Exiled to the Stars (69 page)

Susan nodded. "Have you sent a sample back to the colony?"

Rosa shook her head. "Not yet. Denis…the Major ordered a breathing apparatus so we can collect one, but it hasn't come yet. Do you have wilderness boots and safety gloves? If not, we probably have spares."

"Oh, yes. I would never think of going into the field without the proper equipment."

While they were chatting and getting acquainted, Denis was introducing Vlad to his own escort.

"There's really not much danger in there," He said. "None of the native life seems to have gotten in over the years. Of course, we've opened it now, and there's always the chance of something getting through the perimeter and slipping into the city. But that's not very likely. Your escort, here, is along mostly for guiding and doing any manual tasks that need doing." He smiled. "I'm under strict orders from the Administrator to make sure you don't try to lift anything heavier than a beer bulb."

Vlad grinned. "Ken can be an old woman sometimes. I'm sure I'll be fine. And you can rest easy. I've always been too lazy for 'manual tasks'. I'll appreciate the help."

Denis smiled and nodded. "This is Captain Vito Carelli. He'll be your guide. We've tried to civilize him, but as you can see, it didn't really take. Still, we've taught him to walk upright, and to talk, though that
may
have been a mistake."

Vito stepped forward. Despite his Mediterranean name, Vito's heritage was clearly mostly Asian. But his grin was wide and welcoming. "You'll have to excuse the Major," he said. "Sometimes his jealousy of my polish, regal bearing, and obvious good breeding overwhelms his manners." He bowed slightly, his expression sobering. "It is indeed an honor to meet you sire, and to work with you." He turned to the younger man next to him. "And this, sire, is Corporal Ras Darpee. He's Raj's son, but we try not to hold that against him. He will be our hewer of wood and drawer of water. He'll also be our gofer, if we need one." He shrugged. "We've put repeaters in the tunnel and cavern, so we have comms, but they still don't work in the buildings. So Ras, here, will carry messages back and forth, and 'go fer' anything we need."

Vlad forced a smile. The term 'gofer' had been old when he first heard it as a child. But Vito obviously thought it fresh and funny. He stretched out a hand to shake that of the compact, but muscular young man.

"Vito and Ras were on the team that discovered Site One," Denis said. "They may be able to help if any questions come up."

Vlad smiled. "You were also on that team, weren't you, Major?"

Denis nodded. "Well, yes, sire, but I won't be with you as much as they will."

Vlad nodded. "Well, gentlemen, I've already packed a few things I might need, so I'm ready to go." He reached for the small pack he'd prepared, but Ras snatched it up. Vlad mounted his electric tricycle and started for the city, moderating his pace to match the man-powered vehicles.

Work crews of Explorers had swept the tunnel clear of dust, and daily effort kept it clear, but there was no hope of clearing the city, of course. Vito slowed their pace even more as they once again reached the carpet of dust. "Even these skinny wheels can kick up a pretty good cloud, if you're moving too fast," he explained. The once-smooth blanket of dust was now quickly filling with ruts and footprints, all pressing it down and solidifying it. With a few years' traffic, perhaps the dust would compress into solid dirt, at least on the trail to the central tower. Vito hoped so; this would be a years-long mission, and the dust was a real pain.

Vlad frowned. "Have you thought about oiling the dust? Back on Earth, they used to spray oil on dirt roads to keep the dust down. It might be a little messy at first, but a few coats of oil might turn this 'flour' into a crust."

Vito's eyebrows rose. "I don't think I've ever heard anyone mention that," he replied. "I'll mention it to the Major. Maybe he'll want to run it up the chain. We're going to be here for years, and the dust is a never-ending problem."

Vlad spent the entire first day going over the central octagon with a magnifying glass, hoping to find a line too fine to be seen by the naked eye. However, the only lines he saw were at the 'corners' of the octagon, and none of those seemed to offer any sort of release or grip purchase.

He spent the second day crawling through dust to study the cubicles that encircled the central octagon. He wasn't certain what he was looking for, but he knew that he didn't find it. There were no wires, no indication at all of any connection to the octagon. Each cubicle contained a tablet thing. Vito told him that these were rather different from the ones at Site One, and a dispirited Vlad took one back to the dome to examine it more closely. He also called up images of the tablet things from Site One, and carefully noted the differences.

He spent the entire next day in the dome, examining and trying to analyze the tablet thing. There were plenty of images of the Site One tablet things. Dozens had been brought back to the colony, and scientists, would-be scientists, and techs had examined them exhaustively.

Both Vlad's and the Site One tablet things seemed monolithic; there was not even the faintest line to mark a separation. X-rays had shown only what seemed to be black dots suspended in a liquid matrix.

When they cut one apart, though, it was filled with filaments which closely resembled spiderweb, not liquid. Thousands of the black dots were strung along these filaments, slightly more than a millimeter apart. The owners' resemblance to spiders had naturally led to a theory that the filaments were, indeed, spun by the spider people themselves. But Michiko was insisting that though it contained an organic component, the substance was almost certainly artificial.

Vlad called Susan over, and she examined the scientists' observations and Michiko's published analysis, and then called Michiko. They talked for over an hour.

"I could give you the long song and dance, Vlad," Susan reported. "But I can summarize it in three words. 'We don't know'. We didn't find anything in the bodies that we could identify as spinnerets, but then, they may have turned to dust like the other organs. I would suspect that if they retained the ability to spin web, it was probably a throwback, a degenerate ability.

Vlad frowned. "I dunno, honey. Maybe at one time this place was
full
of web. If it was as long ago as those bodies indicate, the web would have decayed into…Hey! We need to analyze that dust!

Susan's eyebrows rose. "An excellent point, Vlad. We'll have the Explorers collect some samples from undisturbed dust. Maybe we
could
identify an organic component." She turned to smile at Vlad, only to find him looking discouraged.

He shook his head and sighed. "That's great, honey. But it doesn't help me. Even if the place was one huge web, it would just be an interesting footnote in
my
research.
Maybe
those black dot things inside the tablet things
are
some kind of memory module. But if so, how can I prove it? How can I access it? Otto Gratz tried to run a microcurrent through one of the filaments, but they disintegrate at the first touch, current or not." He slammed a fist on the desk before him. "I've been up here for
days
, and I still don't know any more than I did the first day!"

Susan was familiar with the frustration he was feeling, of course. They were trying to study a technological civilization that could produce a power source capable of lasting thousands of years; but they'd left no written records. Or, if they had, the records had long ago turned to dust. The only writing samples they had were labels on machines and what they hoped were memory modules.

Of course, if the tower really
was
a library, there were probably thousands, maybe
millions
of pages of records on those memory modules.
If
they could learn to read them!

Poor Vlad! He was like a starving man holding a can that
might
be full of delicious, nutritious food, and he had no can opener!

And of course they could be wrong. Maybe the spider people didn't use computers, or things like computers. Or perhaps their computers were somehow organic, and decomposed away. The can could contain no food at all, just sand.

She hugged his shoulders. "Tell you what, honey. Tomorrow I'll go up there with you, and we'll
both
try to 'think outside the box'. No mystery can stand up to the combined intellects of
both
Doctor Renkos!"

His answering smile was weak, but he allowed Susan to lead him from his desk to their main dome for a quick meal. He began to relax as they moved outside the dome to the chairs the Explorers had made for them, to enjoy the sunset. They sat outside for over an hour after darkness fell, just holding hands and being together. By the time they went inside, they were arm in arm, and Vlad was smiling.

Chapter 28

Thirdmonth 12, Year 40 A.L.

They were preparing to leave for the city the next morning when Vlad's tablet reported an incoming call from Ron Creding.

Ron looked excited, and after the usual pleasantries, he got to the point. "We think you might be onto something with your oiling idea," he began. "Ken is sending a tank of thickened biodiesel up to Site One. They'll try it on some of the remoter areas.

"But that's not what I really called about. I remembered something that might just help you up there, Doc. You remember when I went through my 'believer' phase, right?"

Vlad grinned. He remembered, all right. It had been a frequent subject for kidding and teasing for over a year.

Ron grimaced. "I see you do remember. Well, you may not be laughing so hard any more. You remember that I was constantly reading all those old science fiction stories about first contacts and stuff.

"Well, Susan was talking to Elaine about the job you guys are doing up there, and the problems you were facing. It made me remember a story I read a long time ago. An old one. Atomic era, I think, but pre-spaceflight, and pre-computer. I just re-read it, and I'm sending it on to you."

Vlad shook his head. "Ron…"

"Hear me out, Vlad. The problem in the story is the same one you're facing there, except they didn't have computers. Anyway, it's only a short story. It's called 'Omnilingual', and it was written by a man named Piper. In the story they're doing archeological work on Mars, I think. Anyway, they're studying an advanced civilization, and the story goes into detail about how impossible it is to decipher unknown characters without some sort of key."

Vlad chuckled. "It sure is, Ron. But in our case, we've probably
got
the key, we just don't know how to use it.

"That's the point, Vlad," Ron said excitedly. "There
is
a key! Piper found it! Read the story, Vlad. It's short, and kind of simplistic, but it won't take more than an hour. Humor me."

Vlad nodded. "Okay, Ron. Susan has a few things to take care of this morning anyway. Send it up."

In seconds, the story appeared on Vlad's tablet, and in minutes, he was engrossed. Computers aside, the story did deal with almost exactly the problem he was facing. Besides, it was a good story.

Fighting down his excitement and impatience, Vlad called through to Angel at Site One as soon as he finished the story.

"Hello, Angel. I don't know if Ken's told you yet, but he's sent me up here to the city to see if I can figure out anything about this thing they found here. I'm supposed to figure out whether it's a computer, and if so, to see if I can figure out how it works. So, I thought I'd better check in with you, to see what you're doing."

The thunderous scowl that had begun forming on Angel's face faded somewhat when Vlad mentioned the computer. "Well, Vlad," he said, trying to keep his tone neutral, "We haven't found anything like that 'computer' thing here. We've been concentrating on learning about that power source." Obviously, Angel saw Vlad as a threat to his status as head scientist on the 'native project'.

Vlad ignored his scowl. "Well, of course you've got Wen Ho Jackson up here working on that, and I certainly won't want to interfere with his efforts. Have your people been in many of the buildings up there?"

Angel frowned. "Of course not. Oh, I sent some of the Explorers to look around for non-typical buildings, in case they might be related, and some of the people have been poking around a few of them in their spare time, but we really don't have time for that nonsense. We're trying to learn about their power source, and we're already in the building where it was controlled. I'm sure there will be others who will want to learn about how spiders lived, so I've cautioned everyone not to touch anything, but they will come later, and really, we're quite busy as it is."

Vlad nodded. "I see. Well, of course, my mission is quite different from yours. I'm afraid I'm going to have to countermand your order to the Explorers to stay out of the buildings. I'll need them to help me find things like schools and labs."

Angel shrugged, though he looked irritated. "If you wish. My order was merely a precaution."

Vlad smiled. "Yes. And who knows? If we can figure out their computer system, it may tell us all about the power systems."

Angel's return smile was weak. "Yes. Well, is there anything else I can tell you?"

Vlad shook his head. "I've been talking to Wen Ho, so I've got a rough idea where your research is going. I'll certainly keep my eyes open and contact Wen Ho if I learn anything relevant to your project."

"And I'll do the same, of course," Angel replied.

Minutes later, he was calling Ken. "Ken, the Explorers tell me they have orders to stay out of the buildings in the city."

Ken nodded. "Angel thought it might prevent damage or pilfering of 'souvenirs'," he replied.

"Well, I want you to countermand that order. I need to send every Explorer available into all the buildings. I've already cleared it with Angel."

"What?" Ken said, surprised. "Why?"

"Because I want them to find schools and labs." Vlad explained. "Ken, this was a technological civilization. That means we and they speak some of the same language. All we have to do is find it written down someplace."