Exiled to the Stars (48 page)

It took over an hour, and several diatribes by some of the more conservative Earthborn Councilors, but finally, Kerry's request was approved, with conditions.

Ken told her the news. "Conditions?" she asked doubtfully, beginning to cloud up.

"Yes," Ken replied. "But I don't think you'll find them difficult, and most of them apply to future expeditions. There may be occasions when the expedition finds or does something that the expedition's Commander feels should not be published immediately. You must agree that if the Commander of the expedition orders it, you will hold publication until the Council approves release.

"What kind of things?" Kerry asked suspiciously.

"I don't know. Neither does the Council. But we feel that there may be occasions where we feel that it might be necessary to prepare the colony before release. Something that might cause a panic, for instance. Also," he continued, "The Council reserves the right to refuse you permission to accompany specific expeditions, if it decides it is in the colony's best interest.

She looked stubborn, and Ken continued, "It's the best deal you're likely to get, Kerry. The majority that approved it wasn't all that large."

Her lips tightened, but after a moment, she heaved a huge sigh. "Okay," she said in a reluctant tone. "Tell the Council I accept their conditions."

Chapter 19

Twelfthmonth 21, Year 23 A.L.

The Explorers not only had to find all the exploration tools and equipment, they also had to learn to use and maintain it. Finally, Ron had to go to the Council and propose that the metals prospecting trip be delayed until after the 'native' investigation was complete.

The investigating team consisted of Ron, Denis Chu, and Vito Carelli. Each of the Explorers had small microphones implanted in their jaws, and mastoid-bone receiver implants, which provided communication between themselves. Raj Darpee would again control the flying bird-camera that would orbit overhead, again relaying pictures.

Ron also had a small transmitter that would let him communicate with the colony via the bird-camera. Ron considered this a mixed blessing, but at least he had a button to turn it off, which he anticipated would be its normal state.

They debated delaying until Vlad could finish examining the JZE-101 Contact Vehicle and Lars and Jana could fuel it, but they quickly decided against it. Continued observation had not changed the nearly unanimous verdict that the creatures were not sentient. They did not use tools, or build fires; their food was torn apart by pincers and devoured raw. But the question was too serious to decide based only on long-range observation.

The creatures seemed to come in two sizes, one clearly larger than the other. One Councilor concluded that the smaller ones were females, but Ron objected.

"We can't make that assumption," he said. "In fact, we can't assume they have two sexes."

"Ron's right," Susan Renko added. "They may not have sexes at all. On Earth, only the simplest creatures use asexual reproduction, but this isn't Earth. On the other hand, this whole 'village' grouping may be a single sexual unit. We just don't know."

"I would remind the Councilor," Ken added, "that this is the reason this trip has been approved as necessary. I admit, though, that I'm no longer very hopeful about their sentience, if 'hopeful' is the word."

The smallest airship would be used, since it was quieter than any of the aircraft, and would be able to get to within a klick of the 'village' without entering its line-of-sight. At that point, it would drop off the Explorers, who would continue on foot. This time, the Explorers would be carrying stabilizer as well as the clearing spray; Denis and Vito would be equipped with shoulder lasers, and would stop at the edge of the inlet Ron had discovered before. Following Ron's previous trail, they would establish clear, stabilized firing positions on the marshy soil. Ron, meanwhile, would follow the riverbank and enter the 'village', covered by Denis and Vito's lasers. He wore his hand laser as well as his weapons belt. The belt also supported a cloth bag containing an assortment of gaudy objects the colonists hoped would appeal to primitive sentients.

The airship made short work of the 50 klicks between the colony and the 'village', and Ron ruefully thought of the two weeks their original expedition had taken. Ron waited while Denis and Vito spent over an hour making their way to places that gave them clear views of the 'village' and its inhabitants. Then he started warily down the riverbank. He was well aware that there were both land and water-based predators that would be interested in such easy-looking prey. That fact had not escaped the observers back at the colony, either. The bird-camera circled overhead, scanning for threats.

In an effort to appear non-threatening, Ron was clad only in his shorts, weapons belt, minus bolo, and moccasins. He carried no pack, but carried a hand laser in his hand. During his final approach to the 'village', he would abandon the laser; he wanted to appear in the village unarmed except for his precious belt knife. Denis and Vito would be his protection.

But the approach was uneventful. He also carried a small canister of spray, which he used liberally on the riverbank vegetation. It would join his laser in concealment. Finally, he reached the tramped-down clearing containing the village. As he hid the laser and canister, Ron commented to the observers that there had been no effort made to establish or maintain the clearing; it was simply the result of many feet trampling the grasses over time.

Straightening, he took a deep breath and switched off the earbud connecting him to the colony. He could not afford to be distracted by kibitzers! "Denis, Vito, are you in position?"

"In position," Vito replied crisply.

"Say the word, and we'll clear the place out," was Denis's reply.

"Let's not," Vito said. "It might make their relatives in the big city just over the horizon mad enough to come clear
us
out!" Vito was a 'believer', and was certain they would encounter an advanced culture on Crashlanding. Denis enjoyed tweaking him about it, as typified by his comment, ostensibly to Ron, but obviously meant to be overheard. Vito tolerated Denis' teasing with good humor.

"Enough!" Ron subvocalized. His jaw transmitter let the others hear as though he were speaking normally. "We've got business. I think I've been seen."

Ron had walked a meter or so into the cleared area and stopped. He merely stood, waiting for the creatures to notice him.

One of the smaller ones suddenly stopped, scurried around to face him, and began a loud hooting. Instantly, all the others in the clearing froze for a moment, and then began scurrying madly about.

The smaller creatures fled away from the intruder, but the larger ones formed a line, interposing themselves between the possible threat and the smaller ones. They began hooting loudly. Then they scurried forward about a meter and stopped, again hooting loudly.

When Ron failed to react, they repeated their performance again and again in an obvious display of aggression. Finally, at about five meters distance, they stopped. Silence fell, and Ron squatted down, hoping to appear less threatening.

One of the creatures, the largest, scurried forward about a meter, and then stopped. Ron reached into his bag and, not daring to take his eyes from the leader, removed a shiny silver object. A good choice, he decided when he raised it into his line of vision. It was part of a paving machine, but it was essentially a highly-polished fire lighter. Ron tossed it nearly to the approaching creature.

There was much chittering among the creatures, but after a long moment, the creature extended a wicked-looking pincer and picked up the lighter. It brought the lighter close to its face, where it was examined by large, wide-set eyes. Then the creature brought the lighter to its mouth and tried to bite it. Unsuccessful, it merely tossed the lighter aside, and, hooting madly, charged.

Even if Ron had his hand laser, he could not have been fast enough to stop the creature. But a sudden bar of bluish light stabbed it from across the inlet, and it crashed to the ground.

There was a moment's hesitation, and then one of the other creatures approached the carcass. It nudged the corpse with a pincer, and when it got no response, it began madly ripping at the body of its former leader, tearing off bits of flesh and eating them.

It was quickly joined by the others, and it seemed Ron was completely forgotten. He slowly retreated until he could retrieve his laser and spray, and then he hurried back down the cleared lane toward their rendezvous point. With a sigh of resignation, he switched on the earbud that connected him to the colony.

A spirited discussion was underway in the background, but Ron ignored it. "Please get the airship back here as soon as possible," he said. "Once they finish their meal, they might decide to pursue. Denis, Vito, I assume you're on your way back?"

"Coming," Vito replied, "On my way," was Denis' contribution, and a few moments later both emerged from the two-meter-tall grasses, just as the airship appeared. They scrambled aboard, and the airship lifted for home. There was no sign of pursuit.

"I'm no biologist," Susan Renko commented to the Council, "But I would say that conclusively answers that."

"Didn't several primitive tribes on Earth practice cannibalism?" asked James Peters. "I'm not sure that settles anything."

Susan nodded. "Yes, cannibalism was not unknown on Earth among primitives," she replied. "But from what I've read, it was typically a form of ritual, an effort to gain the strength or courage of the deceased." She shuddered. "For these things, it was just an easy meal. I assume you noticed that they completely forgot about Ron when food became available."

"And once the leader's body was consumed," she continued, "they simply returned to their normal activities. Apparently, they didn't even remember Ron's appearance. No, these things are definitely not sentient. I think we can move on without concern."

"I agree," Ken put in. He had been expecting this result, and had been planning. "And we have a lot to move on to. As Susan said, she is a
micro
biologist, and not a biologist, or
exo
biologist, to be more precise. Well, it now appears we
need
an exobiologist. And that's not the only skill we need.

"As you all know, I had to bully Dr. Bono into releasing Lars Norstrom to light duty, because he was the only colonist with any knowledge of handling radioactives. We now have a colony of over five thousand, and with every crop, less and less hand work is required to provide our food. I'm told that our farms could now operate with fewer than a thousand workers, if necessary. So, we find ourselves with a surplus of farm labor and maintenance workers, and a severe shortage of skilled scientists, technicians, and craftsmen."

He shifted his glance to James Peters. "It can no longer be argued that the colony's survival depends solely upon our ability to produce food. I propose that we establish a committee to analyze our needs and create a list of desirable and understaffed specialties that will help us move from a survival mode to a
living
mode, and that we begin an aggressive recruiting campaign to fill those requirements."

"So moved," Vlad shouted.

"Second!" Helen Montero echoed within seconds.

The conservative bloc, represented by Peters, proposed that if population surplus to present needs existed, it should be used to create a standing army, to defend them from whatever threats Crashlanding harbored.

But it was a lost cause. The conservative faction had ruled the colony for almost a quarter century by keeping the colony operating in crisis or survival mode, and discarding any efforts to progress. But even the most insular personality must now notice that their world was expanding of necessity, and that people with skills and training were required if the colony was to continue to develop. Even two of Peters' conservatives voted for Vlad's motion.

Vlad, Helen, Lee and even the ailing Sun convened in Ken's office after the meeting. Ken breathed a huge sigh of relief, and grinned triumphantly. "At last!" He crowed. "We can finally begin doing what we
should
have been doing since the ship landed."

Vlad chuckled. "I'm not sure 'landed' is the word. We
did
have a few distractions along the way, you'll recall."

Ken chuckled. "Well, okay, a few, I'll admit. But now, people are tired of this management by crisis, and we can begin building a future on Crashlanding.

"Vlad, have you and Frank come up with a list of the mining investigation team?"

Vlad shook his head. "Almost. We're having a problem, though. One of the most experienced Earthborn miners is Jorge Fuentes, and he won't sign on. Since we only have two other experienced Earthborns, and he was a shift supervisor in a lead mine, I think we could really use his knowledge, but he won't even discuss it."

Ken frowned. "I'll talk to him. How are the other preparations coming?"

"Pretty well," Vlad replied, "The Medium airship is just about loaded. With all that equipment and a dozen people, it's going to be pretty crowded.

"By the way," he added, "The R65C has been installed on the big airship. Now, we're waiting for Lars and Jana to complete their certifications so they can fuel the thing. That is one
heavy
machine. There's not a whole lot of capacity left. Frank and Angel have been studying how to operate it."

Ken nodded. "Good. I was afraid Frank would insist on operating it himself, and he's going to be busy." He paused. "I may have to sit on him. He's starting to want to be involved in every scientific project we mention."

Vlad chuckled. "I know the type. Can't stand the idea that something's going on they don't know about." He shrugged. "At least he doesn't try to put his name on others' work. Susan has
very
strong feelings about that particular offense."

"You would, too," Helen put in, "if that was why EarthGov shipped you out. I'll bet I've heard that story a dozen times."

Vlad chuckled. "Only a dozen?"

Ken waved a dismissal. "Lee, do you think we'll have much trouble getting Planetborn volunteers to train for science and technology jobs?"