The Frozen Sky

by Jeff Carlson

  “But they never used it, not the one we found,” Vonnie said.

  “Maybe they lost track of it,” O’Neal said. “They couldn’t reach it or they didn’t recognize it when they did.”

  “A starving tribe would eat the pellets,” Metzler said. “It works either way. Intelligent sunfish would understand at least the gist of the carvings — and stupid, hungry sunfish would expose themselves to the biochem by tearing into the carvings to feed. Maybe it would help them.”

  “We can synthesize those pheromones and anything else they need,” Vonnie said.

  “It would take generations to restore their intelligence even if we had the moral right,” Johal said. “Earth will be interested in leaving spies and probes among this tribe, but there may be civilizations further down.”

  “We can’t abandon them,” Vonnie said. “Koebsch?”

  He didn’t answer. He was locked into his conversations with Earth, so she recorded an alert to his station.

  “Koebsch, you need to tell Berlin! Some of our most basic assumptions are wrong. Even the name I gave them, that was as dumb as Columbus deciding the Native Americans were Indians. They don’t care about the sun. They’ll always want to go deeper. They think we’re coming from beneath them, not above.”

  “They’re afraid we want to displace them,” Metzler said.

  “Yes. If we can’t—”

  “I’m here,” Koebsch said, appearing on the group feed. “Good news. Our prime minister is in talks with officials in China, the U.S., and Brazil. A lot of people are impressed with your sims. We have orders to make an attempt to communicate.”

  “Thank you, Koebsch,” Metzler said as Vonnie raised her fists in celebration.

  “Lam, when will they send out hunters?” Koebsch said. “I’d like to arrange it so you’re with three intelligent sunfish or a small group that’s mostly intelligent.”

  —Tom often pairs with Charlotte, who finds him compliant males for construction work outside the colony. He’s partial to members of his former tribe. If I demonstrate loyalty and athleticism, he may choose me.

  “I have a better idea,” Vonnie said. “The best sunfish get smarter as they’re groomed by the females, and cooperative behavior is rewarded, correct?”

  —Roger that.

  His mem files included radar sweeps of the surrounding ice and rock. Vonnie scrolled along the trail Tom’s group had taken to reach the new colony.

  “Lam can pretend to remember the scent of eels a few kilometers east from the colony,” she said. “He should ask Tom and the intelligent females to bring a team of scouts. That’s how we’ll get them away from the tribe.”

  “There aren’t any eels,” Koebsch said. “What if they kill him for wasting their time?”

  “They’ll find something better than eels.”

  54.

  Six hours later, the ESA crew were back at their stations, watching datastreams of modified sonar and X-ray.

  Lam was on the move. He sprinted through a fissure with Tom and six other sunfish, reinvestigating the path they’d taken from their old colony.

  The tribe had napped for three hundred and twenty minutes almost to the dot, a peculiar number which Lam’s mem files showed they repeated often. Metzler noted that 5.33 hours was a sixteenth of Europa’s orbital period around Jupiter — and the ocean tides and the bulging in the ice were caused by Europa’s position relative to Jupiter and the sun. Did that mean the tribes were aware of the sun after all, even if their awareness was subliminal or poorly understood?

  There were no days or nights inside the frozen sky, much less weather or seasons. It seemed unlikely they’d invented a calendar. Nonetheless, they seemed to have developed a rest-wake-rest-and-wake pattern closely integrated with the physical properties of their world much like lifeforms on Earth had developed biorhythms associated with day and night.

  The rapid cycle from active to relaxed to active again allowed the sunfish to maintain high levels of vigilance and stamina. Among those capable of sentience, regular lulls also aided their mental health.

  Vonnie should have rested herself, but she was too busy, too thrilled, and her leg ached where her muscle grafts and ankle joint needed exercising. Metzler had brought her soup; Ash had increased her next round of antirejection meds and painkillers; and Koebsch let her participate in their data analysis.

  During the wait, Koebsch had also mediated discussions between his crew and officials in Berlin. Dawson was the only one to abstain. Vonnie wanted to believe he was licking his wounds, but she suspected he’d elected to continue his talks with the gene corps in private.

  Heading the Earth-based leaders had been the deputy prime minister, eight senators, four generals, and a bevy of division chiefs from the ESA. Their turnout was imposing. Two months ago, Vonnie might have felt intimidated. Instead, she’d rejoiced at the attention, because if these men and women were personally overseeing the mission, they wanted results.

  But where was the finish line? How did anyone define success in this case? Politically, opening relations with a tribal alien species was an expensive boondoggle with no end in sight.

  “I’d like to be sure our objectives are clear,” Koebsch had said. “What do we want from the sunfish?”

  It was a loaded question. The radio delay should have allowed his crew to express positive opinions before anyone on Earth weighed in, but Johal condemned the tribe. She wasn’t fussy like O’Neal, but she was neat and polite, and the behavior she’d seen apparently didn’t sit well with her.

  “I’m not sure we want anything from the Top Clans,” Johal had said. “We can continue our surveillance, but given what we’ve learned, I think we have a better chance of communicating with Mid and Low Clans.”

  “We’ll get to the other sunfish eventually,” Koebsch said. “We’re here now. We have an asset inside their colony. Very few of us think it makes sense to walk away.”

  Johal raised her hand. “I vote we walk away.”

  “Top Clan Eight-Six can teach us more of their language,” Vonnie said. “They might act as guides and translators as we move deeper into the ice. What matters is building relationships with them and learning to work together.”

  “So we’re looking for a formal contract of some kind,” Koebsch said. “Do they look at writing the same way we do?”

  “Probably not,” O’Neal said. “But they seem to honor their agreements.”

  “Okay,” Koebsch said. “Then we want a truce or, better yet, an alliance. We want pledges for mutual aid and safe passage.”

  The response from Earth was less definitive. Four of the senators had been heavily involved in the negotiations with Brazil. There were currency and trade considerations on the table as well as the new defense treaty. They’d scheduled a hearing to review the events on Europa.

  It was a delaying tactic.

  Fortunately, public opinion had swung vigorously in favor of protecting the sunfish. Lam’s sims had been leaked onto the net by ESA and government staffers.

  In the media, Brazilian and E.U. officials blamed each other for causing the deaths of two astronauts and a hundred sunfish. Privately, Vonnie was sure, both sides knew how to come up smelling like roses. Damage control began with securing what they’d always wanted: a supply of tissue samples and more reasons to work together. People like Dawson wouldn’t quit. The senators needed to bluster and the generals needed to issue sage pronouncements. Then the prime minister would meet again with Brazil’s president, reaffirming their partnership.

  Koebsch had also spoken with Ribeiro. “My team is on standby until further orders,” Ribeiro said curtly. Jealousy and admiration shone in his eyes; jealousy for seeing Koebsch taken off the leash; admiration for the ESA crew, who, although they were rivals, had achieved a difficult goal.

  In her soul, Vonnie knew she wasn’t done resisting Dawson’s schemes or Ribeiro’s guns.

  Meanwhile, the ESA crew was all systems go.

  Vonnie looked up from th
e maps and rover feeds on her station when Lam said:

  —We’ve left hearing range of the colony.

  “Keep running,” Koebsch said. “Let’s double that margin if possible.”

  —Yes, sir.

  The selection of the hunting party hadn’t gone as well as they hoped. Lam was a lesser male. When he’d approached Tom and Charlotte, claiming to remember the scent of eels, Charlotte had responded cautiously, requiring Lam to describe the eels’ location four times as she groped at him, tasting his mouth and ears.

  Was it possible that sunfish could lie? O’Neal said no. Their shape-based language would betray any untruth. Every one of them was a natural polygraph machine, zealously attuned to each other’s blood pressure, pulse, and respiration.

  Despite their skill at laying ambushes, it seemed improbable that sunfish were capable of deceiving each other in speech. There could never be traitors among them sent by other tribes… and yet many of the sunfish might be prone to delusions and fantasy. They were smart enough to go insane, which Vonnie thought was a uniquely human trait.

  Lam’s certainty won them over. The needs of the colony might have caused Tom and Charlotte to give him a chance no matter what, but they’d seemed to temper their enthusiasm. They assigned another intelligent female to go with them — it was Brigit — then added four savage males to the pack.

  Maybe they always brought an imbalance of stupid brutes. If they met enemies or prey, the idiot sunfish would attack, providing the intelligent sunfish with a few seconds to decide whether they should retreat or support the assault.

  The worry on Earth and among the ESA crew was that the savages would swarm Lam as soon as he revealed himself. Koebsch’s decision had been to let the hunting party move away from the colony, then wait until they paused to orient themselves in the catacombs. He wanted Lam to speak to Tom, Charlotte, and Brigit when the pack wasn’t moving at top speed with all senses heightened to the extreme.

  It’s like waiting for the eye of a hurricane, Vonnie thought. Violence is never far away, but if we can catch them at just the right instant when their guards are down…

  Tom led the hunting party with Lam by his side. Charlotte and Brigit kept to the nucleus of the group as the savage males bounded ahead and behind. Maybe they were protecting the females. Maybe they were demonstrating their fitness and bravery.

  When the pack stopped with cat-like suddenness, scouring the ice for spoor or tracks, it was in an ordinary stretch of tunnel no different than any of the fractures or holes around them.

  It was where their future would be decided.

  55.

  Lam pretended to join the pack in searching the ice. He sniffed at the walls as he eased away from the savage males, positioning himself near Tom and Charlotte. Then he leapt onto the ceiling, intending to flatten his body into a submissive stance above them.

  The slick ice was nearly his undoing. He slipped, bringing Tom’s attention before he was set. Worse, sunfish regarded clumsiness as weakness.

  “That was close,” Metzler said as Vonnie whispered, “Hush.”

  On her display, an AI superimposed a transcript of the conversation among the sunfish, interpreting their cries and body shapes:

  LAM: Wait and listen / I deliver myself to you.

  CHARLOTTE: You are Top Clan Eight-Six.

  ALL SUNFISH: Eight-Six / We are Top Clan Eight-Six.

  LAM: I deliver myself to you.

  CHARLOTTE: Are you ?

  LAM: I have great strength and unlimited food.

  MALE SUNFISH #4: Food / Where is food?

  TOM: We are hunting eels.

  CHARLOTTE: Hunting eels / Remember the scent?

  LAM: Yes / This is different food / More food / Air / Tools / I can give these things to you / Listen.

  MALE SUNFISH #2 and #4: Danger / He is danger!

  ALL MALE SUNFISH:

  CHARLOTTE: No / Do not attack / Wait and listen.

  TOM: Do not attack.

  LAM: I am not Top Clan / I deliver myself to you / I offer truce.

  CHARLOTTE: Deliver or truce?

  LAM: Truce / I am no danger to you / I want to help / We are from a place unknown to you.

  MALE SUNFISH #2 and #4: Sickness / Attack!

  LAM: My tribe wants guides and teachers / We bring great strength / Great food / We offer truce.

  CHARLOTTE: Where is your tribe / How many in your tribe?

  TOM AND BRIGIT: How many / Where / How many in your tribe?

  ALL MALE SUNFISH: Attack / Attack!

  Lam dropped from the ceiling and landed brazenly among them, causing the intelligent sunfish to scuttle back. Their bodies obstructed the savage males.

  “He’s doing well,” Koebsch said.

  “He needs to capitalize on his advantage,” Johal said, but Vonnie said, “No, it’s too soon.”

  “Tell him to show them who he really is,” Johal said.

  “Koebsch, don’t,” Vonnie said. “They’re barely starting to think he’s not insane. If he startles them, Tom and Charlotte won’t be able to stop the males from striking at him.”

  “We’ll wait,” Koebsch said as Lam moved closer to the pack, using shapes like an equal now.

  LAM: My tribe is larger than yours / Larger and far away / Friends / Truce / Strength / We are many eights and many eights and many eights.

  MALE SUNFISH #1 and #4: Danger!

  LAM: We are no danger / Truce / Food / Truce / We want scouts and teachers.

  CHARLOTTE: Where is your tribe?

  BRIGIT: Where / What is your name?

  LAM: I do not want to surprise you / Listen / We are unknown to your tribe / Not sunfish.

  TOM: Your tribe is not a Top Clan?

  LAM: We are not sunfish.

  The savage males could not contain their agitation. Two of them shrieked, then all four. If their instinct was to arouse their packmates and incite them to kill Lam, it almost worked.

  The three intelligent sunfish responded to the war cry. That impulse was deeply rooted in them — and yet Lam brought the pack to a halt by screeching louder than any sunfish. Unlike their normal cries, his scream covered their entire spectrum of hearing. By deafening them, he limited their senses to smell and touch. It also must have hurt.

  The sunfish cringed, ducking to shield their ears. Charlotte stood her ground, but she clasped her arms over six of her ears, limiting her ability to defend herself. In their efforts to retreat, two of the savage males climbed backwards up the walls of the pocket in the ice, which brought them above Lam into the position of lesser sunfish.

  “Now,” Johal said. “He should show them now.”

  “Koebsch, don’t,” Vonnie insisted. “Lam has the situation under control.”

  “He could take command,” Johal said.

  “That’s not what we want,” Vonnie said before Metzler added, “We don’t need slaves. We need allies, and we’re about to overwhelm them in a million ways with knowledge and technology. Let’s minimize the culture shock.”

  “They’ll never be our equals,” Johal said.

  “We should let them try,” Vonnie said. “That’s the right thing to do. We can afford to be generous with them.”

  “Watch out!” Ash shouted.

  The savage males raised their undersides, screeching and clacking with their beaks. Their challenge seemed to be aimed at Charlotte, Tom, and Brigit as well as Lam. They couldn’t understand the curiosity of the intelligent sunfish, so they intimidated them, too.

  MALE SUNFISH: Eight-Six / We are Top Clan Eight-Six!

  CHARLOTTE: Wait and listen.

  MALE SUNFISH: This is our home / Danger!

  CHARLOTTE: Wait.

  They swarmed Lam, nipping at Brigit’s body and Tom’s arms as they passed. Tom lashed against one of the savage males, altering his trajectory. Brigit snapped
at another male and missed. She and Charlotte coiled themselves to jump into combat.

  Lam ended the fight with mecha speed and power. He slapped the first two males in their beaks, then clubbed the third male on top of his body.

  The errant male who’d been bumped by Tom was the last to confront Lam. Faced with the bruised, inert forms of his comrades, he demurred, assuming a meek posture as he completed his arc. Lam could have slaughtered the helpless male. Instead, he caught him, then nudged him toward the ceiling, where the male clung obediently.

  The other males were shaking off the blows they’d sustained. They joined their friend above Lam with stances of wariness and respect. At the same time, Charlotte, Brigit, and Tom also sprang lightly into the air. They had taken measure not only of Lam’s might but also his self-restraint.

  CHARLOTTE: These ones are immature / They are stupid and easily frightened.

  LAM: My tribe does not fight / We offer truce.

  TOM: You are strange.

  ALL SUNFISH: Strange / You are strange / Where is your tribe / What is your name?

  LAM: Far away / Great distances and great size / Great age / Great places / I need your patience to explain.

  TOM AND CHARLOTTE: You are sunfish / You are not sunfish / What is your name?

  CHARLOTTE: You are the Old Ones?

  ALL SUNFISH: Far away / Distant greatness.

  LAM: We are not sunfish.

  On a radio frequency to the ESA, he said:

  —They’re using some of the shapes we found in the carvings. They’re talking about the empire.

  “Should we pretend to be some remnant of that civilization?” Metzler asked.

  “We can’t lie,” Vonnie said.

  “It might help them make sense of us,” Koebsch said. “How else are we going to account for our maps or radar or the food we can bring?”

  “Once we start down that road, we’re committed to deceiving every colony we meet. Either that or we betray this tribe as soon as someone better comes along. We’ve already made so many mistakes. Do we really want to keep lying?”