The Mystery of Ireta

by Anne McCaffrey

  He’d bet anything that Varian was worried about the Ryxi coming to Ireta and “investigating” her giffs. He could understand that in her. What he found harder to comprehend was her attitude toward the mutineers’ descendants. Descendants? Survivors? Precolonists? Of course, that could just be a matter of shaking off the personality Lunzie had created as a protection for the ruse. But Varian was planet-bred and so she might sympathize with any successful implantation whereas he, ship-bred, had a more universal view. Or did he? Was he merely biased in another direction?

  Kai had noticed that Triv, too, seemed ambivalent to the industrious settlers. Had it not been for the solidarity of the team behind Lunzie’s suggestion to continue the geological and xenobiological surveys, Kai would have serious doubts about their loyalties.

  Odd, too, that not one of them had mentioned the ARCT-10 or expressed concern over the fate of its huge complement of sentient beings. Kai suppressed resentment. The ARCT-10 had been his home but Triv, Portegin, Lunzie, and Varian were all contract specialists, gleaned from other star systems. The ship-bred of his detachment had been Gaber, now dead, Aulia, himself, and the three children, Terilla, Cleiti, and Bonnard. He was the only one awake who considered the ARCT-10 home, so he ought not to fault his teammates.

  What had happened to the ARCT-10? To the best of Kai’s recollection, no compound ship of her size had ever been destroyed. Units had been shattered or pierced, with loss of life, but an entire compound ship? The size of a small satellite? Kai really didn’t care what happened to the heavy-worlders and their bid for Ireta. He would like to see even old Tanegli tried for mutiny. But other rich worlds lay ready for FSP to exploit—so long as his set of survivors profited. But he did want to know what had delayed the ARCT-10, where she’d been, what she’d done, why wasn’t she here, if only to heal his distressing condition. He drifted off to sleep finally, trying to rationalize the nonappearance of his ship.

  Triv lulled himself to sleep by repeating the coordinates of the finds made by the teams until he was sure he had the figures correct. At first, he had been annoyed to think that he’d be done out of the bonuses he’d anticipated from the expedition. He was much cheered to realize that something could be rescued to pay for lost time. Of course, his credit balances would have appreciated during cold sleep. As long as his whereabouts were uncertain, no credit organization could disperse his holdings. He amused himself by calculating the current balance at forty-three years’ accumulated and compound interest. Having made few personal ties anywhere, Triv was not especially bothered by the elapsed decades. So long as his monies appreciated with interest, and he collected a just percentage of the wealth that was obviously to be mined on Ireta, he was satisfied.

  He heard a soft scraping noise and turned his head slightly. Kai again. He experienced a fleeting sympathy for the man that only proved to Triv how right he was to avoid attachments of any kind. Pretty soon now, if the Iretan prospects lived up to his expectations and he could live off the interest of his credit balance, he’d find himself one of the less frequented planets, a soft leisurely world. He’d link up with some obliging person to attend his physical needs and then he’d do whatever he fancied, when he fancied it. Meanwhile, a geologist with his ratings, a Disciple as well, never lacked assignments.

  Although Portegin was somewhat relieved that Aulia was not going to be awakened, it irritated him, too. He knew her faults, but they worked well as a team and they got on even better as a pairing. He was beginning to miss her now he was fully revived from the cold sleep. Then he brightened at a second thought: Aulia would be much more likely to contract with him since they were contemporaries. She’d really have difficulty forming a new relationship among those her subjective age.

  Portegin was still irked by Lunzie’s manipulations. He’d never said she could tinker with his mind, no matter if she had Kai’s and Varian’s consent. He was aware that Adepts never misused their abilities, which was why so few were allowed to attain that rank, but her interference rankled. In fact, the only good to come out of the day had been the assurance that they wouldn’t lose out on mineral and ore bonuses. He wondered if Kai and Varian would go for stretching their subjective time a little, say, back three or four years; one got only subsistence rate for being asleep on an assignment, no matter the reason. He wished Kai would get settled, even though the man was trying to be considerate, moving slowly. Too considerate, because his slow deliberate attempts to cut down noise made the process longer. Lunzie hadn’t so much as stirred since she lay down.

  Portegin had to admire the medic. Not for a single moment had he suspected her of being more than just a healer. He drifted into unconsciousness while calculating possible totals to his bonuses.

  Lunzie didn’t move because her mind had commanded her body to relax while she reviewed the day’s achievements: satisfactory on many counts—though Varian’s obvious attraction to the settler, Aygar, might become a problem. Distract Varian with the giffs, put her on her professional mettle to protect that species. Lunzie actually shared the girl’s reluctance to have the Ryxi learn overmuch about the golden fliers. A most remarkable species, those giffs. It would be very interesting to discover how they, and the immense herbivores and grotesque predators of Mesozoic Terra, got to Ireta. All too pat, this planet so perfect for the continuation of a totally useless series of beings. The planet was rife with anomalies. Puzzles pleased Lunzie, especially if she solved them in advance of anyone else. This assignment was generating more riddles than she had ever encountered before. A routine assignment, huh? She ran through her probabilities again and decided that she had a better than average chance of pulling a hat trick. Then she chuckled silently at her unconscious use of such an anachronism. Space helmet trick? Well, she oughtn’t to be greedy: that led to overconfidence, a state of mind which imperiled more than it aided. Two successes would mollify the Council of Adepts. However, if the two most important aspects of the assignment ended satisfactorily, it was logical to assume that the others would as well. Aware that she could juggle variations and probabilities all night and not fathom half the ramifications possible in this set of circumstances—and that without allowing for random factors—Lunzie initiated the hypnotic sequence that would end in sleep.

  The next morning, after a potent breakfast stew, Lunzie took the four-man sled back to the giff cave. Varian went off with Portegin in one of the smaller sleds, combining both xenob and geological scouting. Triv went prospecting in an area where the radiation counter had begun chattering at the end of the previous day’s swing.

  Kai couldn’t keep his eagerness to inspect the find out of his voice but in his weakened condition, he was more useful as duty officer. And he was kept busier than anticipated for the reason that they lacked materials on which to keep notes and mark coordinates. However, as the campsite contained a level area of packed dirt, Kai used a sharp stick to inscribe the figures as they were called in, plus whatever additional notes were relayed. On the other side of the path from his message board, he began working on as detailed a map of Ireta as he could call to mind. He started with his recollection of the basement rock area which was unlikely to have changed much in elapsed forty-three years. As he sketched, Kai grinned to himself. The others could fault Tor the Thek as much as they wished, but to him, the fact that the Thek had come to Ireta in search of the long-lost core of obvious Thek manufacture was a personal triumph. If the artifact had not been so significant to the Thek, Kai was certain that Tor would have remained. But why had it taken forty-three years to rouse the Thek to investigate?

  Kai marked in the immense northeastern plain where the butte formations had caused them to place the secondary camp. He was tempted to place pebbles to signify the rocky outcroppings. He wasn’t sure of the terrain leading to the settlement, but Triv said it was probably a raised sea bed of geologically recent upheaval. Quite likely, since it would have been beyond the “safer” basement area, at the edge of one set of the planet’s restless tectonic plates. Vol
canic disturbances had been recorded in the brief time the team had been there.

  Kai had to leave the pole areas as terra incognita. Because of Ireta’s peculiar formation and its very hot thermal core, the poles were hotter than the equator and considerably more active. Massive changes might have taken place there even in a brief four decade span.

  Lunzie interrupted his cartographical labors to report her safe arrival at the cave, adding that she’d been escorted by three giffs. She had picked up sufficient vegetable fiber on her route to supply them with plenty of pulp paper, and while arousing the sleepers, she intended to make use of her spare time to experiment with juices that might make an ink. She favored the hadrasaur nut, for the shell left a stain on the fingers.

  Kai could not help but feel chagrin when he returned to his map, but then he took heart—his map was three dimensional and much larger than any paper Lunzie could manufacture. He began to make mud mountains and simulate the giffs’ inland sea, then he sited the three camps with flags made of twig and triangular purple leaves.

  Varian reported in next, about the first pitchblende deposit, interrupting his construction of the terrain. She was telltagging great herds of beasts, varieties of hadrasaur she had not previously noted, and was nearly to the Great Rift where the carotene grass grew.

  Kai returned to his work and gouged out the Rift. He was rather enjoying himself by then and was not too pleased to have his Rift-making interrupted by another summons to the comunit. It was Varian, highly excited. She’d flown across the smoking trail of recent lava flow and observed fringes large and small: some were hunting while others were folded, their thin envelopes swollen with prey.

  “Some are even attached to the big beasts. Those stupids don’t seem to know they’re being eaten alive. And there’s nothing I can do.”

  “Did you bring a stunner with you, Varian?” Kai asked.

  “Kai, we don’t have enough charges to waste . . .”

  “Don’t waste, Varian. Just see if the fringes are deterred by a stun charge.”

  “Point’s taken,” she replied in an odd tone. “I’ll use it on some animal that has a chance.” She signed off.

  How much warmth would attract a fringe, Kai wondered as he watered dirt to make a mountain range beyond the Rift. Apparently Triv and Varian had not been warm enough to attract the one at the old compound. The current campsite, erected as temporary quarters for two geologists, was going to be cramped with seven. Was that over the critical warmth mass? If it was, would fringes be deterred by a force-screen? Kai rose from his map-making and prowled the perimeter. The ground sloped away from the ridge on which the dome rested. A barren rocky outcrop several meters beyond had defeated even Ireta’s vegetation. They’d have visual warning of an attack by fringes.

  The creatures’ emergence as predators was another of Ireta’s puzzles. There hadn’t been much talk between himself and Varian. He’d been ill, of course, and she and Lunzie had done as they both saw to the advantage of the group. That was only logical. But he couldn’t shake the notion that Varian was more distant. He tried not to relate that to her encounter with Aygar and the mutineers’ descendants. He was wrong to call them that, perhaps, but the term sprang readily to mind. He must be imagining things: there was no change in Varian, merely the vestiges of the barriers that Lunzie had set for her protection.

  The buzz of the comunit was a welcome interruption. Triv reported that he had detected a high ironstone reading along a vast ridge, but his sled had flushed an unusual number of large creatures from the thick vegetation covering the ridge.

  “Not that landing for a sample would do us any good, but a sample of the rock makes a nice display until we have assay materials.” The geologist snorted. “We should have been asking for supplies from Aygar’s folk instead of offering them.”

  “They’re an iron-age technology, Triv. We want to be in the transuranics. Forget the metals: watch that counter!”

  Though Kai went back to his map, he had lost all enthusiasm for it. He had a wayward urge to trample it down into the soil from which he had raised it. He had in fact lifted one foot to obliterate the mountain when he caught sight of his bloodied fist. Startled, he examined the hand and then the other, and hastily returned to the dome to wash away the mud and examine the damage he hadn’t felt. Fortunately it was no more than scrapes and minor cuts. He was still examining his hands when the first of the sleds returned. He almost resented the intrusion on his solitude.

  No sooner had Triv parked his sled than the second, with Varian and Portegin, emerged from the evening haze. Varian halted Triv’s entrance to the veil, saying she’d a lot of fruit and bean pods to bring in. No sooner were the three inside the screen than Triv saw the relief map and would have dropped his burden had not Varian shouted. Then she and Portegin stood, arms full, exclaiming over Kai’s improvisation.

  “I’d have to check scale,” Kai said, disclaiming their fulsome compliments, “and, of course, we don’t know how the polar region or the southern tip have changed with tectonic action . . .”

  “Are you in there?” A harsh shout at the veil entrance distracted them.

  “It’s Lunzie,” Varian cried, looking hastily about her for a spot to place her burdens.

  “Come on, you three,” the medic called, “this bunch isn’t too steady on their feet yet. Kai, operate this damned veil.”

  In the excitement of welcoming Trizein, Margit, and Dimenon, Kai was relieved that Lunzie had no time to notice his hands, which he kept at his sides. Then Varian called him to help her unload the rest of her harvest while the newly awakened were made comfortable in the dome.

  “If you’ll just hold your arms out, Kai . . .” Varian stared down at the hands he obediently held upward for a load. She started to touch his scored fingers and then stopped, staring at his face. “That does it, Kai. We contact someone who can remedy this. Even a freighter will have medical files on its computer.”

  “Varian, if the Ryxi—”

  “I’ve an override to protect my own species first, Kai.” She exhaled, part in exasperation, part in anger until her eyes, avoiding his, fell on the map, its mountain mounds and the Rift outlined in the last of the westerly light. “And that’s a contribution, too!”

  She finished loading his extended arms, grinning conspiratorially at him as she artistically draped bean-pod leaves over his hands and then gave him an affectionate shove back to the dome.

  Trizein provided an almost continuous monologue on the types, probable evolutionary steps, habit, temperament, and breeding methods of all the creatures he had seen on his way from the giff cave to theirs. According to Dimenon’s amused aside, the chemist had nearly driven Lunzie to fury by his insistence that they divert the journey to follow this or that species until he had had a close enough look. He had also appropriated some of the pulp sheets Lunzie had extruded for Kai, insisting that his work would be far more important in the eyes of the FSP than any merely prodigious amount of transuranic elements. Why, the discovery of those beasts would settle for once and all an argument that had exercised centuries of paleontologists, biologists, and xenobiologists—the possibility of convergent biology, of similar life-forms evolving from cellular stews on different planets. He added, complete with wild gestures, that its happening with a third-generation sun was utterly improbable, incredible, and unlikely—as any zoologist of the lowest rating would tell you.

  Trizein continued in this vein, occasionally stopping to admire one of his many sketches, apologizing for its rudeness and correcting a line or contour, until Lunzie announced that everyone had better eat something, then shoved Trizein’s bowl under his nose.

  The man’s enthusiasm was so infectious that even Kai found himself smiling at the man’s joy.

  “You’ll go out again, tomorrow, Trizein,” Varian said, her voice bubbling with good humor. “I’ve the Rift grasses. Lunzie, do you need to synthesize—”

  “More paper at the rate Trizein’s using it up,” the medic
said with a sniff, but she’d a twinkle in her eye as well.

  “Lunzie, what did the heavy-worlders do for vitamin A if it’s so necessary to our diet?” asked Triv.

  “This is a huge continent. If there is one such area of carotene-rich grass to supply these ancient beasties of Trizein’s, undoubtedly there’s another. Divisti would have known about the need for vitamin A or they’d all have poor vision—which I gather they haven’t.” Lunzie shot a glance at Varian.

  “Portegin ought to go with you, Lunzie, and dismantle the beacon mast.” Varian had everyone’s stunned attention. “I’ve given the matter considerable thought and, if, as you suggested, the Ryxi have employed human mercenary ships and crew, that’s who’d be sent to answer any call from us. I don’t feel we can achieve enough without proper equipment. The heavy-worlders got what they wanted, and I refuse to see us deprived of more than time.”

  “More than time?” Dimenon demanded with considerable agitation.

  “That’s all so far,” Margit said blandly. “The beacon does register our finds to our credit, doesn’t it, Kai?” When Kai nodded, she went on, “So, our claims are valid—”

  “Until that colony ship settles,” Lunzie said. Her tenacity to that theme was beginning to puzzle Kai. She turned to Varian then and said, “I doubt that a Ryxi would answer a call from here. What’s his feather—” and she wound her hand in the air as a memory aid, looking at Kai.