Underhill didn't seem to hear the anger in his voice. "Aren't children wonderful—I mean, when they aren't a pain in the ass. Watching a baby grow up, you can see the mechanisms of thought grow into place, stage by stage." He slipped a hand gently across his back, petting the two babies, who had returned to safe haven. "In some ways, these two are less intelligent than a jungle tarant. There are patterns of thought that just don't exist in babies. When I play with them, I can almost feel the barriers. But as the years pass, the minds grow; methods are added." Underhill walked along the play tables as he spoke. One of the five-year-olds—Gokna—danced half a pace in front of him, mimicking his gestures, even to the tremor. He stopped at a table covered with beautiful blown-glass bottles, a dozen shapes and tints. Several were filled with fruitwater and ice, as if for some bizarre lawn party. "But even the five-year-olds have mental blinders. They have good language skills, but they're still missing basic concepts—"
"And it's not just that we don't understand sex!" said Gokna.
For once, Underhill looked a little embarrassed. "She's heard this speech too many times, I fear. And by now her brothers have told her what to say when we play question games."
Gokna pulled on his leg. "Sit down and play. I want to show Mr. Unnerby what we do."
"Okay. We can do that—where is your sister?" His voice was suddenly sharp and loud. "Viki! You get down from there! It's not safe for you."
Victory Junior was on the babies' gymnet, scuttling back and forth just below the awning. "Oh, it is safe, Daddy. Now that you're here!"
"No it's not! You come down right now."
Junior's descent was accompanied by much loud grumbling, but within a few minutes she was showing off in another way.
One by one, they showed him all their projects. The two oldest had parts in a national radio program, explaining science for young people. Apparently Sherkaner was producing the show, for reasons that remained murky.
Hrunkner put up with it all, smiling and laughing and pretending. And each one was a wonderful child. With the exception of Brent, each was brighter and more open than almost any Unnerby remembered. All that made it even worse when he imagined what life would be like for them once they had to face the outside world.
Victory Junior had a dollhouse, a huge thing that extended back a little way into the ferns. When her turn came, she hooked two hands under one of Hrunkner's forearms and almost dragged him over to the open face of her house.
"See," she said, pointing to a hole in the toy basement. It looked suspiciously like the entrance to a termite nest. "My house even has its own deepness. And a pantry, and a dining hall, and seven bedrooms..." Each room had to be displayed to her guest, and all the furniture explained. She opened a bedroom wall, and there was a flurry of activity within. "And I even have little people to live in my house. See the attercops." In fact, the scale of Viki's house was almost perfect for the little creatures, at least in this phase of the sun. Eventually, their middle legs would become colored wings. They would be woodsfairies, and they wouldn't fit at all. But for the moment, they did look like little people, scurrying to and fro between the inner rooms.
"They like me a lot. They can go back to the trees whenever they want, but I put little pieces of food in the rooms and they come every day to visit." She pulled at little brass handles and a part of one floor came out like a drawer from a cabinet. Inside was an intricate maze built of flimsy wood partitions. "I even experiment with them, like Daddy plays with us, except a lot simpler." Her baby eyes were both looking down so she couldn't see Unnerby's reaction. "I put honeydrip near this exit, then let them in at the other end. Then I time how long it takes....Oh, you are lost, aren't you, little one? You've been here two hours now. I'm sorry." She reached an eating hand undaintily into the box and gently moved the attercop to a ledge by the ferns. "Heh, heh," a very Sherkanish chuckle, "some of them are a lot dumber than others—or maybe it's luck. Now, how do I count her time, when she never got through the maze at all?"
"I...don't know."
She turned to face him, her beautiful eyes looking up at him. "Mommy says my little brother is named after you. Hrunkner?"
"Yes. I guess that's right."
"Mommy says that you are the best engineer in the world. She says you can make even Daddy's crazy ideas come true. Mommy wants you to like us."
There was something about a child's gaze. It was sodirected. There was no way the target could pretend that he wasn't the one regarded. All the embarrassment and pain of the visit seemed to come together in that one moment. "I like you," he said.
Victory Junior look at him for a moment more, and then her gaze slid away. "Okay."
