A World of Difference (49 page)
Read A World of Difference Online
Authors: Harry Turtledove
“Maybe,” Reatur said. “I’ve thought about that, too. Sooner or later, I guess we will need to see if we can make our own. Why don’t you take a clamp and show it to one of our carvers?”
“Me?” Lamra squeaked in alarm. “He wouldn’t listen to me!”
“To whom would he be more likely to listen than to the only mate in all the world who dropped her budlings but lived?”
“Well—” She hadn’t thought about it like that. “All right, Reatur, I will.”
“Good.”
Lamra came back to the question Reatur had asked before. She had hardly thought about budding at all since Reatur planted these last six on her; she certainly hadn’t thought about it since she had dropped them. But now, reminded, she recalled the way her body had driven her toward it. She searched herself for that same feeling.
She did not expect to find it. But she did—not with the urgency she had had before, perhaps, but with enough to be partial to the idea. “I suppose we can make budlings again,” she said. “From what I remember, it was fun.”
Reatur’s eyestalks wiggled. “For me, too, Lamra.”
“Well, then, let’s go find someplace quiet and do it,” she said, brisk once her mind was made up.
“Now?” Reatur sounded startled. Then he laughed some more. “Why not? There have to be a good many rooms in the castle that don’t have anyone in them right now. Shall we find one?” They walked back together.
Afterward, the domain-master was not laughing at all. He widened himself to Lamra. “What’s that for?” she demanded; she was still uneasy whenever he did it.
“Because over the years, I’ve planted buds on many eighteens of mates, probably more, and I’ve never felt sensations as strong as I just did with you.” He mimed tying his eyestalks into knots.
“Oh.” Lamra thought about that. “I was only remembering what I liked last time and trying to do more of that now.”
It was Reatur’s turn to say, “Oh.” Then he asked, “Do you suppose it will be better still after you’re healed from your next set of budlings?”
“
I
don’t know,” she said, flustered. That was further ahead than she’d thought.
Reatur was not listening to her, anyhow. He said dreamily, “Human males and mates both live to grow up all the time. What must planting buds be like for them, with so much practice on both sides?”
“When they come back, why don’t you ask them?” Lamra said.
“If I live until they come back, I will. And if I don’t live that long”—he looked at her with four eyes—“maybe you’ll ask them yourself.”
She thought it over. “Maybe I will,” she said.
Don’t miss Harry Turtledove’s explosive
World War II alternate history series
SETTLING ACCOUNTS
SETTLING ACCOUNTS:
RETURN ENGAGEMENT
In 1914 they called it The Great War, and few could imagine anything worse. For nearly three decades a peace forged in blood and fatigue has held sway in North America. Now, Japan dominates the Pacific, the Russian Tsar rules Alaska, and England, under Winston Churchill, chafes for a return to its former glory. But behind the façade of world order, America is a bomb waiting to go off. Jake Featherston, the megalomaniacal leader of the Confederate States of America, is just the man to light the fuse.
SETTLING ACCOUNTS:
DRIVE TO THE EAST
The First World War ignited a brutal conflict in North America. In 1917, The Great War ended and an era of simmering hatred began, fueled by the despotism of a few and the sacrifice of many. Now it’s 1942. The USA and CSA are locked in a tangle of jagged blood-soaked battle lines, modem weaponry, desperate strategies, and the kind of violence that only the damned could conjure up—for their enemies and themselves.
www.delreybooks.com
Available wherever books are sold
Leap into the future,
shoot back to the past
THE BEST TIME TRAVEL
STORIES OF
THE 20TH CENTURY
Edited by Harry Turtledove with Martin H. Greenberg
A
RTHUR
C. C
LARKE
R
AY
B
RADBURY
J
OHN
K
ESSEL
N
ANCY
K
RESS
R
ICHARD
M
ATHESON
T
HEODORE
S
TURGEON
P
OUL
A
NDERSON
L. S
PRAGUE DE
C
AMP
J
ACK
F
INNEY
J
OE
H
ALDEMAN
R. A. LAFFERTY
J
ACK
D
ANN
H
ENRY
K
UTTNER
U
RSULA
K. L
E
G
UIN
C
HARLES
S
HEFFIELD
R
OBERT
S
ILVERBERG
C
ONNIE
W
ILLIS
L
ARRY
N
IVEN
H. G. Wells’ seminal short story “The Time Machine,” published in 1895, provided the springboard for modern science fiction’s time travel explosion. Responding to their own fascination with the subject, the greatest visionary writers of the 20th century penned some of the most exciting tales ever told.
By turns frightening, puzzling, and fantastic, these stories engage us in situations that may one day break free of the bonds of fantasy and enter the realm of the future … our future.
On Sale Now!
P
UBLISHED BY
D
EL
R
EY
A
VAILABLE WHEREVER BOOKS ARE SOLD
WWW.DELREYBOOKS.COM
Looking for more of today’s best
science fiction and fantasy novels?
Explore Del Rey Online
Visit
www.delreybooks.com
the portal to all the information and resources
available from Del Rey, and find:
• A complete online catalog of Del Rey titles
• Sample chapters from every new book
• Special features on selected authors and books
Sign up for the Del Rey Internet
Newsletter (DRIN)
a free monthly publication e-mailed to
subscribers, and receive:
• Information on new releases and upcoming titles
• The latest news and announcements from our publishing offices
• Essays and interviews with authors and editors
• Author tour and event updates
• The opportunity to receive an advance edition of one of our books through our readers’ review program
• A chance to win free books
To subscribe to the DRIN:
Send a blank e-mail to
[email protected]
or
sign up at
www.delreybooks.com
