An Atmosphere Of Angels

by H C Turk

  “Director Hanshaw, to the best of my knowledge, our systems have self-corrected and now show full function.”

  “Very well. Now inform me of the cause. Precisely why did our equipment show temporary failures?”

  “Director Hanshaw, I cannot technologically specify the exact cause, though the systems themselves continue to analyze the previous aberrations.”

  “Have you found any flaws in the mining gear?” Ward demanded.

  “None, Ward, the shafts and packers show full up function.”

  “Is the gear in place?”

  “Yes, Ward, it is.”

  “Then you and Grazio get out there and ramrod the process. I want those shafts pulling up ether ore before morning.”

  “Hey, that’s our schedule,” Grazio declared, and quickly stepped away with his wife as Ward turned to Parno.

  “Hadjara, are you going to be able to keep out of further trouble?” he demanded.

  “If our systems do not cause me problems, Ward, I will not experience problems.”

  “Parno, we only need three or four days to get that ore out and hide it in this bay. If any person is injured, however, the ENU supervisor can terminate our stay. If Shumard judges that we might corrupt the locals, she can terminate our stay. If she is assaulted by another alien, she can terminate our stay. What that means, Parno, is that you have to occupy her for three days without allowing her to be harmed. I don’t want any further interacting with the indigenes. Remain apart from them, offer insubstantial gifts, but do not—do not—approach them.”

  “Are you instructing me, Ward, to avoid making a contractual agreement with the indigenes?”

  “Three days from now, Parno, you are free to make any agreement you can, using all of your abilities. At that time, I will assist you, if you have successfully occupied the supervisor. And if we have successfully removed the deposits of ore. Now, you may return to work, but remember not to work too hard.”

  Ward’s final smile seemed more of a curse than a salutation.

  The men parted. Parno proceeded to Kathlynn’s cubicle, but the closed door showed Unoccupied on the contents panel. Kathlynn was not inside the boat.

  “Boat, request Shumard’s locale,” Parno asked aloud, and the data systems replied.

  Parno did not like that dull sound, but understood the boat utilized a mechanical voice to distinguish system information from personal response.

  “Shumard is walking behind the Pacettis.”

  “Boat, vid up.”

  Parno stood alone in the space room near the unisex loo. Before him appeared a small sphere. Due to the vantage, Parno knew the sight was provided by the flying multi-reader, not a ground senser. He looked down at the top of the Pacettis’ heads as they traveled across the shallow slopes on an air sled. Kathlynn followed on foot, running lightly, her ground suit glistening.

  “Kathlynn Shumard,” Parno said loudly, and the tiny running figure halted. Parno had to smile. “Kathlynn, wherever you are, we can discuss our further itinerary at your leisure.”

  The small form began walking, not running, and Kathlynn spoke.

  “I’m out for a walk, Parno,” she said, her voice revealing some exertion. “I’ll return shortly and we can debrief each other.”

  “I’ll be in my cube,” Parno concluded, and the figure against that landscape ground ran again, a brushstroke applied by an anxious expressionist.

  “Grazio, you have a native hot on your trail,” Parno said.

  “Hey, no kidding,” the pilot declared. “She thinks she’s sneaking up on us. I thought you were supposed to keep her busy.”

  “We have a date, but she wants to play with you first.”

  “What’s the matter, doesn’t she like your toys?” Grazio sneered. “Hey, we can handle ales and superfems,” he concluded.

  Returning to his cubicle, Parno made a manual entry in his log, then took a nap. He dreamed of pink beaches and pink lips that spoke only to him, but not pleasantly. Not personally.

  While Parno slept, Kathlynn did not confront the Pacettis. She approached them openly, wondering of their task, their impressive equipment. The Pacettis explained that they were taking deep ore samples, and showed that they were not even boring a hole in the lahar. The technolists knew that only an expert with an electre prod could refute their claims.

  “I’m still amazed by all the trouble people go through for minerals,” Kathlynn stated brightly.

  Waving her hand over a palm ID, Vera replied:

  “When Neanderthals began making tools, they began digging with them in order to benefit Mankind. That will never change.”

  “I always liked to dig as a kid,” Grazio nodded sagely, poking gear while doing nothing, waiting for Kathlynn to leave.

  “As late as the 21st century,” Vera added, “the world nearly went to war over mining precious metals on asteroids.” And Kathlynn quickly countered:

  “But with all of our advanced technols, I’d think they could be synthesized.”

  “Some things can’t be synthesized,” Vera replied with a personal smile, “like people.”

  After a brief chat, Kathlynn returned to the settlement. She moved quickly, because even in an idyllic environment, Kathlynn did not like being alone.

  * * *

  Parno entered his favorite cubicle on the entire planet. Though the cube was crowded with two people inside, Parno felt no claustrophobia, but closeness.

  “Please close the door,” Kathlynn suggested, smiling.

  She wore the most beautiful ENU coverall in the entire Kapnos system. Plasweave seersucker, blue and white, with one discreet ENU logo, and the loveliest name tag, in script: Kathlynn.

  “Close,” he said, and the door complied.

  “Have a seat,” she offered.

  Kathlynn had obtained a second chair. Parno sat by the door. Kathlynn sat before her desk, crossing her legs. She and Parno had been closer in the air sled, but Parno felt fine.

  Looking toward Kathlynn, he determined that her hair was permanently brushed. Long and black, it did not frame her face like a painting. People made paintings, but the spirits of beauty made fems.

  “Parno, I want to apprise you of my initial determination before speaking with Ward.”

  “You’re going to apprise me? What kind of a prize will I receive?”

  “The brutal truth, Parno, if you can handle it.”

  “I didn’t expect brutality from you, Mizz Shumard. You seem the gentle type.”

  She smiled, utilizing an unhappy expression she might have stolen from Ward.

  “Parno, the greatest difficulty you will have in achieving a contract with the indigenes is clear to me now.”

  “We have many difficulties here, Kathlynn. Which do you consider the greatest?”

  “I can specify it clearly. Because the indigenes have no central government, they cannot decide as a race to allow you to invade their environment.”

  “Yes, but Earth Nations United has protocols for giving mining permission under these circumstances.”

  “Why do you mention that to me, Parno, when I am the ENU supervisor fully cognizant of the protocols that I will use to determine my decision?”

  “The protocol, in case you don’t know, says that Stellar Service has to try darn hard to establish relationships with the indigenes.”

  “I am aware of that, Parno. I just told you that I—”

  “Afterwards, we switch from cultural to technol. The mining folks then have to show that their procedures for obtaining ether ore will not alter the environment in a—”

  “In a manner that would corrupt the indigenous culture or its potential development. That’s where you’ll fail.”

  “How is that, Kathlynn?”

  “The indigenes use the volcano slopes as a burial ground. That’s where the ore deposit is. The indigenes have no other mountain, and you have no other source of ore. That elder man did not coincidentally appear. The indigenes must have learned from the first staff ho
w to behave toward us in order to preclude our interfering with their culture.”

  “Kathlynn, didn’t the Pacettis assure you that they found no evidence of any other human remains on the mountain slopes, cremated or otherwise?”

  “Yes.”

  “You don’t believe them? They’re my friends.”

  “The indigenes are my friends, Parno, and I don’t even know them. I will not refute the Pacettis’ allegation, for that would mean accusing them of perjury.”

  “Good, you’ve learned two of the three rules of off-world adventuring.”

  “Which are?”

  “Never touch an alien, don’t disturb the dead, and make friends with the pilot, unless you want to walk.”

  “The only alien contact that occurred was when an indigene touched me, viciously and immorally. I cannot believe that you did not try to spare me from that assault.”

  “I didn’t predict it, Kathlynn, or I would—”

  “And how are you suggesting that I disturbed the dead?” she demanded.

  “That first local who approached us. As an anthropologist, I recognized his behavior as the imminent acceptance of death. You intended to disturb him.”

  Kathlynn emitted another Ward Hanshaw smile.

  “Parno, you have to understand that I was testing you and your personnel.”

  “Yes, and we passed your test. Our response, in itself, was a test of your own position. You also passed, perfectly. You’re terrific, Kathlynn. I have another secret that will ensure my success on this planet, but I’m not allowed to tell you.”

  “I already know it, Parno.”

  “I double dare you to tell me.”

  “Parno,” she sighed, “I have been a member of three off-world expeditions, but never as a supervisor. I brought to Kapnos very thorough training for this specific task, this particular planet. I understand that since you cannot possibly convince a government that does not exist, you will have to convince me.”

  “Oh. Well, that means you win.”

  “Win what?”

  “You just proved yourself a lot smarter than I am, because I didn’t think you knew my secret.”

  “I’m sure, however, that you don’t know mine.”

  “Kathlynn, when you smile like that, I find you utterly attractive.”

  “Now you’re talking like a loser,” she declared.

  “You’re right, Kathlynn, I am a loser. Since I cannot possibly succeed here, I might as well enjoy my stay. That includes reveling in the beautiful landscape, and the completely handsome Kathlynn Shumard.”

  “My secret, Parno, which you seem frightened—”

  “Please don’t rub it in, Kathlynn. You’ve beaten me.”

  “I have not beaten you,” she yelped. “We might still produce some meaning in this conversation, Parno, if you would only participate on an adult level.”

  “Why should I want to converse about a topic that has already defeated me? Do you want to rub my nose in the pink sand?”

  “Spoken like a true loser.”

  “Spoken like a bad winner. All right, go ahead. I’m dying to learn your secret—I’m dying a little. Do you know what ‘little death’ in French means?”

  Even people with brown skin blush.

  “My secret, Parno,” she growled, “is that even if you convince me into granting Stellar Service mining permission for this island, I still have to convince my superiors, and that is impossible. Therefore, you are correct, proving yourself no wiser than any other loser. Furthermore, you may as well trundle off to your cubical and start masturbating, because you will never get into my coveralls.”

  Parno would have left, but Kathlynn stormed past him. He stood, feeling success. Since he had already failed personally and professionally, he had nothing left to lose.

  * * *

  “Space ain’t worth living in until they get real beer.”

  Grazio stood with Parno near the ash pile left by the fiery indigene. Having filled their suits’ fluid stores with a beverage from the food hopper, the men sipped veg-ale from plasstick straws. At dusk, the cyan sky had darkened to purple with shadings of deep magenta, the clouds a scumbled application of paint on the horizon. Behind the two Earthers, the forest had become loud, alien languages from insects and water fowl exchanging the ideas of position and passion from ground to limb. A four-winged, owl-like bird swooped so low that Parno and Grazio could hear its wings beat. Nearly out of sight, at the marsh’s edge, numerous small reptiles with tiny legs hopped on their bellies, leaving prints as though children had been skidding balls across the stiff mud. The world composition, Parno felt, retained him, the sky’s coloration as deep as space, the forest as impenetrable as the lahar on which he stood.

  “Did you find any more ash people piles like this?” he wondered.

  “Nah. We set loose a senser looking all over. This is it.”

  “I probably found the only English-speaking Kapnosan, too.”

  “Which came first,” Grazio said, “the mountain or the man hill?”

  “It’s a funny thing about time,” Parno mused, looking down to the ashes. “If you’re dead, time never changes. My ancestors’ lives were filled with spirits. So, if you’re a dead spirit and have a memory, which is your only experience because you don’t have a body, it’s the same as time travel.”

  “Hey, that makes about as much sense as Vera’s baloney explaining your waterlogged suit.”

  “You say the ladies are cooking dinner?”

  “Yeah, it’s great. The guys are out in the woods fartin’ and boozin’, and the fems are inside cooking a synthetic meal. Vera and Kathlynn are all chummy now. Now that they got something in common.”

  “Which is?” Parno asked.

  “Genius. Vera thinks she fixed all the weird stuff with our gear, even though she didn’t do nothing.”

  “Then what was wrong?”

  “Simple: your suit was screwed up, so you got a new one. It’s fine, ain’t it? Graviton elation from a unique ether ore isotope caused it to go blooey, says my fem.”

  “Why my suit?”

  “Bad blood.”

  “Why my sled?”

  “Bad influence, chummin’ around with your stinko suit.”

  “What about the native girl’s speaking English?”

  “She mimed it after hearing the first staff speak. Simple, I told you.”

  “Grazio, who is dumb enough to believe that pack of inane, alien explications?”

  “Hey, you got a better answer, anthro man?”

  “Intended coincidence is intention, not coincidence. The first staff, who stayed for ten days, found no deaths, no drowning, and had no interacting with the locals, including speeches in English.”

  “Hey, who’s doing all the intending here?”

  “Who is on the planet? Earthers and indigenes. Unless there’s a secret alien race controlling the natives.”

  “That sounds like something Vera and Shumard figured out together.”

  “So, if Vera is all delighted from having solved our data dilemma, though she had no influence, what makes Kathlynn peer to her in the superior department?”

  “Hey, more simpleness, anthro man,” Grazio said. “Shumard is all the superior supervisor because she’s got nose rings on you and Ward.”

  “Oh. Well, we’ll get the ore anyway. Kathlynn doesn’t have enough clout to make us leave after only one day.”

  “Let’s go look,” Grazio offered, and they boarded a sled, proceeding to the mine.

  Parno was not ready to retire, but imagined remaining on this world of flowing greys and striking colors forever. These rich vistas contained no crowds, no blaring float car traffic. Parno was not ready to retire, having the best occupation in the world, but only second-rate success.

  Over the lahar they glided, the mountain casting a shadow with all the substance of space. The sled traveled so smoothly that the men had no difficulty in swallowing their faux beer. Not nearing the shore, they proceeded around th
e mountain along an expanse of igneous rock continuing nearly out of sight to the next forest.

  The sled halted at a tiny volcano.

  “There she blows,” Grazio said, belching. “We disguised it neat. The shaft is reflecting its surrounds, so you just see more lahar and mountain.”

  “Good,” Parno said. “My beer is getting warm. This brew is so odd, we should call it queer beer.”

  “Yeah, funny.”

  “How does it work?”

  “Queer beer? That’s your invention, anthro man.”

  “No, the mine shaft.”

  “Yeah, the mine. What you’re not seeing is the biggest molecular shaft we could fit in the boat. It pulls out the stuff we want and leaves the rest. It takes a while for the electre brick to do all that bonding and debonding, but it’s almost ready.”

  “When?”

  “We’ll start pulling out ore around dawn. What you’re not seeing there,” Grazio said while pointing, “is the machine that will sort of coagulate the molecules into cohesive masses. Then it just wraps the ore in little sealed packets, and we stick them in the cargo bay.”

  “What if Kathlynn comes along?”

  “Hey, Parno, the stuff is stored under a false slope. It’s made of plasrock. She couldn’t see if she were standing here. We’ll transport it on sleds when she ain’t around. ENU has no privileges in our cargo bay, so she’ll never know. You just keep her out in the surf while we’re moving the stuff inside.”

  “Oh.”

  “So, Parno, when are we moving in?”

  “It’s getting dark, I’m hungry, I’m out of ale, I’m going inside,” he said. “Is that what you mean?”

  After sucking up several ounces at once, Grazio explained.

  “Hey, spacers all know where Stellar Service is heading: colonization. I’ll bet that’s what you’re really here to figure, ain’t it? We get the ore, the ales don’t notice, fine. Then we look around and find a place to live. A thousand miles away, there’s a continent with weather like this, and no people. I like it here. I can taste them banananuts right now.”

  “Yes, Grazio, you’re correct. They taste yellow, like pus.”

  “Hey, Parno, in San Fartcisco, you have to make an appointment to get your float car out of the parking garage. I’d be willing to move.”