by Thomas Stone
"How long?"
"How long what?"
"How long before they get here? I figure two weeks if we're lucky, six weeks more than likely, and at two months we should be getting worried. If we're not lucky, they'll never come."
Harry stared at her. "Since when did you start being such a pessimist?"
"I'm just trying to be objective."
"Well, you're too objective. My guess is somebody will be by in less than a week."
"Wanna bet on it?"
Harry looked surprised. "Sure. Make it easy on yourself because I plan on winning this one."
"Okay, big shot. What do you want to bet?"
"Dinner. Loser pays."
"Oh, last of the big spenders..."
"Okay. Tell you what, let's make a side bet."
Kathleen was intrigued. "What?"
"I'll bet you not only that we're headed back to Earth in a week, but that we find the Bedorans down there. Loser pays for a vacation of the winner's choice."
Kathleen laughed and shook her head. "That's a bet, Harry. There's no way the Bedorans are down there. It's too cold. I vote for the second planet. It's a much better candidate to sustain life."
"We've entered our vector. Keep an eye on the heat shields. Once we break the cloud cover, start looking for possible landing sites."
"It's going to be hard to tell what's what with all the ice and snow."
"Look for a valley between the mountains..."
"Now how would you know that?"
'Well," Harry stammered, "it's just that sometimes the heat inversion rising up the mountainsides..."
"Harry, if you don't want to tell me, that's all right, but I've known you far too long for you to bullshit me."
"I'm not bullshitting."
"There you go again."
"All right, have it your way. Just watch for a place to land."
Kathleen eyed Harry closely. He stared straight ahead, ignoring her.
When they dropped free of the clouds, there was nothing to see but smooth, white plains. Not a tree, nor a river, nothing interrupted the blanket of ice and snow for hundreds of kilometers. After flying for a time, finally, in the distance, the jagged edges of mountains rose against a gray sky.
"Getting a little low on fuel," observed Kathleen.
"We'll get there."
"Get where, Harry? We're coming up on those mountains pretty quick..."
"Look for a river, flowing water. We'll follow it up."
"What is it with you and the mountains? From the looks of things, one place looks about as good as another for a landing."
Harry pointed. "Does that look like a river to you?"
Kathleen followed his gaze and indeed saw a river flowing at the bottom of a valley. She glanced at Harry. Harry paid no mind and continued to fly the shuttle up the river's path. Soon, they were off the snow-covered plains and flying through mountainous canyons. On either side, ice-covered cliffs rose to grand heights. To keep from watching the dropping fuel gauge, Kathleen looked out the windows for signs of life. So far, it appeared to be a dead planet. If not dead, then at least thoroughly frozen.
The shuttle followed the river around a series of cliffs. Without warning, patches of green appeared, sticking out of bare rock. Below, the river was no longer an icy trickle, rather it flowed full and strong. In another moment, they saw why. It drained from a lake that dominated the center of a deep valley. Steam rose from one end of the lake, giving evidence to volcanic activity. In contrast to the surrounding snow and ice, vegetation grew liberally all around.
Harry pointed. "Heat from volcanic vents." He pointed to the shoreline. "Vegetation." He pointed again. "Animal life." Startled by the sound of the shuttle, a flock of birds rose from the water.
Kathleen took another look at the fuel gauge. "Harry," she said, "Where are we going to set down?"
"I'm working on that. Looks like several places along the lake would be suitable."
"Well, let's get this thing down before we run out of fuel."
"All right. Here we go." Harry slowed their airspeed and came in over the lake toward an area of flat ground. A few birds lifted from the ground, but other than that, there was no other sign of life.
The shuttle set down without a hitch. Harry turned off the engines and checked the rescue beacon. "Signal going out nice and strong," he announced. "Plenty of oxygen, nothing toxic in the air. It's cold, but we'll be toasty in here."
Kathleen looked out and watched steam rise from the lake. "This may be the only place on the entire planet that's above freezing."
"I don't know. If there's one thermal vent, there are probably others as well."
"Well, it's the only place we've seen." She looked at Harry. "How did you know?"
Harry shrugged. "Intuition."
"Harry, what are you keeping from me?"
"Nothing," Harry insisted, "you know as much as I do."
"Normally, I'd agree with you, but..."
"Look Kath', we're down and we're safe. We have plenty of provisions and we have shelter. All we have to do is wait. What difference does it make how I knew?"
"Why do you want to keep it from me?"
"I'm not. I told you, it was just a hunch."
She didn't press it any further. There was too much to be done to ensure their survival. First, they had to take stock of their immediate surroundings and get used to gravity again. But how did Harry know?
The lake wasn't completely ice-free. At places along the edges, an ice shelf ran out over the water. The surrounding land was also spotted with ice and snow. Vegetation grew in spurts and clumps. As it turned out, although the water contained sulfur traces, it was fresh and, as Harry discovered, it contained a variety of aquatic life.
For the first full day, Kathleen practically kept her ear glued to the subspace receiver, listening to nothing but white noise. Harry went outside but stayed close to the shuttle. The birds had disappeared, but he found small, fluorescent, krill-like creatures in the water that shined at night as well as a number of animal tracks leading to the water's edge. Kathleen dutifully recorded the data and stored the information in the shuttle's computer memory.
At dawn on the second day, Kathleen announced she was bored. Harry chewed on a protein bar and looked out the window.
"Once I read about a group of people in the twentieth century who crashed in the mountains. Somewhere in the Andes, I think. Anyway, as it turned out, they were stranded for months, if you can believe it. I wonder what they did to entertain themselves?"
"I know what you're talking about. They ended up eating each other."
"Out of boredom?"
"No, because they were hungry."
"Good thing we've got plenty of food."
Harry chuckled. "Don't worry, you're too tough."
Kathleen sighed. "I'm bored."
"Me too. Why don't we do something?"
"Well, I'll just run out and rent a video."
Harry turned from the window. "Come on, Kath', let's go outside and see what we can see. This is a big valley. We know there's life here. Let's pack a few things, go out and take a look. Have a picnic. What do you say?"
"We're safe here."
"That never stopped you before."
"Oh, all right, let's go for a walk." With a sigh, Kathleen stood and began pulling on a regulation parka.
Harry felt good. The headaches had stopped and there had been no further dreams, incidents, or whatever the hell they were. Quite the contrary, his senses felt heightened, especially to smell. His appetite had grown. Even the protein bars tasted good.
Once outside, he turned an eye to the squatty trees that grew among the patches of ice. There were plenty of places for animals to hide. Indeed, Harry seemed to sense that life was out there somewhere. After spending so much time in the close confines of the cruiser and then being cooped up in the smaller shuttle, Kathleen was also glad to be outside.
"All right. Which way?"
Harry grinned. "Tha
t's the spirit. Let's use the thermal sensors to look for more heat venting. If there are more fissures, I'm sure we'll find wildlife. We'll take some pictures and be back in time for dinner."
The plan sounded all right to Kathleen. "Lead on," she said.
Harry took the lead. He watched the readings from his thermal sensors and almost immediately detected volcanic activity directly ahead. On a ridge, a quarter of a kilometer away, a pair of simian eyes watched the two humans as they left the safety of the shuttle and walked away, leaving tracks in the snow.
Chapter 3
Air temperature was freezing but since there was no wind, the dry air didn't seem especially cold. Clumps of ice lay between the stumpy trees. There was little other vegetation besides lichens, algae, and one particular species of hardy, bushy plant.
As Harry predicted, they soon came upon another geological fissure. Steam rose from it and the surrounding ground was scorched clean. At a distance of ten meters from the fissure, grass and brush sprouted like crazy. At thirty meters, the vegetation thinned out again.
The more Harry saw, the more certain he was that the entire planet was suffering through a sudden shift in climate, perhaps the onset of an ice age. Without extensive tests and geological surveys, he couldn't be sure.
He looked over the icy ground and spotted another steam plume.
"Do you see that?"
"Yes. Shall we go that way?"
"Sure." Harry stopped to inspect a set of tracks that crossed a patch of snow.
"Find something?"
"Uh-huh."
Kathleen walked back and stooped beside Harry. "A big cat."
"A real big cat."
Both looked around. Harry lowered his voice. "These tracks don't look particularly fresh."
"I don't know, Harry, they look plenty fresh to me. Looks like they're headed to the next plume. Now I wish I'd worn my body armor."
Harry pulled a stun gun from his belt and checked the weapon. It registered a full charge. Kathleen did the same with her weapon.
There was barely time to take a step before Kathleen announced she had a reading on her motion detector. "Thirty, thirty-one, thirty-three meters and moving away to the south."
"Let's head back."
Kathleen didn't argue. Like Harry, she'd been impressed by the size of the tracks. "Same way we came?"
Harry looked backward. "Oh, I guess we don't have to go back exactly the same way. We can veer away from this thing, put a little distance between us and it."
"Sounds fine to me. I hate cats."
"You hate cats? I didn't know that."
Kathleen shrugged.
"We had a cat," Harry said. "My mother hated it, but she let us keep it anyway. One day we found it dead under the porch and Mom cried about it."
"But she got another one, I know, I've visited your mother's condo before."
"You don't like my mother's cat?"
"No. I'm allergic to cats."
In amazement, Harry repeated himself. "I never knew that."
"Well, it's true. Whenever one's around my nose runs like it's doing now." She suddenly sneezed. "That's what happens when one gets really close."
The motion detectors sprang to life.
"We've got company."
Kathleen turned in time to see a large catlike creature cross the path behind them. There were dark stripes over pale yellow and beneath the skin moved large, well-defined muscle. Its snout scowled over six-inch fangs; slitted eyes turned their way.
"Don't run," said Harry, "that'll make it attack for sure." He sniffed the air. A thought came from nowhere and he understood that the feline was hungry, starving in fact, and that it was the last of its kind.
Its musky odor drifted to him and the sense of familiarity with the animal dramatically increased. In a flash, Harry knew the creature as if he'd been with it all its life. Presently, it was full of instinct and hunger. A dangerous combination in any species.
The thing kept its distance, apparently sizing up its prey. Kathleen and Harry were only able to catch fleeting glimpses, but they saw enough to realize it was the largest cat either of them had ever seen; easily large enough to kill them both and eat them whole.
Harry had no doubt that was the creature's intention.
Kathleen motioned for Harry to follow. She led him on a path that took them in the opposite direction from the beast as Harry kept an eye on the trail behind. The wind picked up, bringing gusts of snow with it.
Harry could still feel the big cat in his mind. He felt the snowflakes as they fell on the creature's backside. When the cat sniffed the air, Harry recognized the scent it followed -- it was Kathleen and himself.
Slowly, Harry became aware of another presence, faintly familiar, something that didn't want to be seen just yet. Like the cat, it too was hungry, but even stronger than its hunger was its curiosity. It was unlike the animal that stalked Kathleen and himself. Instead, it was intelligent, sentient, it was...
The odor of the big cat came to Harry again, covering Harry's awareness of the second presence.
"It's close," he whispered.
There was a gust of snow that obscured the trail for an instant. When it was gone, the creature stood in the middle of the path. If there was ever a giant, saber-toothed tiger, this was what it had to look like. Both Kathleen and Harry froze in their tracks. Kathleen slowly raised her gun and sighted down the barrel.
"Don't shoot. It's not going to attack. It wants to, but it won't."
"And why not?"
"We don't need to kill it." Harry insisted. "It's hungry, but it's afraid. It'll maintain its distance, at least for the moment."
The creature sniffed the air and sauntered away
Kathleen sighed. "All right. I'm beginning to feel like Dr. Watson playing to your Sherlock Holmes."
Harry lifted a finger to his lips. "There's something else here."
Kathleen looked around. "Another cat?"
"No, not a cat."
"What then?"
Harry concentrated and tried unsuccessfully to dredge up the form of the second creature from the depths of his mind. It wasn't working. "I don't know," he admitted.
"What is going on with you? Is it the kitzloc thing?"
Harry stared back and knew she was wondering if he was losing his mind.
"I'm not going crazy. At least, I don't think so."
The big cat growled, closer than before. Heavier now, the snow continued to fall. It stuck to Harry's head and shoulders, making him look older than his years. Likewise, Kathleen was quickly developing a white mane.
"Let's get back. It's getting cold."
"I'm all for it, Harry, but that thing is between us and the shuttle and I don't think it's going to let us go around without a fight."
Harry knew it would be a simple task to shoot and kill the creature, but he didn't want to do that. After all, the thing was the last of its kind. He wanted to tell Kathleen so she would understand. But she wouldn't. She would want to know how he knew and he couldn't tell her because he didn't know himself. It was the kitzloc thing, there was no doubt about it. If he told her about the images that came to him, she would assume he was going insane. And she just might be right.
He squinted through the falling snow and saw the giant feline as it stalked between mounds of snow. Survival was on its mind, growing to a fever pitch. If he and Kathleen didn't get to the shuttle soon, it would overcome its fear and attack.
It showed itself again and Kathleen glanced at Harry. She adjusted her stun gun, elevating the discharge power into the lethal range.
"I'm sorry, Harry. We have no choice." She leveled the weapon at the creature, aiming for its skull, but before she could get off the shot, a high-pitched whistle rose, rising above the wind until the piercing sound passed out of hearing range. The cat pitched itself to the ground and rubbed its ears with great, taloned paws. In agony, it rolled in the snow, seeking relief from the stabbing pain in its ears.
For an instant,
the whistle stopped, then started up again, rising in pitch until, as before, it passed out of range for human ears. The cat still heard it, though, and obviously didn't like it. Unable to stand it any longer, the giant feline jumped to its feet and loped away in the snow. In seconds, the starving creature was out of sight.
The whistling ceased. Both Kathleen and Harry looked for its source. There was nothing but the accumulating snow.
"What was that?" asked Kathleen.
Harry shook his head and placed a finger in his ear. "That hurt."
As if someone had pointed it out to him, Harry looked at a snow-covered lump he had first taken for a group of bushes. Now he saw that something else was there, concealing itself in the sparse surroundings. Whatever it was, it remained rockstill. Harry took a step forward.
To their surprise, a portion moved and snow fell from two arms. Slowly, it lowered a seashell from its lips. It kneeled to the ground and more snow fell away. One hand felt in the snow as the other wiped snow from its face. When it found its spear, it stood and faced the humans.
Kathleen looked at Harry in disbelief. "Harry," she said, "it's a Bedoran."
Neither Harry nor Kathleen could tell much about him. He was an adult male, thin and slightly stooped. Of course, thin and stooped described most Bedorans. It had been fifteen years since they had seen one of the simian race. For a second, both Harry and Kathleen were speechless. Finally, Kathleen broke the silence.
"Looks like you won your bet."
"Uh-huh."
For a long while, the Bedoran stood motionless and merely watched the two humans. Finally, he turned and signaled with his tail. Another mound of snow came to life and a Bedoran of similar size stepped out and shook off the snow. The scene was repeated several times until Harry and Kathleen were surrounded by a group of ten.
Harry took a step and, taking care not to make eye contact, issued the standard Bedoran greeting, minus the tail signs. The reaction was instantaneous. Ten simian jaws dropped in wonder. Harry waited for an appropriate reply before speaking again. At first, the Bedorans said nothing. They let their tails do the talking and they signaled to one another excitedly.