It's as though my voice does something loathsome to her. And I'm the
one who's supposed to learn to talk to them."
"Well, those who can do, and those who can't teach," he told her.
"You can study recordings, and tell us what the words are and
teach us how to recognize and pronounce them. You're the only
linguist we have."
That seemed to comfort her a little. He hoped it would work out that
way. If they could communicate with these people and did leave a
party here to prepare for the first colonization, he'd stay on, to
teach the natives Terran technologies and study theirs. He'd been
expecting that Lillian would stay, too. She was the linguist; she'd
have to stay. But now, if it turned out that she would be no help but
a liability, she'd go back with the _Hubert Penrose_. Paul wouldn't
keep a linguist who offended the natives' every sensibility with
every word she spoke. He didn't want that to happen. Lillian and he
had come to mean a little too much to each other to be parted now.
* * * * *
Paul Meillard and Karl Dorver had considerable difficulty with Mom,
that afternoon.
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