Family Law 3: Secrets in the Stars (35 page)

"I'd think that such a race would develop land based vehicles to venture into the hot zone for such things as mining," Thor said. "And cooling systems of course."

"It sounds like a good story to write as speculative fiction," Talker told Lee. "You should start a file on it and add material when an idea pops into your head. Perhaps write the story of the explorer who wants to go see the other pole and his friends and family think he is crazy."

"I don't think I have enough imagination to do that," Lee said embarrassed.

"Says the young lady who expects us to move planets around soon," Talker remembered.

"Well yeah," Lee said. "You're talking about that weird empty system. How hard is it to imagine it if it appears somebody else has already done it? And once you can imagine it... the rest is engineering."

Talker looked to Gordon and then Thor to refute that. They just smiled at him, amused. They had more experience being around Humans, and Lee in particular.

"As soon as Lee knows how to move a planet... watch out," Thor told him. "It won't be long before she wants Gordon to steal one for her."

Gordon just lifted an eyebrow and didn't refute it.

* * *

The photosynthesis reaction was different at opposite ends of the planet. Gordon had shuttles from different ships touch down at each pole and made clear that once a shuttle had been to one it could not visit the other. He was concerned they would inadvertently carry something detrimental over from one side to the other.

The shuttle from the
High Hopes
visited what they regarded as the north end since it had the same rotation as Earth and Derfhome. The shuttle from
The Champion William
went to the south end.

The interesting thing was that genetic material showed both poles shared common bacteria. This surprised people used to dealing with larger organisms, but was already assumed by those familiar with bacteria from other environments. They could ride on the wind a long ways.

The atmosphere had free oxygen, but only about thirty percent. That and the lower than standard surface pressure meant they didn't need suits, but a breathing mask was a must.

The teams took samples of the plants. Several people cautioned against harvesting more than necessary as growth might be slow and existence precarious in such a hostile environment. Some of the forms looked bizarre to eyes used to more conventional shapes and leaves. Ming Lee, second cook on
The Champion William
, surprised them by informing them there were Earth plants of nearly identical form to the native vegetation. Fortunately their web fraction contained references and images for Socotra Island in the Indian ocean on Earth, so they had more than his recollection. The bottle and dragon blood trees in the photos looked as alien as any landscape they'd seen.

Ming Lee also suggested they examine the polar areas during the night time when temperatures abated slightly. That led to the discovery of insect analogs. Probity Schlemmer, the coms officer, was with the landing party exploring with night vision equipment, and credited with finding a sort of social insect climbing on a plant very similar to a large cactus. The plants were mostly a meter and a half to three meters tall, with a well-set proportion of height to diameter. Closer examination showed the insects entering and exiting a small hole in the plant.

Since there were several hundred thousand of the plants in this one area of the south pole Gordon OK'd cutting one up and taking samples. He was concerned however with the insect colony, and instructed they determine if they were present in all the cactus analogs before sacrificing this one. A night survey found that almost a quarter of the plants had colonies. More interesting was that the colonized plants seemed to thrive better.

Upon cutting the plant into sections several things became apparent. Some of the insects were specialized and could fly, and those were capable of aggressively defending the plant and themselves. The rest of the plant dissection was carried out by two crew in pressure suits. The discoverers of the defending insects spent a few hours in the clinic having tiny barbs removed and getting topical medication and prophylactic steroids in case there was an allergic reaction.

The insects occupied hollows and connecting passages in the pulpy interior of the plant. They carved these out and opened them top and bottom to the outside air. The plant responded by generating a sort of filmy scab in the inside surface to stop moisture loss. Once this tough skin was formed the holes were plugged. A careful examination found puckered scars on the exterior to mark these healed spots, once they knew what to look for.

Some of the chambers were brood halls, and some were for food storage. They filled some chambers with a sort of honey, much thicker than Earth honeybees would create. Probity theorized that the plant could somehow tap into this resource in time of need too. That would explain why the infested plants fared better. They didn't have a visible mechanism for this to happen, but as Probity pointed out, that might not be visible until the plant was stressed and needed to tap into the resource.

There was some discussion of bringing back a specimen, but they were large and heavily covered with fine sharp hair-like spines, and they had no idea how much they depended on tapping the resources of the area around them to survive. Nobody had found two closer that three meters from the next. They must have some way of defending their territory. Ming Lee was of the opinion the fine hairy spines indicated there was something besides the social insects that might try to feed on the plants, but they never saw anything or came on a plant with signs of such feeding.

There were a very few small plants, and no sign they propagated by seed. It became apparent they had to attain a certain size to be attractive for colonization. Still they got two small ones to take home with them, complete with a couple cubic meters of surrounding soil.

When the tap root of the one they cut up was examined it made them sure trying to transport a mature one was impractical. When they'd dug down seven meters the root was still good sized. In the end they had samples of all the plant tissues, at least five specialized forms of the insect, and the 'honey' that was more like tar for viscosity than Earth honey.

Since there was no adverse reaction to the stings they were encouraged to have one Human and one Derf volunteer start testing to see if the honey was edible. They didn't carry the test animals most Deep Space Explorers took along as a matter of course, but it would take a month to work up to an amount that would indicate there was no danger.

Thor pointed out the plants likely grew too slow for any significant harvest to be possible. Lee on the other hand suggested that if it was desirable then they could introduce it to other worlds where with a more hospitable environment it might grow better.

Other plants were interesting, and some might prove to have medicinal value or something, but nothing was as complex and exciting as the inhabited cacti. It would take a serious survey a couple years to do either pole justice. They hadn't looked in the few ponds at all.

Chapter 22

The delay to finish a superficial survey of Janus was six days. The entire fleet was horribly spoiled. The discovery of a world with
any
free water or life would be a crowning achievement for most exploration companies. After their previous discoveries it was merely interesting.

Gordon was happy to resume the trip home. The Caterpillars didn't drop with either shuttle to Janus. But then they didn't make a point of inviting them. They patiently waited, exchanging a few grids with Lee and Talker. They made slow progress. Not everything they understood was guaranteed a hundred percent. But that probably worked both ways.

Another four systems and they needed refueling and Gordon allowed it was time for a break again.

"We're getting back close enough we might run into an explorer," Lee mused, eating lunch with Thor and Gordon. Her idea of recreation was much different that the older crew. She spent time on reading that wasn't for her school work and watched some old videos. Alcohol was something she had no real taste for outside a rare treat with to celebrate something with other people, and poker or other games held no allure at all. Talker showed up to join them too.

"I think word probably percolated back through Earth and to the opposite side of explored space that we went deep with a fleet," Thor said. "Not many companies have even sent out two ship teams. So if we run into them they may not be surprised to see
us
. But I suspect just about anybody will be surprised to see a small alien fleet accompanying us. That's surprise enough, but the Caterpillar is likely to unnerve the most unflappable. It certainly did us first time we saw something that big."

"We're making progress talking to them," Lee said, frowning. "But by the time we get to Derfhome, or even Earth for that matter if they follow us there, we're still not going to be able to discuss anything complicated. Especially anything abstract. I can say
hand
, and we have open and closed now, as well as fist. But if I had to explain what shaking a fist means to us it would still be hopeless at this point. How are we going to explain the Caterpillars to Earthies with all their weird sensibilities?"

Gordon made a snorting noise through his nose, something he'd picked up from Jon Burris. "I've never wasted a lot of time trying to make Earth Humans comfortable. We don't
have
to explain them to anybody. They followed us back and we hardly had any choice. I don't think they would advocate shooting them to keep them from knowing where our worlds are, at least not out loud in public.

"That would be a really bad policy to follow. I mean,
this
time we still seem to have better weapons. Sooner or later we're going to find somebody who isn't impressed with X-head missiles and has their own or better. Better to practice tact and diplomacy before you find out the new fellow out-guns you. The Caterpillars treated us very well and they might have thought we were helpless with our little ships. Look how well that worked for them. We pulled their fat out of the fire when it mattered."

"The Badgers and Bills aren't
all
coming to Earth with us are they?" Lee asked.

"I am," Talker told her. "Some will go off to Fargone with much of the crew, and a few to New Japan to discuss buying weapons. I expect a couple will stay at Derfhome to study it. I shall go to Earth on the
Dart
, and require at least one assistant. There are three young people to choose from."

"Then you'll be going over to the
Dart
when we go to Earth," Lee realized. "I'll miss you."

"Thank you. I'm sure we'll be able to communicate, and perhaps even visit when we get to Earth. It might be awkward... It might give the wrong impression to be in your command vessel," Talker said.

"They might think we're holding you hostage," Thor said.

"Indeed, at the very least it brings our sovereignty into question," Talker agreed.

"We may visit, maybe even do some stuff together,
if
we're on Luna," Lee said. "No way I'm going down to Earth itself. I had too bad an experience to want to repeat it. But you're a big wheel. They'll treat you OK."

"I will make it clear their delegation is under our protection," Gordon said.

"That should do it," Lee agreed. "Gordon beat the snot out of them recently enough the memory hasn't faded."

"Yes, I remember some of what you told me from your side of the experience," Talker said. "The Fargoers have been most illuminating in describing his engaging North American forces in their home system. They described it in somewhat coarser terms, but it was interesting since they were a disinterested third party."

Thor looked up sharply and laughed. "Disinterested? The Fargoer captains were baying for blood. The odds were, they would lose at least a cruiser, or their command would have turned them loose to finish the Earthies off. They
really
didn't appreciate somebody coming in hot and turning their system into a shooting gallery."

"Baying?" Talker asked, looking at his pad. "Like hounds? Do I have that right? I'm surprised Derf would use a term having to do with Earth dogs."

"Oh, we have dogs now too," Thor assured him. "We didn't have anything domesticated of a size and personality like dogs. The larger breeds make more sense for us, and they've done a lot of genetic repairs so the big ones don't have so many hip problems and chemical sensitivities like they used to. I bet there is an audio file if you want to check the web fraction for baying."

Talker did a search on his pad and activated it. When it played, his hair stood up from between his ears all the way down his spine.

"There something disturbing about that, and I don't know why. We have a tracking and hunting animal, but it is mute, so I don't know how I could have an source for that primordial reflex. Nevertheless, it gave me chills."

"That's interesting," Lee said. "Makes you wonder how long something persists in your hard wiring after all living memory of it has passed."

"I find you often have a very different take on things than others," Talker told Lee. "I hope you can make yourself available at least on com when we go to talk with Earth officials. Sometimes you cut to the heart of the matter and I value that."

"Of
course
you can," Lee said. "You already have top access on my com filters."

* * *

Another cycle of pushing ahead then stopping to fuel and take a rest break put them very close to their previous outbound track. The Fargoers had a problem with a disagreement about a poker game over the break. To the point two people were ordered to abstain from playing any game of chance until the cruise was over, and assigned one to a different department and duties. That was considered draconian measures in Fargone society.

Lee and Talker made some progress nailing down 'therefore', but the Caterpillars refused to say eleven, twelve, thirteen, and so forth, stuck on ten-one, ten-two, ten-three. Gordon suggested they ignore it since their way of doing it was obvious in meaning and probably better than the customary usage. That horrified a few grammarians, but his recent tiff with the Badgers and Bills made them very reluctant to challenge their commander.