Jupiter's Reef (27 page)

“Wait a minute, Professor,” said Alex. “These creatures live in darkness, right? I mean except for the lightning and the biolumin, whatever. My point is that light that’s invisible to us may be visible to them. They probably see in the infrared.”

The Professor groaned. “God,” he said. “You might be right.”

“But maybe we can use the normal floods. Maybe they can’t see them,” offered Alex.

“Well, they see the lightning and the other luminous critters ...” said Tony, rubbing his eyes.

“Those emit in the infrared, too,” said Mary. “They probably don’t see each other the way we see them.”

“My guess is that they’ll see us no matter what illumination we choose,” said Johnny. “Nice to see us come through that one without an argument.”

Alex raised an eyebrow. “The reef ... dead ahead. Lights.”

Johnny switched on
Diver
’s forward running lights.

“Look out reef here comes the tiger man,” said Alex.

“What do you mean by that?” asked Mary.

“You know what I mean. The man who’s gotta go in and grab ’em by the tail. Me.”

“No you don’t!” she said. She looked to the rear of the cabin. Contented at the sight of her kitten fast asleep, Mary swiveled her chair back to its forward position.

The clouds parted and
Diver
entered the clear space. In the distance nearly hidden by haze was the glowing reef, or at least a small patch of it. It looked like a city lit in blue-green light.

“If you shut off the lights, Johnny, we’d see it better,” said Alex.

Johnny didn’t argue. A moment later
Diver
fully emerged from the clouds into the clear space. The last tendrils of clouds clung to the aft balloons.

“Time to open the flaps.” said Johnny.

“How is that done?”

“Tony has the control,” said the Professor, looking at Tony expectantly.

Sciarra touched a panel then pressed a button with his thumb. There was a hard jolt and a hiss as large aerodynamically shaped air bags inflated along the forward and rear edges of the ship’s short delta wings.
Diver
responded by lifting noticeably.

“Heating the helium,” said Tony. “We can back off the lifters a bit and then goose the antigrav.”

Alex and Tony coordinated their efforts and soon
Diver
floated above the reef; silent and presumably unseen.

Everyone was tired and needed sleep, but the vista revived them all. Tony was out of his chair immediately to get a better view. He rested his elbow against the back of Alex’s chair and gazed at the holographic panorama.

“Your recordings didn’t do it justice,” he said.

Around them, extending in all directions, lay the dark weblike matrix that glowed with soft light; pulsing in some places, glowing brighter in others. The longer they watched, the more it seemed like they were viewing a city from a great altitude. Here and there small clusters of luminous activity completed the illusion of busy city streets and bustling centers of commerce. Yet while the illusion of a civilization was pervasive, the reef was a bizarre and alien place.

Suddenly the blood red glow of a distant lightning bolt illuminated, if only for a brief moment, the immensity of the reef. Then another bolt somewhere behind the ship bathed the scene in dazzling pink light.

After the flash the reef around them fell into darkness. Then before Tony could ask why the reef had gone dark, a few brave local reef creatures turned on their lights and resumed their mysterious activities.

“I’d forgotten about the cycle of light,” said Johnny. “The lightning induced pulse, you called it, of the reef. This is very interesting.”

“I can’t imagine how this evolved,” said Alex. “But it’s true everywhere we went. The super-bolts of lightning make the creatures near them extinguish their lights. Then the hummers come back.”

“Oh yeah,” said Tony, “The hummers. Hey, shouldn’t we be listening on the speakers?”

Alex switched on the external mikes, and the sound that filled the cabin made Tony stiffen. Alex turned up the volume and sat back to listen.

Diver
floated about a hundred meters above a broad sloping arm of the reef. It seemed to be an anchor point for several cables that presumably tethered to the giant gas bag animals above the clouds. As they drifted past, lightning struck one of the cables and a river of white fire flashed down through the fibrous material and dispersed into the reef, like the glowing roots of a giant tree.

Johnny commented that the material around the cluster of cables looked devoid of life. Indeed, when Alex looked closely, the material that held the giant tree trunks was dark and seemed to lack the glowing life that abounded elsewhere.

“Maybe the cables take lots of lightning hits,” suggested Tony.

Johnny looked out of his bubble at Tony. “Not bad,” he said. “Nothing would want to live there. Makes sense.”

The breeze that carried them picked up speed and moved them downward toward the reef. Alex sensed the change and called out a warning. He gripped the drive stick ready to take action, but Johnny said to keep drifting. “Let’s see where it takes us,” he said.

Alex was going to protest but he understood Johnny’s tactic. “You think that if we let the wind carry us into the reef ...” began Alex.

“...we might not seem so intrusive to the creatures that live there.” said Mary.

“What is it with you two?” said Tony, looking back and forth at Alex and Mary.

“Peas in a pod,” said Alex.

“Like minds,” said the Professor.

“Something like that,” said Alex.

Part 7

1
As I understood it,” said the Professor, “the holes in the reef, those channels you went into and came out of during your visit, they all had warm air coming out of them. They were ...”

“Exits for giant rivers of air,” said Alex, talking to Johnny, but keeping an eye the holographic vision that surrounded him. They were nearing the mouth of a great opening under the top ledge of reef. The airflow seemed to be pulling
Diver
right into it.

Johnny was using one of the cameras to get extreme close up views of the reef. Its image blended into the global wall that surrounded Alex and Mary, like a blister in an otherwise seamless illusion. The bulging closeup distracted him, appearing in his peripheral vision like an arm of the reef reaching for them or an imposing eye just inches from his left shoulder.

Alex was self conscious too, because Tony and Mary, while watching the closeup, seemed to be staring at him. But he managed to shake off the distractions and concentrate on piloting
Diver
as it moved steadily into the cave. He had powered up the ship’s engines in case they needed to make a quick getaway.

As they neared the yawning chasm Alex realized that he was becoming afraid, although he couldn’t say precisely why. But it was plain to him that everyone was tense, and it seemed as if their proximity to the reef had something to do with it.

He dismissed the notion, telling himself that he was just nervous. After all, this was a big, and famous, mission. And his job was to get them to the reef.

Natural to get the dings
, he thought.

But the moment he focused his mind on the world they were entering, he was overwhelmed by the feeling that the reef had changed since they were last here.

Alex gripped the drive stick so hard his knuckles whitened. His arm quivered slightly. Mary looked at him somberly. She bit her beautiful lower lip, then her eyes moved back to the closeup that hovered near Alex’s left hand. Alex tried to read her face but he couldn’t tell if she felt it too. He was going to ask her about it when, from the rear of the cabin, Mary’s kitten started crying for food. Babies strained at the thin cable that tethered her to the wall. Mary rose from her chair.

“Poor babies,” she cooed. “You’re a hungry baby, aren’t you?” The kitten matched her, sentence for sentence, with hungry pleas.

Tony watched Mary bounce in the low gee to the rear of the cabin. The kitten jumped into the air and landed in her arms.

“It’s a question of who owns who, I think,” said Tony. “That cat, or Mary Seventeen.”

“Remains to be seen,” said Alex, wishing Mary hadn’t chosen that moment to be out of her seat. He thought to suggest that she remain in her seat for a while, but elected not to alarm her.

“Carbon filaments,” said Johnny, all of a sudden. “I’ll have to get samples, but I’m guessing a buckyball molecular structure with polymerized protein lace work. I can’t find any discrete sections,” he continued. “It’s all one piece.”

Unsure of what to say, Alex asked Johnny if he expected an answer.

Johnny fell silent. Tony looked at Alex and smiled.

“He’s emoting,” he said. Then his eyes returned to the enlargement to their left. “It looks like sod to me.”

“Sod isn’t transparent ... with glowing worms,” said Alex.

“There are plenty of glowing things on Earth, though,” said Johnny.

A crackling voice came over the speakers. Mary had put through the transmission using her own neural transmitters. Alex recognized the voice of Captain Wysor. “... nwall ta Diva’ ... tas Diva’ ... ack on line with a’ pommy ’verter ... solar blow was big ... a’ tha ... local com link’n to ... rad levels ’r havin’ fun with ...” The transmission throbbed in static-blurred waves.

Mary tried to return the call. She put her finger to her temple and frowned in concentration.

“I have them,” said Johnny, his voice resonating in his bubble. “I’m already broadcasting our virtual link. Hope it works.”

Tony shook his head doubtfully. But the transmission quality suddenly changed. It was mushy and faded in and out, but at least now they could hear what the man was saying.

Alex pushed the com to speak. “Owsya, skippa’ Wyza’,” he said.

“Ows backatcha, Alex,” said the Captain. “Loud’n’clea heah!”

“Good,” continued Alex. “We’re goin’ into the reef. Following a slipstream. Do you see the cavern? Is Matt on line?”

“I’m here,” said the voice of Matt Howarth.

“Me too,” added Warren and Tsu.

“Greetings,” said Tony. “Glad you’re still with us.”

“So you’re okay. Good,” said Matt.

“He didn’t say that, but we are,” said the Professor. “Is the reception okay?”

“We’re directly overhead,” said Howarth. “The signal should degrade from this point. Good time to test the link ... computers ... gain bounce could compensate. You think?”

“Watchin’ it,” said Tony.

“Is that a cave? This is absolutely incredible! What are those lights? Oh, the biolumin ... ohhh coool! This is
it
!”

“I can tell you’re getting the transmission,” said Johnny with a laugh. “What happened with the solar storm? All of your ... all of Captain Wysor’s message was garbled.”

“He was just reporting that we had some equipment failures,” answered Matt. “Had to linkup with a repair ship. These Gannys are the fastest mechanics I’ve ever seen.

“Life ’r death, me frien’. Life ’r death,” said Wysor. “Make ya move quick.”

“Icing ... mining ice is cold work,” explained Matt. “These bastards are expert snow bunnies. In and out. Impressive.”

As predicted, the signal from the Ganny ship faded as time passed. Everyone tried to make their questions and answers count, and Alex thought that despite the touch and go nature of their mission, they were doing well. He noticed Mary’s mood was considerably lightened. She was smiling and alert and seemed to have found new confidence in the mission.

While they’d had their chat with their compatriots aboard
Cornwall
, they had entered the cave and were moving along a river of air that slipped underneath an overhanging layer. For a while the reef material to their left was uneven, with large open gaps that
Diver
might easily slip through should they decide to leave the reef. The spaces were like rude tears in curtains of moss in a primeval swamp.

Watching the strange wall pass by, Tsu, aboard
Cornwall
, remarked that, because the reef glowed and the open spaces were dark, she felt like she was outside rather than inside the reef. “This is incredible. I wish this link could last just a few more minutes,” she moaned as the first signs of breakup began.

“How’s the link holding up, Matt?” asked Tony in a loud voice.

“We have the signal locks ... it looks like we’ll have you strong at ten times your depth. With the new intensifiers, maybe deeper.”

“Did you detect a drop in signal when we entered the cave?”

“Some. Maybe a tenth of a percent.”

A wave of static cut the link between the two ships. It lasted a few seconds, then the virtual link reestablished itself. But because the signal required computer interpretation, the image was either on or off. And toward the end it was off more than on. The radio chatter that endured after the holographic link was severed was full of angry complaints about the brevity of the hookup. Matt called it “Researchus Interruptus”. But Warren and Tsu weren’t at all amused. Tsu even said she felt cheated, and Warren could be heard in the background, adding “useless and violated” to the sentiment.

“Violated?” whispered Alex. But he had to sympathize as he watched the reef move by. Even though he’d seen the reef before, the wonder of it amazed him. It reminded him of microscopic life in some pond scum.

Floating with the river of cool air seemed to make
Diver
blend into the reef system. Few animals, if that’s what they were seemed intruded upon. In fact most went about their mysterious business; prowling in, on, around, and through the reef. And hovering just inches above the surface of the reef was the reason for the glow. Billions of flies, a mist of blue-green light.

Alex wondered if the brief transmission time between the ships might just confuse the folks above, rather than enlighten them. There was too much to see.

Johnny echoed his concerns.

“I guess I thought we’d have more time,” he remarked. “The data transfer is fast enough but there’s hardly time enough to explain what we’re seeing.”

“There’s no time,” said Sciarra. “They get a quick peek at what we’re seeing, then they have to interpret it to ask questions, let alone make suggestions. How are they going to act as consultants under these conditions?”