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"A reptile," Colin said, and it was quicksand he felt the
THE TRIUMPH OF PEGASUS 253
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suction of. "A pterodactyl. But even the largest of those had
only a twenty-foot wing span."
Colin hadn't been watching Mrs. Bullitt particularly, but
now she seemed to explode out of her chair. "You see," she
flung at her husband. "I told you there was no point in trying
to be nice to these people. They know only one kind of
language. All right, if that's the way they want it."
Her eyes, flat and expressionless in spite of the anger in
her voice, bored into Colin's. "Young man." she said, "I
want a flying horse. Are . . . you . . . going ... to ... give
... it ... to ... me? She spaced me words deliberately.
"I " - . I ..." Coiin floundered and then was amazed
to hear Ed's voice.
Calmly, rationally, Ed was saying, "Now let me under-
stand this clearly, Mrs. Bullitt. You want us to recreate for
you the legendary Hying horse Pegasus. Is that correct?"
Colin stared at Ed. Recreate . . . legendary . . . what had
gotten into Ed?
And then he heard Mrs. Bullitt's voice. "Legendary. You
mean someone has already had a flying horse?"
Colin's eyes snapped back to Mrs. Bullitt's face. Petulance
seemed to be always in the set of her mouth, but was there
something else there now? Did he see disappointment?
Hope flared up in Colin at the method he thought he saw in
Ed's apparent madness. If Mrs. Bullitt became convinced that
someone else had beaten her to me possession of a flying
horse, even centuries removed in time, then maybe enough of
the bloom would be rubbed off the idea of her to abandon it.
But he must have, couldn't have, but he must have misread
Ed's intent because his partner's next words were, "Not
exactly, perhaps, but 1 do believe that many legends, even the
more fantastic, may well have a basis in fact."
Mrs. Bullitt took Ed's words for ammunition. "You see."
she snapped at Colin. "Your partner admits that it can be
done."
But Colin was staring at Ed. Unbelieving.
"What are you talking about?" he half shouted at Ed.
"What legends and what facts?"
And Ed was looking him right in the eye and saying,
254 F.A. Javor
"Almost any legend ... or folk saying. Like 'dumb blonde'
for example. You know that every once in a great while
someone comes up missing one of the pigment-forming enzymes.
Naturally, they can't help but be blonde. But they are also
mentally retarded, and seriously. Somebody noticed the two
conditions, jumped to a vastly broader conclusion than the
observation warranted, and there you are. But there was.some
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basis in fact."
Colin could only stare at Ed. The enzyme was phenyla-
lanmase and the mental condition phenylpyruvic oligophrenia.
But Ed couldn't be serious about a Pegasus.
Or could he? Ed was going on. "And you remember the
zoo on the continent that was back-breeding legendary animals?"
"Backbreeding legendary animals? They took modem cat-
tle and backbred them until they had a cow that looked like
an extinct ancestor. Where," he demanded, "where are you
going to get me the germ plasm of a demigod to repeat the
feat for a flying horse?"
Taking firm hold of his voice because he didn't know
whether to laugh or hit somebody or just bang his head on the
paneled and trophy-hung walls, Colin said to the room in
general, "Thank you very much for your confidence in our
ability. It is very flattering, but very much misplaced. We
cannot build a flying horse. Thank you again and goodbye."
And he put a hand under Ed's elbow and almost shoved
him out of the room, and into the passageway, the angry
voice of Mrs. Bullitt following them out.
"You'll be back, I promise you. You'll be back, and
remember, I won't be as easy to get along with next time."
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