The Death of Wisdom

by Paul Brunette

  "Mighty thoughtful," Coeur said, sitting down on a Hiver stool at the satellite panel. "Computer, put me through to RCS Hornet."

  "Stand by, please," the computer said, exhibiting the same emotion simulation previously demonstrated in Florence. "Contact established."

  "Hornet, this is Red Sun. Do you read?"

  "Roger, Red Sun," Deep Six answered. "Cyro would like to speak with you."

  "Put her through."

  "Red Sun," Gyro said a moment later, "do you copy?"

  "I copy. And I understand you toasted a bogie."

  "That's a big affirmative, Red Sun. We picked up a bogie in a crazy elliptical orbit a few minutes ago, but it wouldn't send IFF, and Sixer clearly detected radiation from a nuclear warhead, so—under the circumstances— I felt it was a hazard to navigation."

  "Absolutely," Coeur agreed, "although I hope you ID'd her positively before you fired."

  "Yes, sir. She wasn't a manned spacecraft."

  "As long as you're certain. Listen, Gyro, I've got a special mission for you."

  "Go ahead."

  "A few minutes ago, we were back in the forest, looking for George—who we think we found. We also found some tracks suggesting humans operating grav belts in the area. Since it's way the hell in the middle of nowhere, they must have staged from a base somewhere. Keep your eyes peeled for anything suspicious, particularly on the far side of the planet the Hiver satellite doesn't cover."

  "Like an air raft power plant? That could be a big job."

  "We'll try to narrow down the search area from our end," Coeur said. "But anyway, it's not like Ra's covered with high-power generators. As far as we know, the SDB support base has two air rafts at Port Adrian, and the nest has 10 air rafts—none of which are flying because their flight crews are incapacitated. That and our tank are the only grav vehicles that should be on the planet."

  "And our two grav belts."

  Coeur grinned.

  "You think you can spot a 20-kilowatt grav belt battery from orbit?"

  "Probably, not, skipper."

  "Me neither. That's why i'd rather you focus on air rafts and other larger targets."

  "Understood, sir."

  "Apprise me if you see anything significant. Seabridge Nest out."

  Dusk was falling when the Federal relief column finally arrived, a noisy line of 20 diesel trucks and jeeps led by a platoon of five track-laying tanks.

  "I think I heard 'em coming about a kilometer away," Coeur said to Drop Kick, as they marched out to meet the lead vehicle at the bridge across the River Tarn.

  "I'd say more like five kilometers," the Marine said, "but I have better sensors,"

  Spotting the bulky form of Drop Kick's battle dress in its spotlight, the forward tank ground to a halt on the sturdy wooden bridge, perhaps 50 meters in front of the Coalition personnel. When the turret hatch was thrown up, a trooper in full CBW dress popped his head out.

  "Bet that makes Captain Pratt feel pretty good," Drop Kick said softly, "Come on' Coeur said, "let's go talk to 'em."

  Not surprisingly, the column commander was not in the lead tank. Rather, he was an officer who strode up from a jeep behind the tanks, accompanied by an adjutant in a matching C8W suit.

  "Colonel Banner," he announced, handing his orders to Coeur. "84th Logistical Battalion."

  "Captain D'Esprit," Coeur answered, "and Sgl. Maj, Escher, of the RC,"

  "I understand you've taken charge of this operation."

  "We're lending technical support to the nest," Coeur said, examining the orders.

  "Well, you're RC, so you're in charge as far as the governor's concerned. Where would you like us to offload the cargo?"

  "Let me see," Coeur said. "You've got 2000 liters of water, a modular field hospital, and a tonne of medicine. Is that correct?"

  "Affirmative."

  "How about over by those cargo crates on the tarmac?"

  "Over where the MPs are? Sounds fine. You'll have to set up the hospital yourselves though.''

  "You on a schedule?"

  "That we are, captain. Governor Bryce has ordered us to evacuate all civilians within a hundred kilometers of the nest."

  "We weren't aware the local humans had suffered any ill effects," Drop Kick said.

  "I don't know anything about that, sergeant," the colonel said. "I just take orders. You going to let us pass?"

  "Yes, sir," Coeur said, handing the colonel back his orders and letting him return to his jeep. After getting out of the lead tank's way with Coeur, Drop Kick then pointed to its driver and signaled him to move on with a twirl of his forearm, "Move along' Drop Kick said, as the column got back under way, rumbling past toward the cargo already unloaded by Hornet.

  "Just as a point of curiosity," Coeur asked Drop Kick, after the last vehicle passed, "could we take on one of those tanks in the support sled?"

  "Let's see, facing an AP round from an 80mm cannon—probably. Just as long as we kept it in front of us."

  "Our side armor's really that bad?"

  "It's about as thick as the plate on this battle dress," Drop Kick observed.

  "Just keep reminding me of that," Coeur said, "in case we ever go into combat."

  "Don't worry, sir. The first time the armor is penetrated by a small-caliber round, you'll remember."

  The area Drop Kick found for their evening meeting turned out to be one familiar to all of them—Physic's lab. Since an open area existed around the central elevator, and the radio link to Hornet was there, it was clearly the best place in all the nest for an evening briefing. With the provision of seven human and three Hiver chairs, arranged in a circle before the elevator, the location was complete.

  Four hours after the Wilburton column arrived, and two hours after it left, the entire Coalition party of seven gathered on the third floor of the hospital, together with M. Dina, Captain Pratt, and Florence the robot. All of them, with the exception of Pratt and Florence, wore vac suits or battle dress—a situation that positively perturbed the MP, Though assured by Dina that his security troops were safe from infection, the sight of the Wilburton logistical battalion unloading its supplies in sealed rubber suits had not reassured Pratt of his safety.

  "I'm just worried, that's all Pratt said. "I mean, what if this bug does kill humans?"

  "Captain," Physic said, crossing her legs despite the bulk of her vac suits legs, "I've got good news for you— for all of us really: I'm 99.9 percent sure the virus is harmless to humans. I'm so sure, in fact..."

  Gasps issued from the other humans in the circle of chairs as Physic unsealed her helmet and set in her lap.

  "...that I'm taking off this stupid vac suit. Can't handle lab equipment anyway, with it on,"

  Staggered by Physic's action, the humans only later came to appreciate that she was wrinkling her nose at some unpleasant smell in the lab.

  "Physic," Coeur said, leaning forward, "are you certain? Have you actually isolated the virus?"

  "Not quite, but I've identified it as well as I can. Five'll getcha ten it's Hiver Folgorex II."

  That esoteric bit of information wasn't quite enough to make the other humans join Physic in doffing their helmets.

  "What is Hiver Folgorex II?" Coeur asked.

  "That," the doctor said, "is a long story, but I'll try to keep it short.

  "A long time ago—thousands of years—the K'kree and the Hivers had a war, and one of the K'kree weapons was Hiver Folgorex I, That's a virus all of us in my business know about, because antibodies to the Hiver Folgorex bug are still floating around in the Hiver system.

  "As biological warfare agents go, this one wasn't spectacular—but then there aren't many BW agents that kill Hivers effectively since their immune systems are so tough. According to a rumor that I heard back in medical school, the Solomani later picked up on the relative effectiveness of this bug and re-engineered it for increased lethality, creating Hiver Folgorex II. That—I'm fairly certain—is what's killing this nest. At any rate, it's so
specialized for killing Hivers that it's completely inert in human tissue."

  "So it's safe to take off our suits?" Coeur asked.

  "Red Sun, you could eat a culture of that virus and It wouldn't harm you."

  "Well, all right," Coeur said, breaking the seal on her own helmet and taking it off. That prompted the Marines to follow her lead, though they were no more pleased than Coeur by the predominant odor form downstairs— the stink of dying Hivers, "Ooh," Mercy said, "what a stench."

  "Actually, it's not so bad," Whiz Bang said, "after smelling myself for ten hours."

  "At any rate," Coeur interjected, "how long will it take for you to isolate the virus and synthesize a vaccine?"

  Though weary from a long day's work, Physic still made an involuntary "ha!"

  "I take it that isn't an immediate likelihood."

  "You could say that, skipper. The virus has a protein sheath that mutates very quickly, so even when I do isolate a sample, you can bet that other mutant strains will be resistant to any vaccine I concoct."

  "Is there anything we can do to assist you?" Dina asked.

  "Not really. I'll just have to grind out the research in the lab."

  'Time is limited," Coeur reminded the doctor. "If that Hiver freighter that left here last week was infected, thousands of Hivers on other worlds could already be dying."

  "If I may interrupt," Scissor said, "we may have more time than you think."

  "What do you mean?" Coeur asked.

  "This afternoon," Scissor said, "Bonzo and Whiz Bang brought us the body and effects of George, which we proceeded to study. Based on that study, we believe that the virus may have an incubation period as long as two months."

  "Wait a minute," Drop Kick said. "Physic just said she hasn't even isolated the virus. How could you two nail down its incubation period?"

  "By deductive reasoning," Dina explained.

  "Yes," Scissor agreed.

  "Please," Coeur said, "explain,"

  "George," Scissor said, "was a collector of local flora; that we knew. The research log in his personal computer and sample case, however, give us a more detailed description of his activities.

  "Apparently, George possessed the relatively rare sense of smell, and used it extensively in his cataloguing of native plants. Indeed, he was so devoted to the discovery of new smells that he eventually moved his camp deep into the larval range, where you discovered it It was during a collecting expedition—two months ago—that he wandered up to Lake Kolima and met a pair of researchers from the University of Spiralis.

  "These individuals, allegedly named Dr, Li and Dr.

  Campos, explained that they boated down the river from Katherine Township, and captivated George's attention with their aromatic collection of exotic plants from other parts of the world. Over the last two months, they converged near the lake at least once a week, where they exchanged plant samples from their individual collections."

  "Uh-oh," Drop Kick muttered, sensing where this was headed.

  "Has anyone checked out the IDs of those researchers?" Coeur asked.

  "Affirmative Dina replied. 'The University of Spiralis does not have a Dr. Li or Dr. Campos on its staff, and never has."

  "Manipulator Dina and I," Scissor said, "therefore suspect that George was infected with the Hiver Folgorex II virus by inhaling pollen from the samples of these two individuals."

  "Well," Coeur said, "that's a start. I don't suppose he left a description of these people, though. Like whether they were male or female."

  "Negative, Red Sun. However, he did keep samples of Li and Campos' plants in his quarters. By checking with the governor's science council, we determined that all of the varieties they showed him were subarctic species originating in northern regions above 65 degrees north latitude."

  "Maybe that's where their base is," Bonzo suggested.

  "How about that?" Coeur asked Pratt. "Do many people live up there?"

  "I'm not a geography whiz," the MP admitted. "Does anybody have a map?"

  "Allow me," Florence said, dropping off its toadstool and withdrawing to one of the adjacent laboratories. A moment later she came back with a holographic display unit on rollers, radio-linked to the central nest computer from which it summoned an equal-area projection of Ra's surface, marked in Hiver ideograms.

  "This," Florence said, drawing a red line across the map below the north pole, "is 65 degrees north,"

  "Oh," Pratt said, "that area. That's just tundra and wasteland. I don't think we even have any research stations up there," The Arses and Marines exchanged meaningful looks. "Florence," Coeur said, "can you make that map show the area that's not covered by the passive EMS satellite?" "Yes, captain," the robot said, altering the map. Only the farther northern coast of the eastern continent Umbria and a single large island remained.

  "What's that island there?" Drop Kick asked. "Off Umbria."

  "That is Gypsy Island," Florence reported, "and in fact it is inhabited. There is a human science outpost there, monitoring arctic weather patterns," "Can you raise them?" Coeur asked, "In principle, yes. Shall I undertake that from the uplink in Physic's lab?"

  "Yes, do that. I'll be over in a minute." Coeur then stood up from her chair, burdened for the first time all day by the weight of the vac suit she knew was no longer necessary, "One last thing. We obviously can't share quarters with Scissor anymore, so where will we sleep?"

  "A nominal difficulty," Dina said. "Scissor can rest in the isolation chamber in the agricultural laboratory with myself and the other Hivers in vac suits."

  "I was going to offer my office and wardroom," Pratt suggested.

  "No, that's all right," Coeur said, "we'll just sleep in our modular shelter. Drop Kick, I'll assume a regular watch schedule."

  "Yes, sir."

  Suddenly, Florence called out from Physic's corner of the building.

  "Captain! Contact has been established."

  "Excuse me," Coeur said, slipping away from the other personnel and hurrying to the communications panel.

  "There's a lot of magnetic interference," Florence explained. "I don't think I can clean up the signal much."

  "That's all right," Coeur said, setting her helmet down on the comm panel console but eschewing the offer of a human cnair by the robot.

  "Gypsy Research Station, this is Coeur D'Esprit of the RC. Are you receiving?"

  Static answered, then "Roger, Seabridge., .what's up?"

  "I don't know how late it is there. Can I speak to your commanding officer?"

  "Don't have a commanding officer, Seabridge ...sponsored by Port Adrian University,, my name's Bill, if that's all right."

  "Sorry, Bill, that's fine. Look, we're assisting an investigation of an epidemic at Seabridge Nest, and we could use your help. We'd like to know if you've seen any unusual vehicle activity up there."

  "Vehicles? Not really , it is a big island though. We're out on the eastern tip, you know."

  "Understood."

  "Although...we have seen some strange lights up here...it's just nobody's given them much thought." "Understood. You mean anomalous lights?"

  "Right, stuff we don't see on radar,.,we assume its ball lightning associated with all the magnetic ore here."

  "Roger, Gypsy Station. If you do see anything unusual, say, air rafts or people in grav belts, could you let us know?"

  "Affirmative, Seabridge. One of our researchers is out in the harbor right now, collecting marine samples.,.I'll tell him to keep his eyes open."

  "Point of information, Gypsy Station. Are there many navigable harbors there?"

  "That's a negative, Seabridge..,We're set a few kilometers in from the only harbor on the island."

  "Understood, Gypsy Station. We appreciate the help. Seabridge out."

  Coeur stood quietly at the panel for a moment, thinking, Out near the elevator, the two Hivers and other humans were collected around the map of Ra, talking quietly among themselves.

  "Ball lightning?" Coeur said t
o Florence.

  "I suppose it is possible," the robot said. "Physics is not my specialty."

  "There is all that magnetic ore he mentioned. Having that around to foul sensors wouldn't hurt if you needed a place for a secret base."

  "Yes, captain."

  "Thanks, Florence," Coeur said finally, turning away from the comm panel and returning to the group. There she caught the tail of a conversation between Bonzo and Whiz Bang, who were closest to the map.

  "...well, just look at this distance, Whiz Bang. It's about 7000 klicks—the distance a person in a grav belt could make in a week." "Yeah, but you can't fly a grav belt for more than a couple of hours at a time, and you'd need a power supply everywhere you went to recharge the batteries,"

  "Maybe they put a recharging station on a truck."

  "And drive it across the ocean? Yeah, right."

  "All right, people," Coeur said, "we've had a long day, and I'd like to follow these leads up in the morning. Let's reassemble here at 0630. Dismissed."

  The order promptly scattered Pratt and the Marines, who put on their helmets on and followed Drop Kick to the elevator. Dina and Scissor followed afterward, leaving Florence behind to recharge at its stall in the laboratory.

  "You coming?" Drop Kick asked Physic and Coeur.

  "No," Physic said, "you go ahead."

  Coeur, surprised to catch Physic staring at the map, paused on her own way to the elevator and nodded toward Drop Kick He nodded back and let the elevator door close.

  "Physic," Coeur said, coming up alongside the doctor, "you look beat."

  "I am," Physic said. "Work keeps me from thinking,"

  "Thinking about what?"

  "About this virus," Physic said, turning her head toward Coeur. "It's just the kind of thing Delpero might've been looking for at the Medlab."

  "But you said this virus strain was just a rumor. What could he have learned about it from Medlab?"

  "Maybe he didn't infiltrate to learn about the virus," Physic said, "Maybe he broke in to find out how much we already knew about the virus."

  "Which is almost nothing."

  "Right. Maybe it was important that August—or whoever planned this massacre—know how well we could respond to the epidemic."