Then:
"Meaningful things are often the things people are least able to describe. Sometimes, though, it is a problem in communicating something for which THIS IMMORTAL 93
there is no corresponding element in the person to whom you are speaking. Taler is not like this place.
There are no deserts. The entire world is land-scaped. But . . . Let me take that flower from your hair. There. Look at it. What do you see?"
"A pretty white flower. That's why I picked it and put it in my hair."
"But it is not a pretty white flower. Not to me, anyhow. Your eyes perceive light with wavelengths between about 4000 and 7200 angstrom units. The eyes of a Vegan look deeper into the ultraviolet, for one thing, down to around 3000. We are blind to what you refer to as 'red,* but on this "white* flower I see two colors for which there are no words in your language. My body is covered with patterns you cannot see, but they are close enough to those of the others in my family so that another Vegan, familiar with the Shtigogens, could tell my family and prov-ince on our first meeting. Some of our paintings look garish to Earth eyes, or even seem to be all of one color-blue, usually-because the subtleties are invisible to them. Much of our music would seem to you to contain big gaps of silence, gaps which are actually filled with melody-Our cities are clean and logically disposed. They catch the light of day and hold it long into the night. They are places of slow movement, pleasant sounds. This means much to me, but I do not know how to describe it to a-human."
"But people-Earth people, I mean-live on your worlds...."
"But they do not really see them or hear them or feel them the way we do. There is a gulf we can appreciate and understand, but we cannot really 94 ROGER ZELAZNY
cross it. That is why I cannot tell you what-Ta^er is like. It would be a different world to you than the world it is to me."
"I'd like to see it, though. Very much. I think I'd even like to live there."
"I do not believe you would be happy there."
"Why not?"
"Because non-Vegan immigrants are non-Vegan immigrants. You are not of a low caste here. I know you do not use that term, but that is what it amounts to. Your Office personnel and their families are the highest caste on this planet. Wealthy non-Office persons come next, then those who work for the wealthy non-Office persons, followed by those who make their own living from the land; then, at the bottom, are those unfortunates who inhabit the Old Places. You are at the top here. On Taler you would be at the bottom,"
"Why/must it be that way?" she asked.
"Because you see a white flower." I handed it back.
There was a long silence and a cool breeze.
"Anyhow I'm happy you came here," she said.
"It is an interesting place."
"Glad you like it."
"Was the man called Conrad really your lover?"
I recoiled at the suddenness of the question.
"It's none of your blue business," she said, "but the answer is yes,"
"I can see why," he said, and I felt uncomfortable and maybe something like a voyeur, or-subtlety of subtleties-one who watches a voyeur watching.
"Why?" she asked.
THIS IMMORTAL 95
"Because you want the strange, the powerful, the exotic; because you are never happy being where you are, what you are."
"That's not true. . .. Maybe it is. Yes, he once said something like that to me. Perhaps it is true."
I felt very sorry for her at that moment. Then, without realizing it, as t wanted to console her in some way, I reached out and took her hand. Only it was Myshtigo's hand that moved, and he had not willed it to move. I had.
1 was afraid suddenly. So was he, though. I could feel it.
There was a great drunk-like, room-swimming feeling, as I felt that he felt occupied, as if he had had sensed another presence within his mind.
I wanted away quickly then, and I was back there beside my rock, but not before she'd dropped the flower and I heard her say, "Hold me!"
Damn those pseudotelepathic wish-fulfillments!
"Meaningful things are often the things people are least able to describe. Sometimes, though, it is a problem in communicating something for which THIS IMMORTAL 93
there is no corresponding element in the person to whom you are speaking. Taler is not like this place.
There are no deserts. The entire world is land-scaped. But . . . Let me take that flower from your hair. There. Look at it. What do you see?"
"A pretty white flower. That's why I picked it and put it in my hair."
"But it is not a pretty white flower. Not to me, anyhow. Your eyes perceive light with wavelengths between about 4000 and 7200 angstrom units. The eyes of a Vegan look deeper into the ultraviolet, for one thing, down to around 3000. We are blind to what you refer to as 'red,* but on this "white* flower I see two colors for which there are no words in your language. My body is covered with patterns you cannot see, but they are close enough to those of the others in my family so that another Vegan, familiar with the Shtigogens, could tell my family and prov-ince on our first meeting. Some of our paintings look garish to Earth eyes, or even seem to be all of one color-blue, usually-because the subtleties are invisible to them. Much of our music would seem to you to contain big gaps of silence, gaps which are actually filled with melody-Our cities are clean and logically disposed. They catch the light of day and hold it long into the night. They are places of slow movement, pleasant sounds. This means much to me, but I do not know how to describe it to a-human."
"But people-Earth people, I mean-live on your worlds...."
"But they do not really see them or hear them or feel them the way we do. There is a gulf we can appreciate and understand, but we cannot really 94 ROGER ZELAZNY
cross it. That is why I cannot tell you what-Ta^er is like. It would be a different world to you than the world it is to me."
"I'd like to see it, though. Very much. I think I'd even like to live there."
"I do not believe you would be happy there."
"Why not?"
"Because non-Vegan immigrants are non-Vegan immigrants. You are not of a low caste here. I know you do not use that term, but that is what it amounts to. Your Office personnel and their families are the highest caste on this planet. Wealthy non-Office persons come next, then those who work for the wealthy non-Office persons, followed by those who make their own living from the land; then, at the bottom, are those unfortunates who inhabit the Old Places. You are at the top here. On Taler you would be at the bottom,"
"Why/must it be that way?" she asked.
"Because you see a white flower." I handed it back.
There was a long silence and a cool breeze.
"Anyhow I'm happy you came here," she said.
"It is an interesting place."
"Glad you like it."
"Was the man called Conrad really your lover?"
I recoiled at the suddenness of the question.
"It's none of your blue business," she said, "but the answer is yes,"
"I can see why," he said, and I felt uncomfortable and maybe something like a voyeur, or-subtlety of subtleties-one who watches a voyeur watching.
"Why?" she asked.
THIS IMMORTAL 95
"Because you want the strange, the powerful, the exotic; because you are never happy being where you are, what you are."
"That's not true. . .. Maybe it is. Yes, he once said something like that to me. Perhaps it is true."
I felt very sorry for her at that moment. Then, without realizing it, as t wanted to console her in some way, I reached out and took her hand. Only it was Myshtigo's hand that moved, and he had not willed it to move. I had.
1 was afraid suddenly. So was he, though. I could feel it.
There was a great drunk-like, room-swimming feeling, as I felt that he felt occupied, as if he had had sensed another presence within his mind.
I wanted away quickly then, and I was back there beside my rock, but not before she'd dropped the flower and I heard her say, "Hold me!"
Damn those pseudotelepathic wish-fulfillments!
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