The Mystery of Ireta

by Anne McCaffrey

  However, if this expedition were genuine—the urgent need for the transuranics was a chronic condition in the FPS—then someone, if not their own ARCT-10 EV, would strip the message from the beamer satellite and take the appropriate action of returning to Ireta to extract the all-important ores and minerals and, incidentally, rescue them. The positive thought encouraged Kai, and he employed the rest of the trip by formulating messages; first to the Thek and then for the long-distance capsule. No, he’d only the one capsule. Two large deposits did not really constitute cause for dispatching it. So, first he could frame a message for his next contact with the Thek about the old cores, and the uranium deposits. He would hold the ldc until he could justify its trip. He’d no genuine cause for alarm, apart from a vague suspicion of an aging cartographer.

  To his surprise, the heavy-worlders, who had left the site considerably before him to return by lift-belt, had not arrived at the compound. The other sleds had all returned safely. The youngsters were cosseting Dandy while Lunzie watched. She used her overseeing as an excuse not to answer the importunities of Portegin and Aulia for more joy juice. He saw neither Varian nor Trizein and had decided she must be in the xenochemist’s laboratory in the shuttle when the heavy-worlders, in their neat formation, came swooping in from the north. The north? He started toward the veil lock to ask Paskutti about such a detour when Varian hailed him from the shuttle. She sounded excited so he hurried over, leaving Paskutti till another time.

  “Kai, Trizein thinks he knows why the fliers must need the grasses,” she said when he got near enough. “The stuff is full of carotene . . . vitamin A. They must need it for eyesight and pigmentation.”

  “Odd that they’d have to go such a distance for a basic requirement.”

  “But it substantiates my hunch that the pentadactyls are not indigenous to this world.”

  Kai was lifting his foot through the iris and stopped, grabbing at the sides to balance himself.

  “Not indigenous? What in the name of raking . . . what do you mean? They have to be indigenous. They’re here.”

  “They didn’t originate here,” and Varian gestured him to come into the shuttle. “Further, those parallelograms I saw today aren’t even vaguely arthropods, which would fit in with the vertebrates we’ve discovered like the herbivores, predators and even the fliers.”

  “You’re not making any sense.”

  “I am. This planet isn’t. You don’t find animals forced to go hundreds of kilometers from their proper environment to acquire a dietary necessity. What is essential to them is generally supplied right where they live!”

  “Now, wait a minute, Varian. Think. If your pentadactyls are not indigenous, they were brought here. Who, why would anyone want to relocate animals as large as that predator or your Mabel?”

  She regarded him steadily, as if she expected him to know the answer to his question.

  “You should know. They’ve already tipped us off. The Theks, slow-top,” she said with some asperity when he remained silent. “The inscrutable Theks. They’ve been here before. They left those seismic devices.”

  “That makes no sense, Varian.”

  “It makes a lot of sense.”

  “What reason could the Theks possibly have for such an action?”

  “They’ve probably forgotten,” Varian said, grinning mischievously. “Along with the fact that they’d surveyed this planet before.”

  They had reached Trizein’s lab and he was contemplating the enlarged image of some fibers.

  “Of course, we’d need to have one of those avians of yours, Varian, to discover if it requires carotene,” Trizein was saying as if he didn’t realize that Varian had left the lab.

  “We’ve Mabel,” said Varian, “and little Dandy.”

  “You’ve animals in this compound?” Trizein blinked with astonishment.

  “I told you we had, Trizein. The slides you analyzed yesterday and the day before . . .”

  “Ah, yes, I remember now,” but it was obvious to his listeners that he didn’t remember any such thing.

  “Mabel and Dandy aren’t fliers,” Kai said. “They’re completely different species.”

  “Indeed they are, but they are also pentadactyl. So is the fang-face, and he needed the grasses.”

  “Mabel and Dandy are herbivorous,” said Kai, “and the predator and the fliers aren’t.”

  Varian considered that qualification. “Yes, but generally speaking, carnivores absorb sufficient vitamin A from the animals they eat who do get it regularly in their diet.” She shook her head over the quandary. “Then fang-face wouldn’t need to go to the valley. He’d get enough from chewing Mabel’s flank. I don’t make any sense out of it—yet. Besides, the fliers may have another reason for gathering grass, as Terilla pointed out today.”

  “You’ve lost me,” said Kai, and then directed Varian’s attention to Trizein, who had gone back to his microscopic viewer and was oblivious to their presence again.

  “You’ll understand when you see the tapes we got today of those fliers, Kai. C’mon, unless you’ve got something else to do?”

  “Frame messages to the Theks, but let me see what you taped first.”

  “By the way, Kai,” said Varian, following him out of the lab, “we didn’t encounter any life forms in the vicinity of the pitchblende saddle that would cause a secondary camp there any trouble. If the camp’s set up properly, preferably on a prominence, and the force-screen posted deep, your team should be safe enough.”

  “That’s good news. Not that I think you’d’ve scared anyone off with tales of herds of fang-faces.”

  “Fang-faces, for the record, are solitary hunters.”

  They had reached the pilot cabin and Varian inserted the tape for playback, explaining her conclusions and her desire to investigate the golden-furred fliers’ colony more closely at the earliest opportunity.

  “How closely, Varian?” asked Kai. “They’re not small, and as I remember, those wings are strong and could be dangerous. I’d hate to get attacked by that beak.”

  “So would I. So I’m not going to be. I’ll go slowly, Kai, but if they’re as intelligent as the evidence suggests, I may even be able to approach them on a personal basis.” When Kai began to protest, she held up her hand. “The fliers are not stupid like Mabel, or scared like Dandy, or dangerous like fang-face. But I cannot give up the opportunity to investigate an aerial species that acts in such an organized manner.”

  “Fair enough, but do nothing on your own, co-leader. I want heavy-worlders with you at all times.”

  “You’re a friend! Did they improve with the day?”

  “I’ve never seen them so clumsy: slow, yes, but never plain raking grease-fingered. Paskutti and Tardma dropped one of the seismimics down a crevice. I don’t have so many that I can spare one,” said Kai, “not if I’m to complete my survey.” He shook his head again over the loss. “I’m not blaming you, or them; but it is a nuisance. And what are we going to do about that fruit distillation? I don’t understand why it should have affected them so adversely when we weaker types had no trouble?”

  “It might not have been the drink.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Varian shrugged. “Just a notion. Nothing specific.”

  “Then let us find a specific, and have Lunzie run a few tests. It might be a mutational allergy. Say, did you send the heavy-worlders on any errands today? In the north?”

  “North? No. They were at your disposal today. Now, about the pitchblende site. You’ll be working from there again tomorrow? Okay, then I’ll send a team in for a ground check. There seem to be only smaller animals, not, as I’ve told the youngsters, that size is any indication of potential danger. What other area do you want us to check out xenobiologically as a possible secondary base?”

  Kai tapped out of the computer the print of Gaber’s chart, updated now with the pitchblende site and the old cores.

  “The shield edge is only two hundred kilometers to the nort
hwest from here, so we won’t need a secondary camp there yet. But Portegin and Aulia want to examine these lakes and go farther into this flatland area. Berru and Triv are scheduled to go due west, where there appears to be a wide continental basin. Might have petroleum pools: not as rich an energy source, naturally, but crude oil has uses. We might be able to refine enough to use as an auxiliary fuel for the . . .”

  “Kai, did anyone use the big sled for any length of time this morning?”

  “Just to reach the site. Then it was turned over to you. Why?”

  “Because its elapsed flight time is longer than it should have been. Damned thing’s due now for a power charge.”

  “So?”

  “I dunno. Just that I don’t usually make errors in my figures.”

  “We’ve enough worries, Varian, without imagining more.”

  Varian grimaced. “Like no contact with EV. Your teams’ll be expecting some acknowledgement . . .”

  “We’ve got some leeway, and I’ll use every day of it.”

  “Yes, we do have stall time, don’t we. By the way, those youngsters were very useful to me. I think I’ll opt them again when I don’t need to land,” she hastily added as she saw the objections forming in Kai’s startled face. “You might even consider,” and she grinned slyly, “taking Bonnard with you on a coring expedition.”

  “Now just a minute, Varian . . .”

  “They do say that overexposure cures a lot of fancies.”

  “True. How about helping me with that message to the Theks?”

  “Sorry, Kai, I’ve got to release Mabel, check with Lunzie and get a wash before eating.” Varian quickly opened the iris. “But I’d be happy to look over what you plan to say.”

  He made as if to throw something at her but she scampered away, laughing.

  An hour later, he was certain that Varian at her worst could have constructed a better message to the Theks. It covered the main points and requested the return information required.

  He beamed the message, confirming a contact hour two days later. It didn’t give Theks much time to meditate their answers, but he had specified only yes, no or deferred answers.

  The next day went as scheduled, the heavy-worlders restored to operating efficiency. Tardma and Tanegli did a ground survey of the densely vegetated area where small life forms had been telltagged by Varian and the youngsters. The creatures had maintained their anonymity but skeletal remains not yet disintegrated by insects and carrion-eaters indicated that, while carnivorous, the creatures were probably nocturnal hunters and not large enough to constitute a real danger. Further, they were unlikely to be caught so far from their own territory as the secondary camp. Kai spent the afternoon with Dimenon and Margit choosing a site. It was decided that Portegin and Aulia could also use the camp for their westerly investigations.

  Lunzie told Kai and Varian confidentially that the heavy-worlders ought to have had a higher tolerance for the fruit drink than the light-grav or ship-bred. She couldn’t understand their reactions. However, she did not recommend rationing or watering the potion. She could bring the heavy-worlders in for a routine physical, which, she allowed, was a good idea for every member of the expedition, to check on any allergic tendencies or subtle infections acquired since planet-fall.

  That evening Lunzie supplied enough of the fruit drink to make the evening extremely convivial. The heavy-worlders drank no more than anyone else, laughed infrequently as was their habit and retired when everyone else did. The following day there was no impairment of their efficiency, which increased the mystery of their behavior that first evening.

  The contact hour with the Theks was duly kept by Kai. Varian arrived halfway through the ponderous and slowly delivered reply.

  “No” was the answer to his questions about messages being stripped from the satellite and contact with the EV. He received the expected deferred answer concerning any knowledge of a previous survey and the discovery of the old cores. “Excellent” was their response to news of the pitchblende deposit, with “continue” added. To his comment that he had heard from the Ryxi, he got an acknowledgment. The Theks were reputedly tolerant of all species in a benevolent, impartial way, but Kai was left with the feeling that the Theks couldn’t care less if the Ryxi maintained contact.

  He was of two minds about their deferred answer on a previous survey. On one hand, he’d half hoped they could find a previous reference, though how they could, out of contact with their own kind and EV’s data banks, he didn’t know. On the other hand, he would have been obscurely relieved if they had proved their fallibility. Yet, if this case did shatter their reputation, something stable and secure would be lost forever to him.

  “So they don’t know,” said Varian, blatantly pleased.

  “Not actively at any rate,” he replied, quite willing to take the Thek part to offset his mental disloyalty. “Of course, there are only several million planets in the universe on which life of some sort has evolved . . .”

  “So we’re constantly informed, but our sphere of interest is currently limited to this one stinking ball of earth. By the way, in order to set up your secondary camp, we’re going to have to formulate a few plans,” said Varian. “According to the old core pattern, the shield runs about two thousand kilometers in a long point to the southeast. That makes commuting back here unfeasible. I want to take Tanegli, Paskutti, Tardma and Lunzie and check out that area.” She unrolled area charts, some of the topographical features already marked out in Gaber’s neat draftsmanship. Over these were wash colors, the key at the side. “I’ve keyed it here to territorialities of the beasts we’ve tagged. I think the guide is adequate, but there is so much animal life in this area,” and she indicated the plateau and rain forest just beyond the dead perimeters of the camp, “that I’ve only bothered with the big and dangerous ones. Here’s a spot frame of each type we’ve observed enough to identify as herbivorous, carnivorous or omnivorous. As you can see, we’ve a ways to go before we’ve done even the most superficial cataloguing.” She tapped vast areas of the outlined land mass which were pristine. “Here there be dragons!” she added in a fruity voice.

  “Dragons?”

  “Well, that’s what the antique cartographers would say when they didn’t know a binary bit about the indigenous life.”

  “Any more news on which species is which here?” asked Kai.

  She shook her head, handing him several copies of the maps. “That’s not as urgent as your geological work, and you needed some sort of a guide.”

  “This map is terrific, Varian. I thought you’d been out with your teams . . .”

  “No, I sent them to get me this information and fill in some of the nearby gaps in our survey. Terilla and I collaborated on the composite.”

  “Terilla did these with you?” Impressed, Kai was poring over the charts.

  “Yes, indeed. I know the youngsters were sort of dumped on us at the last moment, but I wish someone had thought to give us their records. Terilla’s been a real find, and she could have been apprenticed right off to Gaber and kept him from falling so far behind. He even approves of her work.” Varian grinned saucily at Kai. “You’ll be relieved to hear that Bonnard’s interest has been transferred.”

  “To Dandy? Or Mabel? In either case I am flattered.”

  “Mabel’s long gone. No, Bonnard is aiming to get on my expedition to the golden fliers.”

  “At least he picks something demonstrably intelligent.”

  “I never said he didn’t have good taste.”

  “Varian!”

  “When’s the contact with the Ryxi?”

  “This afternoon at 1530 hours. If they remember.”

  “We do have problems with memory this trip, don’t we? The Ryxi remembering to speak to us, the Theks remembering to think and EV remembering to get in touch with us. Well, back to my hot drawing board . . .” She started out of the pilot cabin. “Oh, hello, Gaber . . .”

  “Varian, did you take all my chart copies?
”

  “Only the one Terilla was working on. Why?”

  “I didn’t know. I just didn’t know and I was . . .”

  “I did tell you, Gaber, but I guess you were so deep in the tape you didn’t hear me. Sorry about that. I’ve given Kai copies, and I’m on my way back to your lair with these right now.”

  “Oh, very well then. And, if I didn’t hear you, I am sorry.”

  To Kai, Gaber did not sound the least bit sorry. Kai went back to studying the patterns of animals. The biggest herbivores, like Mabel and three other large types, could be found all through the rain forests, with their probable passages through the mountain ranges neatly designated by tiny drawings of the beasts. The predators, like fang-face, hunted singly: only one pair had been discovered, and they had been involved in a ferocious battle, which had deteriorated, in Paskutti’s words, into a mating. The scope of the charts was hampered by the large uncharted areas, over which had been laid a transparency, indicating the general topographical features as seen by the initial cursory probe.

  They had been concentrating on the relatively cooler portion of the shield mass, since the polar region was much hotter than the equatorial due to the hotter thermal core of the planet. They would soon have to penetrate those steaming jungles, a task Kai did not relish. The proliferation and diversity of life forms would be incredible in such warmth, Varian had warned him during their shipboard briefing sessions. The lush tropical jungles nourished life, provided quantities of food, as well as immense competition for any and all edible substances. In cooler climates, though Ireta could not boast a very temperate zone, there tended to be fewer species, since the food supply was limited by the more severe conditions of life.