Sundiver

by David Brin

  Inside the nearly perfect shell, the Sunship was like a solid model of the planet Saturn. The wide deck made up the “ring.” The “planet” protruded above and below the deck in two hemispheres. The upper hemisphere, which Jacob could see now, had several hatches and cabinets breaking its surface. He knew from his reading that the central sphere contained all of the machinery that ran the ship, including the timeflow controller, the gravity generator, and the refrigerator laser.

  Jacob walked to the edge of the deck. It floated on a field of force, four or five feet away from the curving hull, which arched high overhead with a curious lack of highlights or shadows.

  He turned as his name was called. The tour group stood by a door in the “side of the dome. Kepler waved for him to join them.

  “We’ll inspect the instrument hemisphere now. We call it ‘flip-side.’ Watch your step, it’s a gravity arc so don’t be too surprised.”

  At the doorway, Jacob stood aside to let Fagin pass, but the E.T. indicated that he would rather stay above. A seven-foot tall Kanten in a seven-foot hatch wouldn’t be too comfortable at that. He followed Kepler inside.

  And tried to duck out of the way! Kepler was above him, climbing a path that mounded just ahead, like part of a hill enclosed in bulkheads. He looked like he was about to fall over, judging from the angle of his body. Jacob couldn’t see how the scientist could keep his balance!

  But Kepler kept walking up and over the elliptical path and disappeared over the short horizon. Jacob put his hand on the bulkheads to either side and took a tentative step.

  He felt no lack of balance. His other foot moved forward again. Still perfectly upright. Another step. He looked back.

  The doorway tilted toward him. Apparently the dome enclosed a pseudo-gravity field so tight that it could be wrapped around a mere few yards. The field was so smooth and complete that it fooled his inner ear. One of the workmen stood in the hatch grinning.

  Jacob set his jaw and continued over the loop, trying not to think of himself as slowly turning upside down. He examined the signs on access plates on the walls and floor of his path. Halfway around he passed over a hatch with the words TIME-COMPRESSION ACCESS inscribed on it.

  The ellipse ended in a gentle slope. Jacob felt right-side-up when he got to the doorway and he knew what to expect, but even so he groaned.

  “Oh no!” He brought his hands to his eyes.

  A few meters over his head the floor of the hangar stretched away in all directions. Men walked around the ship’s cradle like flies on a ceiling.

  With a resigned sigh he walked out to join Kepler where the scientist stood at the edge of the deck, peering into the guts of a complicated machine. Kepler looked up and smiled.

  “I was just exercising a boss’s privilege to poke and pry. Of course the ship has been fully checked out by now, but I like to look things over.” He patted the machine affectionately.

  Kepler led Jacob to the edge of the deck, where the upside-down effect was even more pronounced. The foggy ceiling of the cavern was visible far “below” their feet.

  “This is one of the multi-polarization cameras we set up soon after we first saw the Coherent Light Ghosts.” Kepler pointed to one of several identical machines that stood at intervals along the rim. “We were able to pick the Ghosts out from the jumbled light levels in the chromosphere because, no matter how the plane of polarization migrated, we were able to track it and show that the coherency of the light was real and stable with time.”

  “Why are all of the cameras down here? I didn’t see any up above.”

  “We found that live observers and machines interfered with each other when they rode on the same plane. For this and other reasons the” instruments line the edge of the plane down here, and us chickens ride on the other half.

  “We can accommodate both, you see, by orienting the ship so the edge of the deck is aligned toward the phenomenon we wish to observe. It turned out to be an excellent’ compromise; since gravity is no problem, We can tilt in any angle and we can arrange for the point-of-view of both sentient and mechanical observers to be the same for later comparison.”

  Jacob tried to imagine the ship, tipped at some angle and tossed about in the storms of the Sun’s atmosphere, while passengers and crew calmly watched.

  “We’ve had a bit of trouble with this arrangement lately,” Kepler went on. “This newer, smaller ship Jeff will take down has had some modifications, so soon we hope. . .. Ah! here come some friends . . .”

  Culla and Jeffrey emerged from the doorway, the chimp’s half simian, half human face contorted in disdain.

  He tapped at the chest display.

  “LR SICK. NAUSEOUS GOING OVER RAMP. SKIRTED BASTARD.”

  Culla spoke softly to the chimp. Jacob could barely overhear. “Shpeak with reshpect, Friend-Jeff. Mr. La-Roque ish human.”

  Incensed, Jeffrey tapped out with frequent misspellings, that he had as much respect as’ the next chimp, but that he wasn’t about to toady up to any particular human, especially one who had no part in his species’ Uplift.

  DO YOU REALLY HAV TO TAKE CRAP FROM BUBBACUB JUST BECAUS HIS ANCESTORS DID YOURS A FAVOR HALF A MILLION YEARS AGO?

  The Pring’s eyes glowed. There was a flash of white between the thick lips. “Please, Friend-Jeff, I know you mean well, but Bubbacub ish my Patron. Hu-mansh have given your race freedom. My race must sherve. It ish the way of the world.” ‘

  Jeffrey sniffed. “We’ll see,” he croaked.

  Kepler took Jeffrey aside, asking Culla to show Jacob around. Culla led Jacob to the other side of the hemisphere to show him the machine that allowed the ship to navigate like a bathysphere in the semi-fluid plasma of the solar atmosphere. He removed several panels to show Jacob the holographic memory units.

  The Stasis Generator controlled the flow of time and space through the body of the Sunship, so that the violent tossing of the chromosphere would seem a gentle rocking to those inside. The fundamental physics of the generator was still only partly understood by the scientists of Earth, though the government insisted that it be built by human hands.

  Culla’s eyes glowed and his lisping voice revealed pride in the new technologies brought to Earth by the Library.

  The logic banks controlling the generator looked like a jumble of glassy filaments. Culla explained that the rods and fibers stored optical information far more densely than any previous Earth technology, and responded more quickly. Blue interference patterns ran up and down the nearest rod, as they watched, flickering packets of lambient data. It seemed to Jacob that there was something almost alive in the machine. The laser input-output swung aside under Culla’s touch and they both stared for minutes at the raw pulsing information that was the machine’s blood.

  Though he must have seen the computer’s bowels hundreds of times, Culla seemed as enthralled as Jacob, meditating fixedly with those bright, unblinking eyes.

  Finally, Culla replaced the cover. Jacob noticed that the E.T. looked tired. Must be working too hard, he thought. They spoke little as they walked slowly back around the dome to rejoin Jeffrey and Kepler.

  Jacob listened with interest, but little comprehension, as the chimpanzee and his boss argued about some minor calibration of one of the cameras.

  Jeffrey left then, claiming business on the Cavern floor, and Culla followed soon after. The two men remained for a few minutes, talking about the machinery, then Kepler motioned for Jacob to walk ahead as they made their way back around the loop.

  When Jacob was about halfway around he heard a sudden commotion up ahead. Someone was shouting in anger. He tried to ignore what his eyes were telling him about the curving gravity-loop and quickened his pace. The path wasn’t meant to be taken quickly, though. For the first time he felt a confusing mixture of pulling sensations as different portions of the complicated field tugged at him.

  At the top of the arc Jacob’s foot caught on a loose floor plate, scattering the plate and several bolts along the curving d
eck. He fought to keep his balance, but the unnerving perspective, midway around the curving path, made him stagger. By the time he made it gratefully to the hatch on the upper side of the deck, Kepler had caught up with him.

  The shouting came from outside the ship.

  At the base of the ramp Fagin waved his branches about in agitation. A number of base personnel ran toward LaRoque and Jeffrey, who stood locked in a wrestler’s embrace.

  His face a deep red, LaRoque puffed and strained as he tried to pry Jeffrey’s hands off of his head. He made a fist and struck out to no apparent effect. The chimp screamed repeatedly and bared his teeth as he fought for a better grip to bring LaRoque’s head down to the level of his own. Neither noticed that a crowd had gathered. They ignored the arms that tried to pull them apart.

  Hurrying to the bottom, Jacob saw LaRoque free one hand and reach for the camera that hung from a cord at his belt.

  Jacob shoved through to the combatants. Without a pause he struck LaRoque’s grip free of the camera with the hard side of his hand and reached down with the other to grab the fur at the back of the chimpanzee’s head. He yanked back with all of his might and threw Jeffrey into the arms of Kepler and Culla.

  Jeffrey struggled. The long powerful simian arms heaved against the grip of his captors. He tossed his head back and shrieked.

  Jacob felt movement behind him. He swiveled and planted a palm on LaRoque’s chest as the man came rushing forward. The journalist’s feet flew out from beneath him and he landed with an “Oof!”

  Jacob reached for the camera at LaRoque’s belt, just as the man grabbed for it. The cord parted with a snap. The men hauled LaRoque back as he struggled to his feet.

  Jacob’s hands went up.

  “Now stop it!” he shouted. He placed himself so that neither LaRoque nor Jeffrey could easily see the other. LaRoque nursed his hand, ignoring the crewmen who held his shoulders, and glared angrily.

  Jeffrey still strained to get loose. Culla and Kepler held onto him tightly. Behind them Fagin whistled helplessly.

  Jacob took the chimp’s face in his hands. Jeffrey snarled at him.

  “Chimpanzee-Jeffrey, listen to me! I am Jacob Demwa. I am a human being. I am a supervisor with Project Uplift. I tell you now that you are behaving in an unseemly manner. . . you are acting like an animal!”

  Jeffrey’s head jerked back as if slapped. He looked at Jacob dazedly for a moment, a snarl half formed, then the deep brown eyes unfocused. He sagged limp in the grip of Culla and Kepler.

  Jacob held onto the furry head. With his other hand he stroked the ruffled fur back into place. Jeffrey shuddered.

  “Now just relax,” he said gently. “Just try to collect yourself. We’ll all listen when you tell us what happened.”

  Trembling, Jeffrey brought a hand to his speech display. It took him a few moments to slowly type, SORRY. He looked up at Jacob, meaning it.

  “That’s fine,” Jacob said. “It takes a real man to apologize.”

  Jeffrey straightened. With elaborate calmness he nodded to Kepler and to Culla. They released him and Jacob stepped back.

  For all of his success in dealing with both dolphins and chimps at the Project, Jacob felt somewhat ashamed of the patronizing way in which he had spoken to Jeffrey. It had been a gamble that worked, to use Patronomy on the chimp-scientist. From what Jeffrey had said earlier, Jacob guessed that he kept a great deal of patron-esteem inside, but reserved it for some humans and not others. Jacob was glad he’d been able to tap that reserve, but not particularly proud of it.

  Kepler took charge as soon as he saw that Jeffrey was calm.

  “What the hell was going on here!” he shouted, glaring at LaRoque.

  “The animal attacked me!” LaRoque cried. “I had just managed to conquer my fears and get out of that terrible place and I was talking to the honorable Fagin, when the beast leapt at me, lithe like a tiger, and I had to fight for my life!”

  LIAR. HE WAS DOING SABOTAGE. I FOUND T.C. ACCESS PLATE LOOSE. FAGIN SAID THE CREEP ONLY CAME OUT WHEN HE HEARD US COMING.

  “Apologies for my contradiction!” Fagin fluted. “I did not say the pejorative ‘Creep,’ I merely answered a query to state . . .”

  “He sspent an hour in there!” Jeffrey interrupted aloud, grimacing at the effort.

  Poor Fagin, Jacob thought.

  “I told you before,” LaRoque shouted back. “That crazy place scared me! I spent half the time clutching the floor! Listen, you little ape, don’t cast your slurs on me. Save them for your tree-mates!”

  The chip shrieked, and Culla and Kepler rushed forward to hold the two apart. Jacob walked over to Fagin, uncertain what to say.

  Over the tumult the Kanten said to him, gently, “It appears that your patrons, whoever they might have been, Friend-Jacob, must have been unique, indeed.”

  Jacob nodded numbly.

  9. REMEMBERING THE GREAT AUK

  Jacob studied the group at the foot of the ramp. Culla and Jeffrey, each in his own fashion, spoke earnestly with Fagin. A small group of base personnel gathered nearby . . . perhaps to escape LaRoque’s persistent questioning.

  The man had stalked the Cavern ever since the altercation broke up, shooting questions at those at work and complaining to those who weren’t. For a while his rage at being deprived of his camera was awesome, only slowly declining to a state Jacob would call just short of apoplexy.

  “I’m not sure why I took it from LaRoque,” Jacob said to Kepler, taking it out of his pocket. The slim black camera-recorder had a maze of tiny knobs and attachments. It looked like a perfect reporter’s tool, compact and flexible and obviously very expensive.

  He handed it to Kepler. “I guess I thought he was reaching for a weapon.”

  Kepler put the camera in his own pocket. “We’ll check that out anyway, just in case. In the meantime I’d like to thank you for the way you handled things.”

  Jacob shrugged. “Don’t make much of it. I’m sorry I stepped on your authority.”

  Kepler laughed. “I’m glad as hell you did! I sure wouldn’t have known what to do!”

  Jacob smiled, but he still felt troubled. “What are you going to do now?” he asked.

  “Well, now I’m going to inspect Jeff’s T.C. system, to make certain nothing’s wrong, not that I think there is. Even if LaRoque poked around in the machine, what could he do? The circuits are all worked with special tools. He had none.”

  “But the panel was loose when we came over the gravity arc.”

  “Yes, but maybe LaRoque was just curious. In fact, I wouldn’t be too surprised to find out that Jeff loosened the plate to have an excuse to pick a fight with him!”

  The scientist laughed, “Don’t look so shocked. Boys will be boys. And you know that even the most advanced chimp oscillates between extreme priggishness and schoolboy pranksterism.”

  Jacob knew the truth of that. But still he wondered why Kepler was so generous in his attitude toward LaRoque, whom he undoubtedly despised. Was he that anxious for a good press?

  Kepler repeated his thanks and left, picking up Culla and Jeffrey on his way back to the entrance of the Sunship. Jacob found a place where he wouldn’t be in the way and sat down on a shipping crate.

  He drew a sheaf of papers from his inside jacket pocket.

  Masergrams had arrived from Earth for many of the Bradbury passengers earlier in the day. Jacob had been hard put not to laugh when he caught the conspiratorial glances that passed between Bubbacub and Millie Martine when the Pil went to pick up his own coded message.

  During breakfast she had sat between Bubbacub and LaRoque, trying to mediate the Earthman’s embarrassing Xenophilia with the Library Representative’s aloof suspicion. She appeared anxious to bridge the gap between them. But when the messages came

  LaRoque was left alone as she and Bubbacub hurried upstairs.

  It probably hadn’t helped the journalist’s temper.

  Jacob had finished his own meal and considered a visit to
the Medical Lab, but instead went to pick up his own masergrams. Back in his rooms the Library material made a pile over a foot deep, which he placed on his desk before settling into a reading trance.

  The reading trance was a technique for absorbing a lot of information in a short time. It had been useful many times in the past, the only disadvantage being that it cut off the critical faculties. The information would be stored, but the material would have to be read again normally for it all to be brought to mind.

  When he came to, the papers were all stacked on the left. He was certain that they had all been read. The data he’d absorbed stalked at the edge of consciousness, isolated bits capriciously leaping to mind unbidden and as yet unconnected to a whole. For at least a week he would relearn, with a sense of déjà vu, things read in the trance. If he didn’t want to be disoriented too long he’d better start wading through the stuff normally, soon.

  Now, perched on the plastic packing crate In the Sunship Cavern, Jacob poked at random through the papers he’d bought. Teasing fragments of information read familiarly.

  . . . The Kisa race, newly free from indenture to the Soro, discovered the planet Pila shortly after the recent migration of galactic culture to this quadrant. Traces were evident that the planet had been occupied by another transient race some two hundred million years before. Thus Pila was verified in Galactic Archives as having once been a residence, for six hundred millenia, of the Mellin Species, see listing; Mellin-extinct).

  The planet Pila, having lain fallow for greater than the required period, was surveyed and routinely registered as a Kisa colony, Class C (temporary occupancy, no more than three million years, minimal impact on contemporary biosphere allowed).

  On Pila, the Kisa found a pre-sophont species whose name is taken from the planet of their origin. . .