant collaborator’ in your research. How do you mean that?" Voelker asked. "Did you coerce her?"
"No.