Her hand moved quickly to the left side of her suit, which opened in one piece as though it were on a set of hinges. She stepped out and the suit remained standing without content for a moment. Then, with a soft sigh that seemed almost human, it collapsed.
She looked even younger, now that she had stepped out. Her clothing was loose and translucent, with the skimpy items beneath visible as shadows. The outer robe reached to her knees.
She was small-breasted and narrow-waisted, with hips rounded and full. Her thighs, which were seen in shadow, were generous, but her legs narrowed to graceful ankles. Her hair was dark and shoulderlength, her eyes brown and large, her lips full and slightly asymmetric.
She looked down at herself and then solved the problem of her understanding of the language by saying, "Don't I look human?"
She spoke Galactic Standard with just a trifle of hesitation, as though she were straining a bit to get the pronunciation quite right.
Pelorat nodded and said with a small smile, "I can't deny it. Quite human. Delightfully human."
The young woman spread her arms as though inviting closer examination. "I should hope so, gentleman. Men have died for this body."
"I would rather live for it," said Pelorat, finding a vein of gallantry which faintly surprised him.
"Good choice," said the woman solemnly. "Once this body is attained, all sighs become sighs of ecstasy."
She laughed and Pelorat laughed with her.
Trevize, whose forehead had puckered into a frown through this exchange, rapped out, "How old are you?"
The woman seemed to shrink a little. "Twenty-three, gentleman."
"Why have you come? What is your purpose here?"
"I have come to escort you to Gaia." Her command of Galactic Standard was slipping slightly and her vowels tended to round into diphthongs. She made "come" sound like "comb" and "Gaia" like "Gay-uh."
"A girl to escort us."
The woman drew herself up and suddenly she had the bearing of one in charge. "I," she said, "am Gaia, as well as another. It was my stint on the station."
"Your stint? Were you the only one on board?"
Proudly. "I was all that was needed."
"And is it empty now?"
"I am no longer on it, gentleman, but it is not empty. It is there."
"It? To what do you refer?"
"To the station. It is Gaia. It doesn't need me. It holds your ship."
"Then what are you doing on the station?"
"It is my stint."
Pelorat had taken Trevize by the sleeve and had been shaken off. He tried again. "Golan," he said in an urgent half-whisper. "Don't shout at her. She's only a girl. Let me deal with this."
Trevize shook his head angrily, but Pelorat said, "Young woman, what is your name?"
The woman smiled with sudden sunniness, as though responding to the softer tone. She said, "Bliss."
"Bliss?" said Pelorat. "A very nice name. Surely that's not all there is."
"Of course not. A fine thing it would be to have one syllable. It would be duplicated on every section and we wouldn't tell one from another, so that the men would be dying for the wrong body. Bussenobiarella is my name in full."
"Now that's a mouthful." -
"What? Seven syllables? That's not much. I have friends with fifteen syllables in their names and they never get done trying combinations for the friend-name. I've stuck with Bliss now ever since I turned fifteen. My mother called me 'Nobby,' if you can imagine such a thing."
"In Galactic Standard, 'bliss' means 'ecstasy' or 'extreme happiness,'" said Pelorat.
"In Gaian language, too. It's not very different from Standard, and 'ecstasy' is the impression I intend to convey."
"My name is Janov Pelorat."
"I know that. And this other gentleman - the shouter - is Golan Trevize. We received word from Sayshell."
Trevize said at once, his eyes narrow, "How did you receive word?"
Bliss turned to look at him and said calmly, "I didn't. Gaia did."
Pelorat said, "Miss Bliss, may my partner and myself speak Privately for a moment?"
"Yes, certainly, but we have to get on with it, you know."
"I won't take long." He pulled hard at Trevize's elbow and was reluctantly followed into the other room.
Trevize said in a whisper, "What's all this? I'm sure she can hear us in here. She can probably read our minds, blast the creature."
"Whether she can or can't, we need a bit of psychological isolation for just a moment. Look, old chap, leave her alone. There's nothing we can do, and there's no use taking that out on her. There's probably nothing she can do either. She's just a messenger girl. Actually, as long as she's on board, we're probably safe; they wouldn't have put her on board if they intended to destroy the ship. Keep bullying and perhaps they will destroy it - and us - after they take her off."
"I don't like being helpless," said Trevize grumpily.
"Who does? But acting like a bully doesn't make you less helpless. It just makes you a helpless bully. Oh, my dear chap, I don't mean to be bullying you like this and you must forgive me if I'm excessively critical of you, but the girl is not to be blamed."
"Janov, she's young enough to be your youngest daughter."
Pelorat straightened. "All the more reason to treat her gently. Nor do I know what you imply by the statement."
Trevize thought a moment, then his face cleared. "Very well. You're right. I'm wrong. It is irritating, though, to have them send a girl. They might have sent a military officer, for instance, and given us a sense of some value, so to speak. Just a girl? And she keeps placing responsibility on Gaia?"