H. M. Hoover

by The Rains of Eridan

  "Why?” Karen said with a frown. "You said yourself there’s nothing up here but us and the vots.”

  "I know. But you never know what’s in a cave. There might be a drop-off just beyond the entrance—”

  Karen studied the woman’s face and then shook her head. "That isn’t why . . .” she started to say and then stopped. "Do you have it too ?” she asked. As if fear were a disease.

  "I did—for a minute,” admitted Theo. "It’s gone now.”

  "The same way the rest have it?”

  "No,” the woman said firmly, and was telling the truth.

  "Do you want to go back? Not see if there’s anything there?” "Yes,” admitted Theo. "But I’m going to go look anyhow. You stay here.”

  "No,” said Karen and came back and caught her by the left hand. "We’ll go together.”

  No tool had shaped the cave entrance. It was an opening perhaps twice as tall as a human and thirty feet wide, jaggedly irregular. A short tunnel opened into a larger chamber.

  Theo reached back into her pack and pulled out her torch. The light revealed a sandy floor littered with sand-covered mounds of something and crystals of all sizes and colors. She flashed the light over the ceiling and walls. There were no crystals in the rock. She turned the light back to the floor.

  "Are those some kind of rock?” asked Karen. The two of them stood at the end of the tunnel, their bodies casting the chamber into deeper gloom. Theo didn’t answer but instead played the light over the nearest pile. It looked more like a mound of ancient plastic substance, dried and brittle, which in its decay had engulfed two perfectly matched pink crystals. She lifted off her pack and knelt beside the rubble to examine it more closely, feeling, touching, tapping. It did not ring. It went punk.

  "Sounds like wood,” said Karen. "Which is not too exciting— except how did it get in here ?”

  "Or even outside,” Theo reminded her. "There is no other evidence of tree growth, fossil or otherwise, up here. I don’t think it’s wood.”

  She put down the torch and tried to lift the mass, only to discover that it was much larger than it seemed. The drifting sand had covered almost all of it. Without being told, Karen began to dig, pushing the sand away until she said, "I think we’re standing on part of it.”

  Theo flashed the light over the small excavation. Karen had uncovered what appeared to be part of a branch covered with very dry bark. It was hard to see with all the dust in the air.

  Something gleamed in the light, and she knelt to look more closely. Attached to the end of the stump were four long scimitar-like claws. "Jackpot!” Her voice was jubilant.

  "What is it?”

  "I think you have just gained textbook immortality,” the biologist said, "by finding a new species.”

  "Yeah?” The word started as a question and ended as a hope. "Footnote stuff? Really?” Karen's face slowly lit up, and the woman saw in it the pure joy of the discoverer of great treasure— treasure only the child of science could fully appreciate. "She’s a chip off her parents’ block,” Theo thought inelegantly but correctly.

  "Really,” she said. "Unless I’m wrong, of course.”

  "Well, let’s find out!” Karen set to digging like a mole.

  "Wait.” Theo reached over and caught the busy hands. "Don’t ever dig bare-handed when you don’t know what’s down there. You could cut yourself on more of those”—she pointed to the claws—"or on a crystal or— Here, let me get my trowels and brush.”

  "I’ll help you—”

  "No. I know just where I put them. And put this on.” She handed her a disposable inhalator. "It’s very dusty.” She saw Karen grimace. "I’ll wear one, too.”

  Karen sighed, but put the inhalator on, took the trowel Theo handed her, and set to work. Theo noted approvingly that she was careful not to chip or scratch the specimen. When Theo had placed the torch to give them maximum lighting, she joined in the digging. For more than an hour the two were totally involved and completely content, and neither said a word.

  VI

  SLOWLY THE OUTLINE OF THE THING BEGAN TO TAKE SHAPE. THE CREATURE LAY ON ITS SIDE IN THE SAND. DEHYDRATION HAD PERHAPS FIXED ITS TENDENCY TO CURL IN ON ITSELF EVEN MORE, HUGGING ITS CLAWED FEET LIKE A SECRET TUCKED UNDER ITS BODY. IN ITS PRESENT CONDITION IT WAS ELEVEN FEET ACROSS AND SEVEN FEET WIDE OR TALL, ITS BULK COVERED WITH A VERY HARD SUBSTANCE. IT LOOKED ALIEN TO HUMAN EYES, BUT NOT SO WHEN COMPARED TO THE OTHER LIFE FORMS OF ITS WORLD.

  "Would you care to give me a preliminary identification of your discovery, Doctor?” Theo said as she stood up to stretch her aching muscles and look over their work.

  Karen checked to see if she was being mocked, and then grinned. "In my educated opinion, Doctor, I’d say it was a cross between an elephant and a caterpillar.”

  "A sound judgment,” said Theo, nodding. "Although I tend to favor the caterpillar theory myself.”

  "Think of the moth this would be,” said Karen, and in spite of herself, she shivered. "You don’t think it is larval, do you?” Theo shook her head. "No. It’s a mature something. But what I don’t know.”

  "It’s got six legs—eight if you count those two short ones at the top with the pincers.”

  "It needs them for the weight and length of it. This specimen is totally desiccated, and it’s still so heavy we can’t move it. Think what it weighed alive.”

  "Which end is the head ?”

  "Where the short arms are, I guess. It’s all curled under and so dry. I wish we had a good brush.”

  "I wish we could see its eyes. Then we’d know if it was gentle or not.”

  "Well,” Theo said carefully, not wanting to crush Karen’s faith in eyes as a means of character assessment, "a creature this size might be harmful to smaller creatures—without intending to be. But we’d know more if we could see its feeding apparatus. Which we can’t without breaking this specimen.”

  "Want to? There’s a lot more of ’em here.”

  Theo shook her head. "We don’t have time. I hate to spoil it with no way to really analyze what we find now. We’ll come back.”

  "You might,” Karen said flatly, "but I won’t. Even if . . . this all ends well, I won’t be here. They’ll send me someplace. . ..”

  Theo's first impulse was to deny this. But that wasn’t honest. Karen knew corporate rules regarding juveniles as well as she did. Probably better. "I hope not," she said. "I will request your presence on this expedition.”

  Karen didn’t answer right away. She stood up, dusted herself off with vigorous swipes of her hat, wiped the sweat off her face, and pushed her hair back. Then, physically and mentally composed, she suggested, "Should we film this one and the cave floor?”

  The photographs that were later to become famous were taken then. The one of Karen Orlov standing behind her discovery, holding a magic slate bearing her name and the date of discovery, the shots of the creature itself, the wide-angle shot of the chamber with its shadowed background where tiny points of light gleamed in unexpected places, the shot of Dr. Leslie and her protegee, both disheveled but happily smiling into the lens. The photos showed the cave floor strewn with crystals.

  When they finally emerged from the cave into daylight again and were walking down the trail of their own footprints in the sand, Karen said, "That was very interesting.”

  "Oh?”

  "Yes. While I was digging—that was the first time since it happened that I didn’t think about my—about them. I was thinking about them all the time until then. Even when I didn’t want to think any more. And then, when I started digging, I forgot . . .” She stopped and looked back at Theo. "Is that bad?”

  "That you forgot?”

  Karen nodded as Theo caught up and they walked together.

  "No. That’s healthy. That’s nature’s way of protecting us against pain—letting us forget.” As Theo spoke, her voice changed until it seemed she was explaining to herself. "Slowly, until finally, after a long time, we remember only that it happened and that it hurt. But the
pain itself is gone. And then we can remember the good days that came before. And appreciate the new things and people that come into our lives.”

  While she listened, Karen’s eyes searched the woman’s face with a shade more understanding than Theo expected from her— or found quite comfortable. But the girl said nothing for almost a mile. Then she announced very seriously, "You know, I think I’m going to like you. I’m not sure yet because we don’t really know each other. But I think so. Based on the evidence at hand.” At that last remark, Theo found it necessary to wipe dust off her mouth and chin. When she could be sure of her self-control, she replied solemnly, "I think I’m going to like you, too. Based on the evidence at hand.”

  "Where we’re going to camp, is there enough water there to take a bath ?” said Karen.

  "That depends on how far we can walk. It’s approximately seven miles to the nearest bath.”

  "How long will it take us?”

  "Maybe two hours. With rest stops. Any blisters?”

  "No. But I itch a lot. This dust creeps into everything.”

  It was almost dark when they reached the small creek, so dark in fact that they were on it before they realized it. The water moved so slowly that it made little sound in its gravelly bed. But the air became sweeter for the dampness and the scent of the dwarf flame trees growing along the creek bank.

  "Do we have any soap?” Karen asked. "I’m going downstream to bathe before I do anything else.”

  "Good idea! Besides, it’ll be too cold to run around bare in another hour. By the way, bathe with your clothes on first. That’ll save you from putting on dirty garments in the morning.”

  Karen looked as if she didn’t think much of that idea, but she didn’t argue. "Can I take ’em off afterward?”

  "You’d better. Otherwise we’re going to have a soggy sleeping bag. I’ll dig out your pajamas from the pack.”

  After unrolling the pack, Theo set up the stove, put water on low to heat, and soaked the packets of dry food for dinner. Then she too went to bathe. The creek water was almost tepid after its long journey in the sun and too shallow to wet her much above the ankles. Nor could she find any deeper pools. So she stripped off her clothing and washed it first, enjoying the splash and soap smell after the long dry day. Absorbed in her bath, she even forgot about Karen. Getting the suds out of her hair proved to be an awkward chore in the shallow water. It was too much bother going back to camp for a cup to pour water over her head. So she soaped all over, stretched out in the water, closed her eyes, and let the creek ripple over her long body. It was delicious, this sensation, this solitude.

  While she lolled in the water, fifteen minutes or more must have passed before it occurred to her to wonder where Karen might be. She hadn’t heard any downstream splashing for some time. Reluctantly she sat up. The evening air felt cool on her wet skin, and she was glad to wrap the towel around her. Once standing, she could see the black silhouette of Karen sitting on a rock hugging her knees and staring up at the sky. For some reason the girl’s pose and stillness reminded her of herself at that age, and the hours spent thinking long thoughts.

  She was grateful for the time to herself. She slipped into her other pair of coveralls and then hung her wet laundry on handy trees. In the hills vots called to one another, almost as if they were saying good night, she thought. It seemed a shame to turn on the camper’s lamp and shut out the friendly darkness, but it was hard to prepare food without it. The protein substance called meat cakes looked almost edible as she shut them into the tiny oven and mixed the rice with mushrooms and vegetables. The fruit pudding sounded good; she mixed up a pack of that.

  "We’d starve without water,” Karen observed from the darkness behind her, and Theo nearly jumped. "Forgot about me, huh?” The girl grinned.

  "Yes, for a little while.”

  "That’s because I’m not a habit yet,” said Karen. "I’ll fix our bed.”

  Theo noted approvingly that the girl chose a level spot and carefully removed all rocks from the area the bag would cover. Karen disappeared into the darkness and came back with her arms full of greenery. "It’s tomaro weed. Nonirritating,” she announced. "Makes a soft mattress.”

  "Where’d you learn that?”

  "Mother.”

  "I’m impressed.”

  "Yes.” Karen walked off for another load. By the time the mattress was laid to her satisfaction, the food was ready. They ate as if they were starved, and by the time they’d cleaned up their dishes both were groggy with sleep. Perhaps if they had been less physically tired and relaxed, they would have been more self-conscious about the newness of their intimacy. As it was, Karen said, "I never slept with anybody before. Did you?”

  "On occasion.”

  "It’s kind of nice, huh? Warmer too. But nice to have company. Especially outdoors.” She pulled up the fastener on her side of the sleeping bag. "I never slept outdoors before yesterday either. Makes you feel very small to look up and see all that starry sky way up there.”

  Theo adjusted the inflated pillow under her still slightly damp hair. "On Earth there was a tribe that called sleeping out like this 'sleeping at the Inn of the Sky.’ ”

  Karen thought that over so long that Theo almost fell asleep before the girl said, "I like that—the Inn of the Sky. It makes you feel at home—as if you were part of it. ...” She fell silent and then said, "I would like to see Earth sometime. It must be so beautiful. The blue planet...”

  "You weren’t born there?”

  "Oh, no, I was born in space. Two years after my parents left Earth. I was born on the cruiser Pegasus. But I have Earth citizenship,” she added proudly. "I can go there anytime. How about you?”

  "Yes. I was born in the Smoky Mountains.”

  "Are they volcanic?”

  "No. Just hazy.”

  "Oh.” There was a sound of a stifled yawn and a longer silence, then, "That tribe that called this the Inn of the Sky— were they human ?”

  "Yes,” said Theo softly. "Very human.” And to herself silently added, "My child not born of Earth.” Beside her she heard Karen’s breathing slow and deepen into sleep. For a time she watched the meteors that occasionally streaked overhead. It was almost as soporific as the faint whisper of the creek to its gravel, or Karen’s breathing. As Theo drifted off, Karen rolled over and snuggled against her, more trusting in sleep than awake.

  VII

  THEO WOKE UP TO THE CHINK OF THE COOKING PAN AGAINST THE STOVE. THE SUN WAS JUST OVER THE MOUNTAIN AND IN HER EYES. MORNING WINDS WERE BLOWING THE TREES, CAUSING BRITTLE TWIGS TO RUSTLE. KAREN SAT CROSS-LEGGED IN FRONT OF THE STOVE, STIRRING SOMETHING AND FROWNING DOWN INTO THE POT. A FLOCK OF CURIOUS WEE-JEES FLUTTERED ABOUT HER LIKE GROSS RED BUTTERFLIES. ONE SETTLED LIKE A RIBBON BOW ON HER BLACK HAIR AND CREPT FORWARD TO PEER DOWN INTO THE POT. KAREN GAVE HER HEAD A QUICK SHAKE AND HER ORNAMENT STAGGERED INTO THE AIR AGAIN ONLY TO DROP ONTO HER LEFT WRIST, WHERE IT CLUNG WITH ITS TINY CLAWED FEET.

  "You’re a pest. You know that?” she whispered to it. "You and all your friends.” The weejee regarded her comically with

  its stalky eyes, and then, apparently attracted by the shine of her teeth, took wing to try to land on her mouth. Karen brushed it away hurriedly, stood and waved her arms until the whole flock decided she was a hazard and flapped off toward the creek.

  "Good riddance,” called Theo after them.

  "I’m glad you’re awake,” said Karen. "This coffee is beginning to smell kind of strong.”

  "How long has it been boiling?”

  "Only about half an hour.”

  "Oh.” Theo felt a sudden urge to skip coffee. But Karen was already preparing a mug, carefully adding the exact amount of powdered sweetened cream that Theo always used. The woman knew she could not refuse that offering. She sat up, accepted the hot mug, and pronounced it delicious.

  "It’s not too strong?” Karen said anxiously.

  "Perhaps a bit, but I like it. Thank you. What’s for breakfast?”

 
"Mush. It’s all ready too.”

  The mush was not bad, especially if one was hungry as Theo was that morning. While they ate, she outlined the day’s journey on the map. They would be following the creek down out of the mountain, although to follow its exact path would be impossible since a few miles ahead it sank into a ravine worn deep into the rock and then dropped in a white ribbon down a cliff face. They would be hiking a roundabout route that would eventually bring them to camp at the pool beneath the waterfall. The creek led to the Dileep River. It was at this junction that Theo had begun her walk into solitude.

  "You forgot to write your notes last night,” Karen reminded her. "You do that while I clean up and pack.”

  Theo was going to protest and then reconsidered. If she were in Karen’s place, she would want the dignity of helping. And the notes should be written while the discovery was fresh in her mind. "O.K. That sounds like a good idea.” And both of them set to work. An hour later they were dressed and ready to go.

  It was pleasant walking along the creek bank. Flowering trees followed the watercourse; grasses grew along its banks and out wherever enough moisture existed. Where the grass was thickest, vots had been at work, harvesting. Theo noted patches of varying lengths, from lawn-smooth to almost mature seeded stalks. The vots were good little farmers.

  The flame tree flower matured into a small plumlike fruit that quickly fermented in the sun. Clouds of weejees clung to the branches of these trees, feeding, or crawled drunkenly on the ground beneath. Once Theo and Karen saw a sulfur-yellow creature, a grazer of some sort, which bounced away at the sight of them. But there was little food up here to support varied animal life.

  Where the creek plunged down the ravine on its way to the waterfall, they stopped to rest. So far, the hike had been easy and they had made good time. That would end now. They stood at the edge of a high plateau, looking down.