6. The Moral of a White Lie

The fact that neither Bob nor the Hunter could accept the face value of Daphne’s statement carried no weight at all; Jenny was in control. Paying no attention to Bob's expression, which was rather ambiguous anyway, she congratulated Daphne for solving the problem, asked her to lead the way, suggested that they stop at the Kinnaird's to get bicycles, and explained that Bob would have to wait by the boat to meet someone.

The girl's indifference to the truth or falsehood of what she said was bothering the Hunter more, and more. The long average life of his species had made it a matter of common knowledge, many generations before, that even the most trivial lie is eventually revealed for what it is; it comes home to roost, because the false information leaves a trail through so many memories.

But Jenny seemed to have no scruples at all about tampering with facts in order to achieve even a short-term end. Worse still, the Hunter's host, while obviously very annoyed, seemed to be more bothered by the girl's assumption of command than by anything else. The feeling of futility which so often drives an immature human being into a temper tantrum was as close to taking over as it ever had been in one of the alien's species. Since Bob was still overcome by his fatigue, neither of them could go with the girls to the library; they-could not use the boat, not that there seemed much need to; they couldn't save time by checking up on the metal-finder while Jenny went with Daphne, as she so clearly intended to do-and both Bob and the Hunter were sure they would still need the finder, even for the shield. They did not know what Daphne was talking about, but neither believed it was the real object of their search; though, to make matters even more annoying, they knew they would have to get to the library themselves sooner or later to make certain. In fact, this would have to precede any useful work, since Jenny appeared to be taking Daphne's report entirely uncritically, and would accept nothing less than a direct examination by Bob and the Hunter as grounds for denying it.

All the partners could do was wait, worry, and wonder. Perhaps the worst part was the impossibility of ignoring the chance that the child might be right- which would force extensive re-planning. The library was some two miles away, south of the main road and a little east of where this was joined by the one from the dock. The girls would have to cover the first half mile to Bob's house on foot. Bob wasn't wearing his watch, since it was not waterproof, and they could only guess how long they had been gone. Without saying anything, the Hunter was wondering whether the annoyance would trigger Bob's stomach troubles. That would at least have taken care of the boredom for a while, but he was not really sorry that it failed to happen.

In fact, the girls were back in little more than half an hour, though it naturally seemed much longer. Their voices, well before they arrived, indicated that the enthusiasm was still boiling, and Daphne cried out to her brother the moment they came in sight.

"It's still there! Jenny says that must be it! We tried to find out where it came from, but all anyone could tell us was that they thought Maeta had found it before the library was built, and brought it in for decoration when she started working there. She wasn't there today, and wasn't home, we asked as we went by and they said she was out on the water with friends, and she never said where she got it, but we ought to go back and wait for her to come home, and-"

"Throttle back, little one. There are at least four Maetas on the island. I suppose, since you talk about her house being 'on the way,' you mean Charlie Teroa's sister, but I didn't know she worked at the library."

"She does. Also for Dad, sometimes," Jenny affirmed.

"But I still want to see this thing for myself," Bob said firmly, "before I go asking Maeta or anyone else where it came from. Jenny, you never saw the thing we're looking for, and you can't possibly be really sure that this is it." Bob was looking at the older girl as he spoke, but paid no attention to her expression-the eyeballs-rolled-to-the-sky one established by Earth's visual entertainment industry as indicating that some-thing of incredible stupidity has just been uttered.

"You went off too fast for me to point that out, Silly. Now I've got to go myself sometime-"

"Well, go ahead," retorted his sister. "We saw Andre coming away from there, and Jenny said he was the one you were waiting here for. But he wasn't headed this way, so you don't have to wait here. Come on back now."

"What?-Oh, I see-well, I don't-" Bob was completely lost for the moment, and even the Hunter had not expected Jenny's fabrications to come home quite so soon. The redhead covered quickly, however, demonstrating an ability which the Hunter was beginning to feel might not be so desirable after all. Quick wit was one thing, but if its owner used it only for keeping lies more or less up to date it might not be available for more serious matters.

"If Andre was going toward the dock, Bob and I can meet him with the boat," Jenny said quickly.

"You take Bob's bike back home, and then wait for us if you like library. We may be pretty late getting there, though, so if you want to do something else, don't wait too long."

"All right." The small brown figure with the almost-white pigtails disappeared up the path without argument. Jenny turned to Bob and the Hunter, but spoke only to the former.

"You get back in the boat. I have something to say to you." Her tone was clearly, even to the Hunter, expressive of extreme annoyance. Nothing else was said until they were afloat and reasonably out of ear-shot of land; then she went on, "You didn't say any-thing about these medical problems affecting your brain. I never saw anyone so slow on the uptake. Do you really want your kid sister chasing around after us on this job?"

"No, of course not."

"Then why didn't you let me convince her that we'd found the thing, and send her off investigating Maeta's past or whatever else might amuse her and keep her out of trouble-and out of our hair?"

"You mean you know that isn't the casing?"

"How would I know? It does fit the description as far as I can tell, but I've never seen the real thing- as you had to go and point out to the kid. Why didn't you go along with my line?"

Bob answered with unusual speed and vehemence.

"Partly because you're right-I'm slow on the up-take. Partly because even if I'd seen what you were up to, or rather been sure of it, I'd still be worried about being around when she learned the truth. I don't want anyone, least of all any of my own family, to be in a position to call me a liar."

"Of course not." Jenny seemed surprised at Bob's seriousness. "Of course no one likes to tell a real lie, but she wouldn't find out until she was older, and you could explain why we'd done it. She'd take it all right. And isn't it important that we get on with this job, without having to baby-sit the kid at the same time? Look, Bob, unless you've been lying too, you’re dying. This is serious. Are a couple of white lies really more important than that?"

Bob made no answer. The Hunter could have provided him with a full-length speech on the subject, but Jenny's words had forced even him to realize that he hadn't thought of the situation quite that way. He had, after all, been willing to bend regulations in the interest of saving his host's life-though there had been other matters of principle which had helped with the bending-and with a short-lived species such as Bob's perhaps lying wasn't quite so serious. He was still un-sure of the answer, though not very much inclined to change his long-term attitude, when Bob finally spoke again.