H. M. Hoover Read online

  "Oh.”

  Silence resumed, then: "I woke up for a while this afternoon.” Their eyes met, the child’s tear-bright, the woman’s questioning. "I. .. saw you down there. I wanted to come help—”

  When she saw the child’s chin quiver, Theo interrupted. "That’s O.K. Sleeping was the best help you could give me. I want you well, not exhausted. Would you like to join me for dinner? I’ll show you my bathroom, and you can wash up in the pool.”

  After she’d led Karen downhill to the sanitation pit, she came back to her meal preparations. It seemed odd having this child in her care, especially since she’d been responsible only for herself all her life. And what a child. There was a very good possibility that admitting the child existed would insure the prompt death of them both. Without knowing who or what was behind the mutiny, she had no way of knowing whom to trust.

  The scientific division of the Corporation had long been charged with social and intellectual elitism by the administrative and service people. If Base One was paranoid enough to kill the Orlovs, perhaps Base Three was now "The Enemy.” The Agrigroup had always ignored the whole issue of rank and degrees, seemingly content. Theo avoided all cliques and power factions. Politics and swollen egos had no interest for her. Better to speculate on the diversity of gliding reptiles on the planet Tanin or the creatures in that ammonia bath of Little Venus. So long as she could study and catalogue her beloved "animals,” the human animal had relatively little interest for her. Nor did she like most humans much. They were an aggressive, quarrelsome lot and notoriously neurotic in their breeding habits.

  It was almost dusk when they finished their largely silent meal. Theo had gotten out of the habit of casual chatter, and Karen was too busy eating to talk. She seemed to enjoy this meal. The setting sun threw distant buttes and mesas into orange relief and shaded the lowlands with blues. In the south the distant triple moons were rising, gold in the sun’s light.

  "What are we going to do now ?” Karen asked.

  "I don’t know yet. I don’t know what’s behind . . . your being here. Do you? Could you bear to tell me what happened? How you got here?”

  The black eyes looked at Theo, and then after a moment Theo saw their sharp focus blur and knew Karen wasn’t seeing her any more but something from before.

  "I was asleep. Someone yelled. It woke me up, and then the light came on and there were three men in my compartment. They told me to get up. ”

  "Who were they?”

  She shrugged. "Officers—they wore stretch net over their faces. They wore service uniforms. I asked what was wrong. Nobody said anything. I told them to get out. When they didn’t, I rang for the guard. They yanked me out of bed by my arm.” She flexed her left shoulder. "It still hurts.”

  "And then?”

  "They took us to the landing pad and brought us out here.”

  "Was there any fighting in the camp?”

  Karen shook her head. "It was quiet.”

  Theo considered this. Service uniforms could mean they were service personnel. Or they were from another faction and pretending to be service personnel. Whoever landed here in the dark had been an excellent pilot—hardly a service skill. No, she decided, it definitely would not be wise to be rescued from this spot. In fact, it might not be wise to be rescued at all. But that couldn’t be avoided. She had enough food for herself for two more months. Or for one month with her guest, unless she lived off the land. But with her aversion to killing, that would be very traumatic—and pointless. They would have to go back sometime.

  They would move on in the morning, heading toward a water source. Like any disciplined researcher, she kept careful notes. She recorded the day’s happenings as a unit to themselves.

  IV

  FOR THE SECOND MORNING IN A ROW, THEODORA LESLIE WAS AWAKENED BEFORE DAWN. BUT THIS TIME SHE KNEW WHAT HAD WAKENED HER. SHE WAS FREEZING. IN A MOMENT OF WHAT NOW SEEMED PURE MADNESS THE NIGHT BEFORE, SHE HAD GRANDLY TOLD KAREN, "YOU TAKE THE SLEEPING BAG. THE SURVIVAL ROLL WILL BE FINE FOR ME.”

  She had lied. There was nothing fine about the survival roll. She got up feeling as if she were one hundred and five and suffering from space lag. After stumbling to her bathroom, she came back and brushed her teeth. The water in the pool was very cold.

  "What’s that funny noise?” Karen’s frightened whisper startled her. She listened and felt a blush warm her face.

  "It’s-s-s my-my t-t-teeth.”

  "What’s wrong?”

  "N-n-nothing. I—do-do this every m-morning.”

  "What for?” And when no answer came, "Are you cold?”

  "Oh, no,” Theo said quickly and tried to stop the noise. "I’m sorry I wo-woke you.”

  There was no answer, and she decided the girl had gone back to sleep, which was a relief. She was very much aware of this presence of a second mind out here, more so than in normal circumstances. "I could become a hermit,” she thought, "especially at five a.m.” She put on water, flicked on the fuel cell, and then sat staring at the last of the stars. It was hard to believe yesterday had really happened.

  "Why do you lie to me?”

  "What?” The question was so unexpected that her voice was loud.

  "Vot?” echoed a nearby rock dweller.

  "Vot!” answered another.

  "Vot vot?” said a third.

  "Why do you lie to me? My mother always said people only lie to inferiors. You lied about the sleeping bag. You knew you wouldn’t be comfortable outside it. And you are still cold. Do you think I’m your inferior?”

  Theodora Leslie sighed. She did not like having her motives questioned at five a.m., especially if the accuser was correct and almost young enough to be her own child.

  "No. I don’t think you’re inferior.”

  "Then why do you do it?”

  "Well—because you and I are strangers. I wanted you to be comfortable—and I didn’t think you’d like to sleep so close to a total stranger. If we shared the sleeping bag ...”

  "Are you very shy?”

  "No. I don’t think so. I...” She paused. "Yes, I am.”

  "Me too. But we don’t have much choice. For now anyhow. Want to crawl in and get warm?” Karen moved over in the sleeping bag.

  "No. I’m awake now.”

  "Me too. What are we going to do today?”

  "Get as far from here as possible.”

  "I didn’t know you had a flier.” Her teeth gleamed in a pleased smile.

  "I don’t. We’re going to walk.”

  "Oh.” It was a deflated vowel.

  "Or we can stay here and wait for them to find us.”

  Karen thought that over. "How much of this stuff do you want me to carry?”

  "Not much. It’s designed for me to carry alone.” She didn’t add that she was doubtful of Karen’s ability to walk more than five miles in the playshoes she wore without developing crippling blisters. Or that the nearest water shown on her maps was at least twice that far away.

  It took a couple of hours to have breakfast and pack up. She outfitted Karen in makeshift socks that were really soft stretch bags for delicate fossil specimens, her wide-brimmed rain hat, her favorite beige sweat shirt. The latter fit the smaller body like a short sloppy cuffed dress—over the stylish green pajamas in which Karen had arrived.

  "That will never do,” she decided as Karen looked disapprovingly down at herself. "Those green legs can be seen for miles/'

  "Oh,” said Karen. "I thought that look on your face was just because I looked so terrible.”

  "Well . . . that too, if I’m going to be honest. Why don’t we save the pajamas? You can wear a pair of my shorts and a belt to keep them on.”

  That ensemble didn’t look all that much better, but at least it was better camouflage. By shortly after seven they were ready to go.

  They set off down the mountain, Theo carrying the backpack. The vots discussed the departure in their limited vocabulary. Karen walked ahead, deliberately turning her face away from the rock pile tha
t marked the grave site. Theo kept turning to look back until Karen said, "Did you forget something?”

  "No.”

  "You act like it.”

  "No ... I just hate to leave. ...” She realized that might sound odd. "You see, that camp was special to me. I was alone there. For the first time in my life. I had thought—or was told— being all alone would be frightening—but it was marvelous! Peaceful. I loved the solitude.” She stopped. "Admitting that must show some flaw in my character.”

  "I’m sorry,” Karen said thoughtfully. "We spoiled it for you.”

  "Not by choice. ...”

  "It doesn’t matter how things get spoiled. Once it’s done, it’s done. You can’t ever make it right again. You have to accept it. And go on.”

  Theo looked at the small figure ahead of her. It trudged determinedly down the slope, skinny shoulders squared in the center of the sweat shirt’s shoulders which ended halfway down her arms. Theo guessed that last stoic statement was being applied as much to Karen’s own situation as to hers, and it touched her as much as seeing a wounded animal go quietly off to endure pain and healing. How proud the parents must have been of this bright child, she thought, and that led to thinking of the Orlovs.

  She had tried to avoid thinking yesterday in the terrible intimacy of burying them. By virtue of their joint position on the Eridan Project and within the Aurora Corporation, she knew their academic and performance credentials were first rank. Their book, A Comparison of Science and Civilization in the Known Worlds, was a basic text in its field. Simon Orlov had been a biochemist and scientific historian, Elizabeth Orlov an anthropologist of nonhuman civilizations. Together they had made a formidable pair.

  "Would you mind talking to me?” Karen stopped and was waiting for her to catch up. "I keep thinking of things and I —would you talk to me? Tell me about the animals you’ve seen. I like animals. Anything.”

  And so Theo told her stories of life forms on other worlds, cataloguing an exotic bestiary whose diversity made phoenix, chimera, and che’lin seem commonplace. She spoke of the Batoonese deltoid, a high-gravity planet creature whose flat bulk covers a quarter acre but whose mass seldom exceeds fifty pounds. And the Telarion mnese, "a small silicoid so heavy a human is unable to lift one. When a mnese reaches maturity, it fragments with an explosive sound and the fragments become the next generation. Rather like a mushroom shooting spores.

  With creatures like this we are so ignorant we can do little more than note and observe. There isn’t time enough to begin to understand them at all.”

  "What kind of eyes do they have?”

  "What?”

  "Do they have beautiful eyes ?”

  "Not particularly. The deltoid has light-sensitive cells—it’s a lichen feeder.”

  "That’s good. I’d feel sorry for it if it could see too well. All it gets to see is rocks. That would get boring.”

  "Yes,” Theo said in a rather vague voice. "I never considered that aspect.”

  "Are you famous?” was the next question.

  Theo shrugged. "Did you ever hear of me?”

  "No.”

  "See?”

  "How about other biologists?”

  "Oh, they know my work. But we are a rare species, we extraterrestrials. What reputation I might have is due primarily to others knowing less than I.”

  "That’s O.K.,” said Karen. "I like you. You have good eyes.” "Thank you.” The non sequiturs were a bit startling. "I like you, too.”

  "Most people do . . . did.”

  Theo noted the past tense. "Do you think you’re going to die?” Karen shrugged but wouldn’t answer.

  "You’re not, you know.”

  "You can’t promise that.”

  "How old are you?”

  "Why?”

  "Because—I don’t know. I haven’t much experience with young people, but it seems to me . .

  "I should pretend more that this isn’t as bad as it really is? So you’d feel better? I can if you want me to. But it won’t change a thing. I’ve been thinking, and the best thing you could do for yourself is leave me out here. Get miles away and call for help and say you saw an aircraft. . . then they could find me.”

  "Oh? Then tell me, if you insist on being a realist. How do you explain who buried your parents? No one will believe you did.”

  "Yes, they will.”

  Theo shook her head. "This is a waste of time. I’m not going to leave you and we both know that, so let’s get on with it.”

  V

  THEY WERE HEADING BACK INTO THE MOUNTAINS THE WAY THEO HAD COME. THE ROUTE WAS NOT NEW TO HER. SHE HAD SEEN THE ENTIRE AREA FROM TEN THOUSAND FEET UP ON HER INITIAL RECONNAISSANCE FLIGHT. BUT THE DIFFERENCE IN PERSPECTIVE BETWEEN AN AERIAL VIEW AND A SURFACE VIEW IS VAST, AND MOUNTAINS SEEN FROM THE SOUTH SOMEHOW LOOK DIFFERENT WHEN APPROACHED FROM THE NORTH. WITH THE HELP OF HER COMPASS SHE WAS IN NO DANGER OF GETTING LOST, BUT EVERYTHING LOOKED UNFAMILIAR AND SHE SOUGHT REPEATED REASSURANCE FROM HER MAP.

  They stopped to rest at midmorning, shared an energy bar and a drink from the water bag, and moved on. Karen’s feet were in

  good shape. Theo found the backpack heavy, as she did the first morning of any hike, but all in all, things were going well.

  There seemed to be an inordinate amount of vots. They perched on rocks, watched the aliens pass, and commented among themselves. They were still new to Karen, who found it hard to believe that a creature so cuddly and apparently so tame could not be picked up or even touched. But she kept trying.

  "I won’t hurt you,” she assured them, but after a time she was grabbing for them. As she lunged, the vots leaped sideways and bounced away to safety.

  "Why are they scared ?” she asked. "I just want to pet them.” "Maybe they aren’t scared,” suggested Theo. "How would you feel if I reached over and petted you? And you had never seen me before?”

  Karen looked up at her from under the hat brim. "I’d think you were obnoxious. Some grownups do that, you know. They pat you on the head and talk to you like you’re a dog . . . 'Oh, what a nice girl you are. . . ” She paused to consider a

  thought. "Do you think the vots are intelligent life forms?”

  "Most life forms are intelligent. The fact that their intelligence differs from ours doesn’t make ours superior—”

  "Now you sound like my . . . someone else,” interrupted Karen. "Are they highly intelligent?”

  Theo didn’t answer. Her attention had been attracted by something in the distance. Perhaps it was a trick of lighting or an ancient watercourse, but whatever it was, it looked like a road from here. Yet she hadn’t noticed it before. Nor did it show on the map she hastily scanned.

  "What is it?”

  "Look down there, to the left of that mesa, above the line of pink rock. . . .”

  "It’s a path?”

  "Looks like one.”

  "What kind of animal here makes a path?”

  Theo shook her head. "None—that I’ve seen up here.”

  "Why do you look worried? Is something wrong?”

  "... more puzzled than worried,” came the distracted answer. It took them an hour or more to make their way down around the face of the mountain and across the slope. As the elevation dropped, the surface scar became less distinct until the outcropping pink ridge was the only distinctive marker. At the end of the pink vein they found a large crystal. It lay beside a gray boulder as though it had just fallen there. It was almost a foot long, a deep orange bar, hexagonal, and perfectly terminated at both ends.

  "Doesn’t that look delicious!” murmured Theo half to herself as she ran a finger along its smoothness.

  Karen gave her an approving glance. "Do you always want to taste them, too?” she asked, and when Theo nodded, Karen confessed, "I tasted one. It tastes just like a rock. And if it touches your teeth, pain goes right up your head. Like an electric shock.”

  Theo looked at her. "I trust your taste test was made after the lab reports were released?”


  "Of course,” Karen said, half irked. "Do you think I’m that dumb?”

  "I don’t think you’re dumb at all. They are very tempting.”

  Karen gave her an appraising look, and an ornery smile came over her face. "You didn’t wait to read the report either, did you?” she guessed. "You did what I did.”

  Theo’s first impulse was to bluff—after all, adults should set standards—then she saw that face and admitted, "Yes, but it was a dumb thing to do.” The girl nodded agreement.

  One of the basic rules of expedition life was to consider all unknowns potentially lethal. The smallest carelessness could have tragic consequences.

  "Shall we take the crystal with us?”

  Theo shook her head. "It’s too heavy. Besides, I’ve seen so many these past few weeks that they’ve become like wildflowers to me. Something pretty to look at—but what are you going to do with it if you pick it ? Other than carry it around.”

  Karen sighed but nodded agreement and they went on. Neither noticed that the vots had made no sound while the two of them had looked at the crystal.

  The stone surface ended in a mixture of rocky rubble and sand. They crossed a clay area free of large rocks and were almost beyond it when Theo stopped and looked back. "I think that’s it,” she said. "It doesn’t look the same close up, but let’s go check. Can you stand a detour?”

  "Sure. I like to know where paths go,” said Karen. "But if it is a path, how do we know we’re going to and not from?”

  "We don’t.”

  If it was a path, it was an old and unused one. There were no large animal tracks. Here and there, where the sand was deep enough, vot prints showed. The only thing that made Theo keep walking was the odd fact that boulders edged the side of the route as though they had been pushed there. It could be an old watercourse. But water from where? The path curved around a hill and edged along the pink outcropping until it was burrowing under and the outcropping loomed clifflike.

  "It’s a cave!” said Karen. "Look up there ahead.” She started to run toward it.

  "Karen!” The sharpness in her voice surprised Theo as much as the girl. She hadn’t realized how tense she had become until now. "Don’t . . .” How to explain the anxiety that swept over her for a moment? "Don’t run,” she said with deliberate gentleness. "Wait for me.”