H. M. Hoover
Page 6
"Where did you learn all this?”
"I get very space sick. Inhale.” The child was all business. In spite of her misery, Theo almost smiled; who was protecting whom from shock? "And quit trying to spare me,” Karen told her. "I know what that is on the floor in there. Staff.”
It took a little time for that last remark of Karen’s to penetrate Theo’s understanding. But when it did, she almost forgot her sickness. She should have known from the sight of Karen’s face as she came back along the hall after first seeing the dining room. It was the same look Karen had had when she stepped into the flashlight’s beam—the look of someone who is maintaining selfcontrol by refusing to think or feel.
Theo recognized that look. She had seen it reflected in her mirror every morning for the first years after she left Earth. She knew what would have happened to her then if anyone had tried to penetrate the wall she had built around feeling.
Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and considered this child who stood so still beside her. She couldn’t be more than twelve. Where had she learned how to survive—or was it inherent, a matter of breeding ?
"Why are you so quiet?” There was concern in Karen’s voice. "Are you going to be sick again?”
"No . . . I’m better.” Theo risked moving her head with her eyes open and looked up at her. "I was resting.”
"O.K.” Karen could accept that.
"Are you ... as well as you can be ?”
The girl’s eyes narrowed slightly, and the grip tightened on the washcloth. "Yes ... I feel ...” Whatever she was going to say, she thought better of it, and deliberately directed her attention back to Theo. "Why don’t you go in and lie down ?”
Theo knew better than to press the issue. "All right,” she said. "For a few minutes.”
XI
A. FTERWARD Theo could scarcely remember the details of that day. Her mind blurred them beyond feeling. They had attempted to contact both Base One and the Agribase. There was no response and no time to discover whether it was transmittal failure or climatic conditions or something else. They next armed themselves and searched all domes, for survivors and the creature or creatures who might have done this. They found neither. Electronic beam alarms were rigged around the lab and living domes.
There was no time for fear or grief or revulsion, any of the programmed emotional responses to death. The dining-room
wreckage was filmed in detail, the necessary lab samples were taken, and then the room was cleared with a scoop dump. All debris was lasered to powdery ash on which the pelting raindrops seemed to explode before washing away in filmy rivulets.
She remembered it rained all day.
By midafternoon the computer had analyzed the tissue samples and identified the dead.
NAME
AGE
OCCUPATION
BIRTHPLACE
Kiharu Ito
24
Logistician
Sat. Belvieu, L5
Genis Illian
31
Geologist
U.S.S.R., Earth
Adrian Haras
23
Meteorologist
Eufor, Mars
Hotra Van
29
Photographer
New York, Earth
Joan Lee
25
Geologist
Eufor, Mars
Luz Djamu
25
Oceanographer
U.S.S.R., Earth
Pun Li Chan
28
Ichthyologist
Sinkiang, Earth
Larry Samuels
32
Physicist
Ringworld, Saturn
Lindsay Shore
21
Nutritionist
Sat. Belvieu, L5
Shar Olin
22
Master Mechanic
Sat. Titan, L3
Robert Landau
26
Astrophysicist
Houtex, Earth
Seto Kim
29
Environmentalist
Ringworld, Saturn
Geoff Piedrahita
33
Computer Specialist
Bombay, Earth
William Roy
27
Master Mechanic
Sansuk, Mars
As the pictures followed one after the other across the vu-screen, the computer ended each biography with the words, “Deceased. KILOD, Eridan, ET March 15, 2763, Cause of Death unknown.” It seemed to Theo the list would never end and that Commander Tairas would never stop murmuring, "Ah no, ah no.”
The computer then attempted to analyze the foreign matter included with the tissue samples: amino acids, enzymes, mucoid tissues, hair particles, nonchitinous cuticle, soil, algae, bacteria, leaf fragments. The leaves were local, the algae and bacteria unknown. The soil had trace elements from an unidentified area of the planet. The balance of the items were from a creature or creatures unknown.
Somewhat to Commander Tairas’s annoyance, Theo refused to speculate as to what sort of animal she thought it might be. "We have seen no predators,” she said, "nothing resembling them. The only carnivores are scavengers. There have been more of those since the rains. For all I know this could be a glider, or a sea creature, or something I mistakenly called a browser. I haven’t the foggiest what it is.”
She could feel the tension in her jaws and hear the edge in her voice. Karen, asleep on the lounge under the window, stirred under the blankets of lab coats. "I’m sorry,” Theo apologized. "My nerves are on edge. We all need some food and rest.”
"Mine too. I apologize,” he said. "I’ve been hungry for hours, but I frankly can’t bear the idea of going into the dining room.” She nodded, understanding, and then remembered. "There’s the serving outlet in the rec-room lounge.”
It was decided there was little more they could accomplish in the lab in their present state of exhaustion, and, after making sure the intercom to the living dome was on night hookup, they went out for a walk to look around. The outside lights came on just as they stepped into the rain, and they saw water was coming down in sheets. The lake was spilling over with muddy water. Wind buffeted them and whipped the trees. Waves were rolling up the beach and uncurling in a giant pouring of energy. It was all the three of them could do to walk the distance to the next dome. They clung to one another for support.
"If those waves get much bigger, rain is going to be the least of our problems,” Tairas yelled over the storm.
"The trees have been here a thousand years,” Theo yelled back. "They weren’t washed away.”
"Keep away from the beam,” Karen yelled at both of them, "or else we’ll set off the alarm ourselves.”
TlRED as she was, Theo couldn’t fall asleep that night. She wasn’t aware of fear; she simply could not get her mind or her stomach to stop churning. The blanket was too tight over her feet. She loosened it. Her elbow itched. She scratched it. Then her nose itched. She rolled over and stuck a foot out for air. "Go to sleep,” she told herself. "Stop thinking about it. Think about animals, all the new animals that come out in the rain. Ugly little things.” She kept seeing the dead weejees in the grass and the odd creature feeding . . . there was a connection there ... if only her mind would concentrate. She turned restlessly, shoved the pillow off the bed, and fell instantly asleep.
XII
The mental anesthetic imposed by self-discipline was nullified
by sleep. Her mind sorted and replayed in random sequence. One weird dream followed another, most of them unpleasant. When, halfway through the night, something touched her bed, she rolled violently away and reached for her laser.
“It’s O.K. It’s O.K.,” came a hurried whisper. “It’s me. Karen. You were yelling in your sleep. You woke me up.”
“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you,” Theo mumbled. “What was I saying?” It seemed very important somehow.
“Something about going
to quit or going ... it sounded like Kript.”
“Crypt?” She remembered thinking the word . . . and tried to remember the dream, but it was gone. Except the image of the cavern. She shook her head. “I’m sorry I woke you. Go back to sleep.”
Karen padded off obediently to her bed in the alcove. As soon as Theo saw her pull the blanket up, she let her eyes fall shut. “Crypt?” she thought. “Crypt? I must be more depressed than I thought.”
It was daylight—or as light as it was going to get with the rain —when she woke again. She thought she heard voices outside and sat up to look out the window. All that was out there were trees, ocean, and rain. With a sigh she got up and went to the bathroom and came back to her bed. Karen was still sleeping. The clock said eight-thirty.
The alarm went off then—a high-pitched warble. A door slammed and muffled laughter came from the lobby. Karen’s eyes popped open. The floor trembled with a series of thumps. There was a shout and a babble of softer voices. Theo grabbed the laser and slid out of bed.
"Maybe your staff is back ?” suggested Karen.
"Maybe,” was the whispered reply, "or maybe we have visitors from Base One.”
Someone ran past her door and stopped suddenly. She tensed for trouble. The alarm stopped warbling. "Hi, Commander,” called a man’s familiar voice. "Why the gun?”
"We thought you might be angry, but not like this,” called another. There was more laughter, but not a sound from Jonathan Tairas.
"Wait until we show you what we found!” That voice Theo definitely recognized; it was Evelyn Wexler, who headed their medical staff. She opened her door and stepped into the hall, to be greeted with a glad cry of "Theo! You’re back! We were worried about you. Out there by yourself in all that rain. We were just saying, coming back, that if you hadn’t called—we were going to go look for you. Let me hug you!” The tall Earth woman pulled her close in a wet embrace, and over Evelyn’s shoulder Theo saw Commander Tairas.
He was in the grip of that anger that overtakes us when we have waited and worried too long about someone, only to discover they were in no danger at all and simply forgot to let us know where they were. His famous self-control was in danger of disappearing.
"May I ask where you people have been?” His voice was too quiet, and he was paying far too much attention to the simple task of putting his gun back in its holster.
"Crystal hunting,” said Dr. Felix. "We all went crystal hunting. Except maybe twenty comfort lovers who couldn’t be lured into the rain by the promise of wealth.” He frowned. "They told you where we were ?”
"No,” Tairas said softly. "They did not. Why didn’t you make a log entry?”
"It wasn’t necessary. Everybody here knew we had ...”
"Did you all... come back together?” asked Theo.
"Yes,” Evelyn answered. "Some of the greedier ones wanted to stay out another day since the hunting was so good, but this awful weather ...” She looked from the Commander’s face to Theo’s. "What is it? Why was the alarm set? What happened here?” "Trouble from Base One?” someone guessed.
"Why didn’t they tell you where we went?” persisted Evelyn. Tairas and Theo exchanged glances. "I didn’t ask them,” he said. "Mr. Maxwell, will you please see to it that the alarm is reset immediately. Now! If you will excuse me, I have an announcement to make.” And he left them.
"Has there been trouble?” Evelyn asked and frowned at Theo’s laser.
"Yes. Quite serious trouble,” Theo admitted. "But I think I should let the Commander explain what happened.”
Before anyone could say anything, the speakers chimed throughout the complex of domes.
"This is Commander Tairas. There will be a general staff meeting in Conference Room A at nine a.m. You will be there. You will be dressed for work detail. You will be armed. Our main dining room is temporarily closed. Please breakfast in the lounge. The maintenance staff will report to my office immediately.”
As he spoke more people came into the dome. They could be heard murmuring in the lobby, dropping packs on the floor, shaking rain capes, some coming down A Hall to their rooms, others going down B Hall.
To avoid further questions, Theo glanced at her watch. "It’s eight-forty now. We don’t have much time,” she said, and escaped into her room. "How is he going to tell them what happened here?” she wondered. Just how did one approach conveying that sort of news to one’s colleagues?
Conference Room A occupied the center of the circular dome. It was a large round room, spartanly equipped with tables, velvet foam cubes for seating, vu-screen, and data terminals.
The staff was still hurrying in when the Commander entered. Theo noted, with approval, that he had shaved and changed.
"Would you all be seated, please? Let me begin by saying how truly glad I am to see you again. What you are about to learn will be traumatic to all of you, some more so than others. For that reason I suggest you each take one of these trauma-pacs and keep it handy in case you need it.”
"Are you going to tell us the bottom fell out of the gem market, Jon?” called one of the engineers, and there was nervous laughter. Tairas ignored the remark. A tense quiet fell in the high-domed room as the box of drug packets passed from hand to hand.
"I shall begin at the beginning. I was on duty as controller, Monday morning at six, when Dr. Leslie signaled for pickup. I went out to meet her. As peripheral information, you should know that Dr. Leslie and I also brought back Karen Orlov, the daughter of the Expedition co-directors. Her parents have been killed by the rebel factions. Orlov minor will remain here as our guest.” This was greeted with sympathetic murmurings mixed with indignation and a few crisp "damn savages.” "We returned at noon. The base was deserted—”
"Impossible. There were at least twenty . . .” Evelyn’s voice died away as Tairas’s dark eyes fixed on her.
"To get on with my story,” Tairas continued, "when the three of us returned, the base appeared totally deserted.” He paused and then plunged into telling the events of the day before as quickly and as gently as he could. After a warning of its shock possibility, one frame of an over-all view of the dining room was shown.
There was a shocked silence, then the room filled with voices. It took the Commander some little time to restore order. Several people hurried from the room.
"Commander Tairas?” Evelyn waved to be recognized. "I think I should report that this is not the first time several of us have seen . . . evidence like this. Felix and I found something like that in a crevasse in the foothills yesterday. Water was rushing over it, so it was difficult to see clearly. And frankly we didn’t study it long. ...”
"Do you know what sort of animal did it?” asked Theo.
"I do.” The voice came from the other side of the table. All heads turned to Philip. "Or at least I think I do. It’s enormous. . . .” "Let’s have the complete story, please,” said Tairas.
"I was up on a small ledge. I’d found a lot of crystals washed out of a cave. You could pick them up by the handful.” Tairas frowned and Philip dropped the subject of crystals. "Anyhow, there came this herd of yellow grass-eaters down below, running. I’d never seen any of these animals run, so I watched to see what scared them. And then I saw two big hairless things come around the hill. They must have been fifteen feet long, half that high, brown, a lot of stubby legs with long, cruel claws and a funny blunt head and bug eyes. Big as they were, they could really move! And they are smart. You could tell by the way they herded the animals into a cul-de-sac. One blocked the exit and the other went in, slashing hell out of the victims with those claws. They rear up, like caterpillars. . . . Excuse me . . . but it was cruel to see. They killed the whole herd. Then that orange mouth opened and sort of sucked in a dead animal. I wanted to run, but I was afraid they would see me. There was only one way off the ledge, and if they saw me ... I wasn’t armed. I waited until they finished feeding and left—before I moved.”
"Did the victims look like that?” The dining-room sti
ll shot appeared on screen.
"Yes, Commander.” Philip put his hands over his face.
"You said nothing to your companions?”
"I didn’t want to leave all those crystals, all that money just lying there ... for somebody else.”
Tairas sighed. But then he had been born to great wealth. "And you, Dr. Wexler, and Dr. Felix, you also kept silent?”
They both nodded.
Theo heard little of this. Her mind was still going over what Philip had said. On a hunch she stood up. "Commander Tairas, may I be excused to get some tapes from my pack? You wanted me to speculate on what this creature might be. I’m ready to do that now. Philip, don’t go away. I want you to see these. Oh, one more thing, may I bring Karen Orlov back with me?”
The Commander nodded. "While Dr. Leslie is gone, let’s discuss what we can do to increase our security here.”
Off in a cloud of excited speculation about the mystery animal, the sight of staff members crying in the hall surprised Theo and made her feel guilty. She had forgotten. "Am I really so totally unfeeling?” she wondered. "We found them and I didn’t cry. Neither did the Commander or Karen. Are we all three space children, so long and so far removed from Earth that we are no longer quite human?”
XIII
Then a voice sobbed, "I don’t want to die out here,” and Theo’s lip curled in wry amusement. Was it grief for the dead—or fear for their own lives that caused the weeping? It really didn’t matter; neither emotion helped solve this or any other problem. She turned and ran down the hall to her compartment.