This of course meant that very accurate castings could be made quite simply, as there wasn’t the usual shrinkage involved due to the cooling process.
Sadly, Kal was torn between his genuine desire to understand their technology, and not wanting to show his ignorance and inability to comprehend it. As time went by, he became less and less involved with scientific decisions, and concentrated on the more philosophical aspect of life.
Occasionally he thought about the Star Search and the old crew, and wondered what they were doing now. Had there been an attempt to find him? He didn’t think so, and if there had been their chances of finding him were so remote as to be negligible.
But that was so very long ago, and so much had happened since then that it was almost unreal to him now, only the haziest of memories persisting to haunt his dreams.
At long last, Kal’s eyesight began to fail him, and despite the fact that he wouldn’t face up to it, he knew deep down he needed help. They examined his eyes and told him that the muscles which controlled the shape of the eyeball had degenerated, so allowing the eyeball to deform and thereby distorting his vision.
They would apply microsurgery to correct the muscles, but there was little they could do for the failing rods and cones within the eye, which actually transmitted the photons of light into pictures of what he saw.
He didn’t remember losing consciousness, but when he came round, his vision was a little sharper, but the bright colours seemed to have faded a little from his early days.
He had been dimly aware for some time that a close eye had been kept on him, his diet had been altered occasionally, and there had been periods of time which had gone missing.
When he approached the medics on the matter, they were very tight lipped about it, and tried to evade the subject, distracting his attention onto other matters.
In the end, he went to Tibs, and told him of his suspicions. Tibs must have given the medics the go ahead to release the whole story, for a short while later he was invited to the main medical research centre. There they told him what they had been doing for a long time.
‘Because we thought what you referred to as ‘pride’ would preclude any help we could give you to sustain your body, it was decided to help you without your knowledge. When you were naturally asleep, your level of unconsciousness was deepened, and we could then examine your body, and do any little corrections we thought necessary. You will have noticed that your teeth have survived without cavities, and are all still in place’.
Kal didn’t say anything, in case it stopped the flow of information.
‘We’re not sure, but we think you have lived for about three of your natural life spans based upon your type of body tissue and the slowdown of cell regeneration’.
‘As your body ages, the cellular regenerative process is less able to operate because of what are called free radicals, which occur naturally in your body. By adding anti oxidizing agents to your diet, we have been able to help the cells to replace those which die naturally, so prolonging your life.’
‘There is a limit to what we can do, as you have found out with your failing eyesight, but we hope to keep you in general good health for some time yet, if that is you wish’.
Although he had suspected something of this nature had been going on, he was shocked to learn of the extent to which they had gone.
‘The combining of your genes with those of our original ancestors, have given us bodies with the best of both types, and few of the faults. We are more grateful for this than we can ever convey to you, and keeping you in the best of health is the only way we can repay a little of the debt’.
‘We do this mainly because we want to, not really as a means of repayment for your contribution to our race’. Kal sat back to absorb the significance of all this, and was surprised to find the old fear of being controlled by others, was absent. They were doing this out of pure affinity, or as he would put it, love.
No, that wasn’t right. Love contained emotional feeling, affinity was just a pure liking for something, and that was what they had for him. Kal felt that warm prickling feeling behind his rheumy old eyes, and hoped he wasn’t going to shed tears in front of them.
‘We realize that you have different feelings to us, which you call emotions, and it was because of this that we did what we did, using a fair amount of subterfuge so that your feelings wouldn’t be compromised. We all have to give up our bodies in the end, but it is our wish to keep you with us for as long as possible’.
The meeting went on for some time, and Kal learnt much about the philosophy of this new race, and realized that his people could have benefited greatly from studying their attitude to life.
The twin tracks had now been extended to the furthest point south of the land mass, and two more compounds had been established. Compound was the old word Kal used for the cities which had sprung up, the original old compound was now a museum piece, visited by the young as part of their learning process.
Life these days was very good, and he wanted for nothing, except youth. How he envied the young, and their enthusiasm for life and adventure. It was the unpredictability which had gone out of life, and he missed it.
The old excitement was no more, and he longed for the days when they were out looking for new things to discover, and dodging the various creatures which wanted to turn them into something on the menu. There must be something which was driving the new race onwards, but he didn’t have it, or know what it was.
Still, there hadn’t been a visit from the original miners who had built the complex on the high plateau, but a sharp lookout had been instituted. A strange looking device, which he assumed to be a kind of telescope, scanned the heavens for anything which moved faster than the freewheeling stars and their accompanying planets which reflected light.
What they would do if a visit had occurred, he wasn’t too sure, until he inquired about the subject. Completely unknown to him, they had built a weapon based on the old laser principle, except this one packed a punch that was almost unbelievable, and he felt sorry for anyone who might cause them any hassle in the future.
An extension of the track way had been run up to the cliffs of the plateau, and a series of tunnels driven into them. These connected up with the mines, and so transportation of the minerals was made that much easier, with no need to use the mine heads on the plateau, or the lift platforms.
The whole of the plateau area had been returned to its original state, so if anyone came nosing around, they wouldn’t know what was going on beneath their feet. But this had been done before the cities had grown to their present size, and these alone would indicate that life was going on at full tilt.
Using a rocky promontory as a way of circumnavigating the dreaded sands, they had built a harbour complex just south of the main city in which Kal now lived. He had been invited down one day to perform an opening ceremony of a new unit, and after that had been accomplished, was taken underground to see their latest invention.
Deep below the main structure, there was a vast pen in which lay, for want of a better word, a metallic replica of the huge sea monster they had seen from the flying wing a long time ago. They wanted to explore the oceans, and preferred to have a vessel which could go under the water if the need arose, rather than a surface ship.
Concerned that the huge creature they had seen so long ago might still be around and was capable of a fair turn of speed, Kal inquired what speed the vessel could achieve.
He was answered with a grin ‘Quite adequate for the foreseen circumstances it might encounter’, and it was left at that. He was told they intended to try the vessel out in a few days time, and he would be most welcome aboard.
This was the first bit of real excitement Kal had felt for some time, and he was looking forward to the adventure like a small child would.
The next few days dragged for Kal, and his heart wasn’t really in the lectures he was still giving to the youngsters.
Word must have spread around about
the expedition, for he was bombarded with questions about it from the class, but having little data on the new ship, he talked about the vessels he had known long ago, and this seemed to satisfy the eager young minds, at least for the time being.
The great day came, and the transport was waiting outside his door early that morning. The underwater ship was huge by any standards, and if he didn’t know better, he felt he could be forgiven for thinking it was an extension of the science complex on land.
There were viewing screens showing every possible detail outside the ship, and from every angle, but what was more disconcerting was the fact that they appeared to be three dimensional, giving the impression that they were just holes leading to the outside.
Once everyone was aboard, the giant torpedo shape silently glided forward, and the lock doors behind it closed. Looking at one of the screens, Kal fully expected the water to rush in and drown them all, so real was the illusion of depth in the picture. He wasn’t aware of motion, but it was clear that the ship was moving forward at quite a speed, and was soon out into open water, but at a depth.
The continental shelf sloped down at quite a steep angle, and there were many strange growths waving about in the turbulence caused by the passing of the great vessel.
A few swimming creatures were to be seen, but nothing which could threaten the massive ship. The edge of the shelf was passed, and they began dropping down to the dark unseen depths below.
As the natural light began to fade, the area around the ship was floodlit from above, showing a vast multitude of plant like fronds which seemed to reach toward the vessel, but Kal put this down to the swirl of the water as the ship passed.
He still couldn’t get used to the realism of the screens, as the ship levelled out at the ocean bed, and continued to cruise along slowly.
Ahead he could see vast columns of mineral deposits, glistening multi-coloured in the wash of light given out by the powerful lamps above, and tried to guess at what wonders they might hold in the way of new minerals.
The vessel rose slightly to avoid breaking the scintillating fingers of inorganic growth which reached up to it, and cruised onwards. The mineral columns passed below them, and then there was nothing for several minutes, except a few fish-like creatures which swam off at high speed, probably thinking the ship was a predator of some kind.
Up ahead there was something. The water seemed to be clouded by a mist of some sort, and as they approached it, the mist cleaved apart to let them enter. The outside sensors reported in, and it was discovered that the mist was a vast cloud of a jelly like substance.
Whether it was one creature or a colony of many thousands, they didn’t know, but it had a slowing down effect on the ship, and power had to be increased to continue forwards.
One of the crew estimated the thick jelly cloud was at least a kilometre across according to the instruments readings, unless it was moving and following them, but that didn’t seem likely. Soon they were free of it, and on their way again at reduced speed, so as not to miss anything.
Another forest of mineral columns came into view, and a remote controlled sub, which Kal hadn’t noticed before, glided off to take samples from one of the strange pillar like growths.
The ocean floor dropped away again, and the ship followed to the new depth. It was now quite dark, the only light being from the floodlights on top of the ship, which lit everything up very well without blinding the viewers.
Several large worm shaped creatures swam into view, but quickly turned and fled when they recognized the familiar shape of the giant predator, except the original wasn’t as big as the ship, Kal hoped.
He asked one of the crew just how deep they now were, and was shocked to learn that they were nearly a kilometre beneath the surface, and could well go deeper if the sea floor fell away again, which it did shortly afterwards.
The water ahead had acquired that misty look again, but as they approached it became clear that it was just disturbed sediment, but on a grand scale.
Something was moving away from them, and the turbulence it caused could just be felt acting on the huge bulk of the ship. Up ahead there loomed a giant dark brown shape.
They had found the sea monster of long ago or at least a relative possibly. The ship was slowed down and then halted, so that observations could be made, when the thing suddenly moved forward, opening a pair of jaws big enough to have swallowed a lesser vessel.
There was a shudder as the huge jaws tried to bite a chunk off the bow section, but it was made of sterner stuff than the attacker, and all they had to contend with was a very noisy scraping sound and the odd jerk.
Not knowing what else it might do, it was quickly decided to discourage any further attacks, and a harpoon like missile left the bow section, trailing a wire behind it.
As it struck the creature, someone threw a switch, and a massive electric shock hit the creature, causing it to recoil in a dazed state. It paused for a moment, and resumed its advance towards the ship, but very slowly this time.
The switch was thrown again, probably with more power behind it, and the monster jerked backwards, causing the ship to lurch to one side as the surrounding water swirled about. It didn’t much like the second belting, and moved away slowly to disappear into the gloom.
Kal asked how the weapon worked, and was told that when the harpoon embedded itself into the creature, an electric charge of several thousand volts was sent up the insulated wire. As the ship was one terminal, the current then flowed out to the creature, through it and out to the sea water, which conducts electricity very well.
The current then flowed back to the ship, so completing the circuit. As muscles work by electricity, the creature’s muscles got a very big ‘move’ message, and not a little pain along with it, as the surge of current completed the round circuit.
‘Simple, but very effective’ though Kal.
As they cleared the murky waters caused by the turbulent thrashing about of the monster, the external sensors picked up a slight temperature rise and a more gentle and even disturbance in the waters ahead.
There was nothing to be seen causing this effect, so the lights were doused, and everyone scanned the screens for anything which might be moving. As their eyes got used to the blackness surrounding them, they could just make out small periodic flashes of light below.
The ship slowly went down to investigate, and as they neared the flashing lights, it became apparent what was happening. There must have been a split in the ocean floor, and molten lava was welling up in huge billowing lumps, bursting asunder as the outer skin hardened, and the internal pressure forced more lava to be revealed.
The flashes of light were being caused as the white hot lava was exposed momentarily to the water before chilling into a hard crust. This was the first true volcanism Kal had witnessed on the planet, and was surprised that it hadn’t shown up anywhere on the surface.
The pressure down here must have been tremendous; hence the water didn’t boil as it would have done at sea level, and so the molten core of the lava was visible. There was nothing further to be gained from the spectacle, so they moved on to seek out any other anomalies the ocean had to offer.
They cruised on for a while with nothing out of the ordinary happening, except for an area of the sea floor which seemed to be covered in large lumps of knobbly rock.
Somehow it didn’t look like normal rock should, so the small sub was sent down to obtain a sample for future analysis. Where the knobbly rocks ended, there was a giant forest of plants growing. In height, they must have been many times the ship’s length, and looked tough and fibrous in nature. Undaunted, the crew stepped up the power, and the ship ploughed her way through the forest of tangled strands, as if they weren’t there.
As they broke out of the strange growths, the area ahead seemed empty of life forms. Not even a plant decorated the ocean floor, and when they had travelled for some distance with no change in the surroundings and were about to turn onto a new course, the
re loomed up an underwater cliff of such magnitude that even the crew gasped.
It was very solid looking, black and menacing, but as they drew nearer, an opening showed up before them. It was big enough for the ship to have gone into, but the crew didn’t like the look of it, and so the samples were transferred from the small sub, and that was sent into the jet black cavernous hole in the cliff’s face.
They were able to watch on the screen what the small sub saw as it slowly entered the gaping hole ahead, the picture being relayed back to the main ship. The crew didn’t seem to be effected by the realism of the screens, but Kal, despite knowing it was only a picture, still felt uneasy as the little vessel edged its way into the yawning cavern.
Powerful lights on the front of the little sub swung back and forth as it proceeded forward, sending back pictures of the cavity’s side walls, which were just dark grey and black rock. There was no sign of vegetable or animal life to be seen, and the water was crystal clear, much more so than the open ocean they had just been through.
About two kilometres into the vast tunnel, the little sub came to a halt. Ahead was a solid wall of rock, the tunnel had ended. The light was swung around and when it was directed downwards, they could plainly see an enormous black hole beneath it. The lights were swung up, and the hole seemed to continue upwards for as far as the light could penetrate. It was like a giant ‘T’ junction, with the leg of the ‘T’ being the passageway the sub had come in by.
While the crew were deciding what to do next, things were taken out of their hands as the small sub began to surge upwards. The main ship also indicated via its instruments that it was moving forwards, as if being drawn into the hole in the cliff face due to water flowing strongly towards the hole in the cliff.
Reverse thrust was immediately applied, and their position stabilized, but not so for the sub, which was being speedily whisked upwards, out of their control. As the sub rose upwards, ledges came into sight around the walls of the vertical tunnel, and from one of these a long tentacle could be seen waving about as if seeking something.
The Inosculation Syndrome Page 28