Alder's World Part One: Mass 17 (15 page)

“Are
you?
”

Sam scowled.
“
I
don
’
t know. The numbers are a
lot better than they were.
”

“But your gut, Sam, what
does your gut say?
”

“Aw, El, I
don
’
t know. The numbers are
okay. If I see anything else I can do to keep us safe. I
promise.
”

“I know you will.”
 
Elana paused.
“
I
’
m off duty for the next twenty hours. Will you come spend at
least part of it with me in the biodome?
”

“I
don
’
t know.
I
’
ve got a
lot
…”

“Please, Sam. I know you
don
’
t get scared, but I do
and the whole, cowardly captain, brewing revolution, imminent death
combination has really gotten to me. I could really use some
time.
”

Alder nodded and rubbed
her back.
“
Okay.
Mbaka
’
s expecting me. Let me
tell him I
’
m going to be away
for a while.
”

Gibson
, Dr. Shirimi from Science, and Mbaka, crowded around one of the
consoles in Mbaka
’
s pod.
Gibson, who had come straight from the ceremony, was speaking, her
voice hushed.

“Shirimi wanted me to get
as close as I could, but I was worried about the health of the
probe, so I dropped a couple of camera buoys on my way in to make
sure we
’
d see it if anything
went wrong. You can see me dropping the second one about ten
kilometers out.
”

The holographic display in front of
them shivered slightly as the one kilogram camera and sensor module
was released. For a second the view changed to that of the buoy. It
showed the probe as a black outline of wires, lattice, and sensors
moving toward the shifting auroras over the north pole of the
planet. The planetary crust had cooled to all black and the sun was
on the far side of the planet, casting a ring of blue fire over
which danced the glowing lights.

As the view switched back to that of
the probe, an object could be seen in the aurora. From ten
kilometers out, it appeared to be a knot in the shroud of light, as
if the aurora itself were some kind of fabric or blanket twisted in
the middle. As the probe dropped closer, an object could be seen at
the heart of the twisting glow. It was indistinct at first but grew
steadily clearer as the distance diminished. It had long tendrils
that seemed to wrap the aurora around them and also strange grilles
or lattices that spread out like wings from a solid center. All in
all it gave the impression of a new species of insect or maybe
spider though it also bore some similarities to a vining
plant.

“How big is it?”
Mbaka asked.

“The scale is a little
hard to track without any other objects nearby. The center section
is maybe a hundred meters across, the tendrils stretch out maybe
two thirds of a kilometer.”
Gibson
answered.
“
I can run the rate
of change versus the horizon and give you a better number if you
want.
”

Mbaka waved his good
hand.
“
Not important. What is
it doing?
”

“A lot of things.”
Shirimi joined in, her voice a soft as
Gibson’s.
“
It
’
s making ammonia;
stabilizing carbon monoxide into carbon dioxide;
there
’
s a lot of methyl
alcohol and aromatic ester in the aurora as well. We
don
’
t know if
it
’
s making them or
not.
”

“Why make
aromatics?”
Mbaka mused.

“We
don
’
t even know why
it
’
s in the air.
There
’
s no propulsion at all
that I can see.”
Gibson said, fiddling
with the controls.
“
There is
one thing I want you to see before we get to the big
finish.”
The screen focused in on the
bottom of the center section of the enigma before them.
“
This thing looks like the glowey
part of a firefly. I think it
’
s about ten meters across maybe. Can you see that
it
’
s
pulsing?
”

“Yeah.”
Mbaka agreed.
“
It almost looks like it
’
s breathing.
”

“Exactly.”
Gibson said.
“
The rest of the object is rigid or seems to flex on logical
pivot points. This thing is different. You can see that it has some
sort of rigid attachment to the rest of the structure but
it
’
s actually pretty
flexible.
”

The three fell silent for a few
seconds, watching the strange glowing bulb on the bottom of the
structure.

“The heart?”
Shirimi asked.

“Or the crew module maybe?” Gibson fed
back.

Mbaka harrumphed.
“
Or maybe just the battery. That
glow looks like plasma to me. Maybe they use some kind of
pressurized plasma and that
’
s
the pump.
”

“Could be.”
Shirimi agreed.

“Whatever it is, they sure
protected it. Watch this.”
Gibson switched
to the following camera. The scout looked like an insect moving up
next to the strange thing in space.
“
I was trying to get close to the
bulb. I
’
m moving almost
straight down relative to this perspective. I was maybe twenty
meters away when this happened.

Almost too fast to see, two of the
tendrils looped suddenly back in from aurora and wrapped firmly
around the probe. Almost before the watchers could process what was
happening, they flipped the probe up to the side of the structure
opposite the bulb. They pressed it against the dark hull for a few
seconds and the blue light of a plasma torch flashed. Less than a
minute later, the probe, now in two pieces, was flung off into
space by the tendrils.

“What happened?”
Mbaka asked.

“They cut the battery
out.” Gibson answered.
“
One
of those pieces is most of the superstructure, the other is the
equipment. What didn
’
t come
back is the battery pack. They ate it.
”

“Ate
it?
”

Gibson shrugged.
“
I guess.
I
’
ve got the whole thing in
great resolution. The torch is built into the side of the ship.
They move the probe three or four times while cutting. I
don
’
t see the batteries get
picked up, but they don
’
t
come back. Weird thing is; that
’
s the whole reaction. It
didn
’
t slow down or do any
scanning. It didn
’
t come for
the trailing cameras. It just ate the battery and went right on
with what it was doing. Both of those cameras are still on
station.
”

Shirimi whistled.
“
Has Alder seen
this?
”

Mbaka shook his
head.
“
No.
He
’
s with Elana right
now.
”

“Okay.”
Shirimi turned to Mbaka.
“
I say we
don
’
t say anything to the
crew yet. There
’
s more than a
thousand of these things around the north pole alone. I think
we
’
ve got enough to worry
about with the landing. Maybe they
won
’
t even be on the
ground.
”

“Maybe.”
Mbaka concurred.
“
But you
don
’
t build planets because
you want to live in space.
”

“True.
I
’
ll show Alder when
he
’
s back on duty.” Shirimi
stood.
“
In the meantime, I
don
’
t think we need to panic
anyone over things we can
’
t
do anything about.
”

There was a
moment
’
s silence. They all
understood that they were also agreeing not to tell
Pilton.

“Agreed.”
It was Mbaka.

For years, Sam and Elana
had worked together in the biodome when their schedules would allow
it. There was still some noisy last minute work being done to
re-enforce the hydroponic
 
racks, so they steered themselves into the open section
directly under the false suns. Rows of a three foot tall corn
hybrid were ripening in the warm Earth. Silently, they took plastic
tubs and started down adjacent rows. Crop rotation and a carefully
controlled environment ensured that there were always vegetables in
harvest. Social engineering insisted that the crew do the work. Sam
didn
’
t mind the sharp edges
of the corn that sometimes cut
Elana
’
s hands. What was
harder for him was the squash and ground hugging vegetables that
made unfortunate demands on his knees as he bent to prune or pick
them.

There was only a light, artificially
created breeze so the only sound, other than the eternal hum of the
machines that ran the facility and an upset chicken over by the
pens, was the sound their clothes made as they pushed between the
rows.

Sam understood that one of
the reason Elana was so attracted to him was because, while she was
responsible for caring for the emotions of the crew on the ship, he
was rather
“
pure
”
as she put it,
and un-emotive.
 
When
she did need to be comforted, he always felt at a loss and unsure
what to do. Over the years, he had learned that just his presence
seemed to give her what she needed while she worked out whatever
she was working on so he worked in silence on his row, watching her
forearm out of the corner of his eye for signs it was still
troubling her. It was scheduled to rain in about two hours. While
Alder hoped they would go into one of the greenhouses when it did,
he knew Elana well enough to know that she would stay out in it.
With the deep loyalty that was native to his being, he knew that he
would stay in it with her. At least it was a warm rain.

As a member of the command
crew, the computer kept track of his location at all times, but he
had set his status to
“
unavailable.”
 
Never the less, after about an hour and a half of work, just
as their muscles were warming to the work and they were both
forming a fine film of sweat, the communications console at the
corner of the field paged him. He ignored it at first, but it
called a second time a few minutes later with a priority code. He
sat down his basket and, with a nod at Elana, went over to the
terminal.

Pilton was on the
line.
“
Alder?”
 
His voice was high and
nervous.
“
Alder. Can anyone
hear us?
”

Alder glanced at Elana who
was still working about thirty meters away.
“
No.
”

Pilton giggled.
“
I need to show you, er, I need you
to meet me. Can you meet me?”
 
He was talking fast, almost
too fast to be understood.

“Sure. Where are
you?
”

“Oh.
Don
’
t come here. Meet me.
Meet me at the number 7 airlock. I
’
ll be there in ten minutes.
”

“Okay.”
 
Alder scowled. The number 7
airlock was all the way at the back of the engineering module in
the middle of a set of storerooms.
 
It was rarely used except for
periodic maintenance that required crew to go outside the
ship.
“
Do you need me to
bring anything?
”

“No no.”
 
Pilton giggled again.
“
Just uh, just come.
You
’
ll
see.
”