Thousandstar (#4 of the Cluster series) (31 page)

"My kind is adept at fracturing rock," the Erb flashed.

"My kind can squeeze through almost any aperture, given time," Heem sprayed.

"There may be sections flooded with water," the Squam continued. "I do not care for water."

"No problem," Heem sprayed. "My kind can travel beneath water, so long as hydrogen is associated with it, and this is usually the case."

"There may be steep elevations and descents, or channels of hot lava, that can only be traversed by hauling over by means of a line, or other manual exercise. My own kind is apt at this sort of thing." The Squam paused, clicking a pincer in a signal of decision. "I believe, acting together, we can surmount most obstacles—if we trust one another."

"I do not trust the HydrO!" the Erb flashed.

"And I am not entirely at ease with you," the Squam replied. "And the HydrO is wary of me. Yet if we do not trust each other, none of us have a chance to win through to the Ancient site in time. We are not here to quarrel; we are here to bear our transferees to that site expeditiously. We would be reneging were we not to promote that interest first. I suggest that we need more than a guarded truce; we need confidence in each other. Else we dare not proceed together."

"It may be academic," Heem sprayed. "You have speculated caves in this ridge, but I taste none."

"Then I must prove myself. My study of the formation indicates a thin wall here." The Squam slithered to a slight indentation and tapped it with one pincer. "A smash by the tractor should break it open."

"I have enough fuel for several smashes," the Erb flashed. "I will try it."

She climbed into her vehicle. Jessica assimilated a picture of the roots of the plant twining up into crevices of the machine, tendrils clinging, maneuvering the creature up.

The tractor moved. It charged the wall, colliding. The stone face collapsed, and when the taste of dust cleared somewhat, Heem perceived the flavor of confined air escaping from the ground. There was indeed a cave there.

Still, Heem had doubts. "You have demonstrated your geological expertise," he sprayed. "But I have had bad experience with your kind before, and an Erb sabotaged a bridge I was about to cross. How can I be certain either of you are better than these?"

"Sabotage?" the Erb flashed. Jessica had finally formulated an image of this: the creature angled its leaf-vanes at the primary source of light, reflecting and concentrating beams to make the meaningful patterns. It could direct a beam at a specific receiver, such as the Squam's translator, or across an arc to include several entities. "Provide the identity of that individual, and he shall be subject to retribution of law."

"He occupies the last tractor on this trail," Heem jetted.

"What was the nature of your experience with my kind?" Sickh inquired.

Now Heem could not describe this without revealing his illegal memory. 'To hell with that!' Jessica exclaimed. 'Squams don't care about HydrO metamorphosis!'

True. Squams were of the more primitive species who did not metamorphose. "A Squam came to the valley where my prospective mate resided, and preyed on her sisters, and slew her."

"Squams do not belong in your valleys!" Sickh protested. "The Covenant of Impasse is most specific."

"This one came—and is now a host in this competition. We call him Slitherfear."

"That designation does not register with me," she said. "But I assure you, if I encounter that individual, I will seek a reckoning. We are civilized; we do not violate the covenant, or tolerate those who do."

"I find this credible," the Erb flashed.

'So do I,' Jessica said. 'I vote to trust her, Heem.'

"Because she is female?" he asked her cynically.

'No, that is no recommendation. Not all female Squams are alike, you know. It's just an intuition of mine. It makes sense that a sapient, technological species has ethical values too. There will be outlaws, of course—you are one yourself, and I am too, really—but mostly the individuals will be civilized, especially the highly educated ones. For us, this is a much better gamble than it would be
not
to cooperate, and wash out of the competition. So let's trust these ladies, and treat them fairly, following the golden rule.'

"Metallic law?" Heem inquired, not quite grasping the concept.

'Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.'

"I accept this," Heem sprayed externally.

"Then let us agree that we shall navigate this passage in company, and that no one of us will seek access to the Ancient site until all three are through the mountain ridge," the Squam said.

"Agreed," Heem sprayed and the Erb flashed. The Squam removed a length of metallic line from the Erb's tractor and wrapped it about the central portion of her body. Heem had to admit that this ability to grasp and carry things was a great asset in a situation like this. The Squam slithered into the aperture first. Heem was aware of the vibrations she made, scouting the interior by sound emanations and echoes. Heem followed, rolling down the slight incline, tasting the air in more detail. The Erb followed him, scuttling on her roots.

The air was moving. That meant the cave either had an exit elsewhere, or was so extensive that the natural processes of heating and cooling caused expansion and contraction of the air inside, therefore motion. Heem could not be sure from the flavor; it was all earth-interior taste, but with a certain strangeness.

The passage slanted almost directly into the ridge, then intersected another at right angles. This was odd; caves normally curved and changed without such precision.

The Squam halted. "Does the suspicion occur to you, companions?" she inquired, the translator spraying and flashing.

"This is no cave," the Erb flashed back. The translator emitted a steady interim glow that she could use for reflection, and this also helped her to perceive the cave. Heem knew this by the way she moved and reacted, and Jessica obligingly filled in the picture this way. The technical absence of light made no difference to Jessica's images, since they were recreated from background information and his taste-awareness. "It is artificial, but old, very old."

"Perhaps as old as the Ancients," Heem agreed.

"Had the map been accurate, I would have recognized its nature," the Squam said. "When I approached it in person, I became almost certain the ridge was artificial. It is possible that this entire structure is a monstrous earthwork thrown up by the Ancients. Do you agree?"

"The Ancients were great earthmovers," Heem agreed.

"My geological expertise becomes suspect, here," Sickh said. "There could be danger of collapse, in an unnatural structure."

"It has remained intact for three million years, it should remain a day longer," Heem sprayed. "And if we have here access to the Ancient site—an access the Competition Authority is not aware of—"

"It would not be valid," the Erb flashed. "This is not a competition of discovery, but of dominance. The Star who first reaches the designated site will assume legal control of it. We must strive for that spot." She paused. "In addition, this is not a true Ancient site. The structure is not typical of recorded examples. I could detail this—"

"No need," Heem sprayed. "You are the expert on the Ancients."

"Then let us continue," the Squam decided. "We may have a more ready access than we had hoped."

They continued. After a time the passage leveled out. Then it debouched into a huge chamber, larger than the lava-bubble, level on the floor and vaulted in the ceiling.

"This place is considerable," the Squam said. "But barren."

Heem agreed. His taste detected no boundaries to it other than the near one. 'Must have been a storage room,' Jessica hazarded. 'Maybe a barracks for their troops.'

"But if this is not of Ancient construction—"

'But there
is
an Ancient site nearby. Maybe the Ancients took over a building built by a prior species.'

"A species prior to the Ancients?"

'There
were
other creatures! We just call the highly technological one the Ancients, for convenience.'

They continued across, and in due course found a passage leading away from the opposite wall. But it slanted down, not up. "I distrust this," the Squam said.

So did Heem. The competition objective would be on the surface. At this rate, they could pass right under it— and lose the competition.

Yet where could they go, except on? To backroll and follow the tractor trail now would be ruinously slow.

Then the passage slope increased, dropping abruptly into water. 'Oh, no!' Jessica moaned. 'The sewer system!'

"This appears to be a drainage conduit," the Erb flashed. "The Ancients did not employ such devices."

"My transferee agrees," the Squam said. "Many older civilizations have employed such systems, but the Ancients do not seem to have utilized liquids in sufficient quantity to require any drainage system. However, this seems typical of a configuration we recognize, in which case there should be access vents on both sides of a submerged conduit."

"I will investigate," Heem sprayed. He rolled past the Squam and into the water. The taste was old, yet not stagnant; there was some circulation, and enough dissolved gas to sustain him. This water had originated on the surface not long ago; perhaps it was the residual drainoff of a recent storm. Into what lower chamber it might flow he could not guess.

Then he encountered a network of metal. It was a grate, preventing access by large objects. He shoved at it, but the thing was secure. No passage for travelers here! He himself might squeeze through it, slowly, reforming his tissues on the far side, but neither Squam nor Erb could do that. 'And we are not going to leave them stranded,' Jessica reminded him firmly.

He rolled back, emerging into the air passage. Jessica, filling in illumination in her mental image where there was none, showed the Squam and Erb, waiting expectantly for the news.

"The way is barred," Heem reported. "The flavor of the water indicates access to other air passages beyond, but there is current and the taste of other grates. I might pass, but you cannot."

"My sonar indicates no more direct route toward the Ancient site than this," Sickh replied. "We must force passage. Windflower, are you able to function beneath water?"

"I am," the Erb replied. "In fact, my roots are dry, and in need of immersion. I will force passage through the gate."

"Then if you will accompany Heem to that grate, he will lead you beyond it to the next exit to air."

'Know what?' Jessica remarked. 'She is using our given names, and that makes us seem more like people than like alien creatures. That Squam is really trying to get us to work together.'

"I do not like being alone with the HydrO," the Erb protested.

"Heem's needles can not harm you in water," the Squam pointed out.

"True!" Windflower flashed, surprised.

"If you will also carry the end of this cable, you can draw me through to air," the Squam continued. "I am unable to function effectively or endure long immersion. I must inhale oxygen and other gases to sustain my life processes."

"In addition to eating?" Heem inquired.

"We all have our failings," the Erb flashed tolerantly.

The Squam accepted these remarks with excellent grace. "My life will be in your care."

The Erb, encouraged, fastened a loop of line about her main stem and moved to the water. Heem followed.

At the grating, the Erb twined her roots into the sediment below, anchoring herself more securely than any animal could, then closed her petals into the formidable power-wedge. The drill rotated and shoved forward into the grate. There was a skin-shocking vibration, and the bars ripped out of their moorings. No wonder Squams were afraid of Erbs! Heem had known intellectually that the plants had good torque, but had never imagined the extent of it personally.

Windflower dropped the twisted grate into the deeper water ahead. It sank down into the crosschannel, and Heem tasted the flavors of the sediment it stirred up. Soon he had a clear picture—Jessica's image was helpful again—of the whole local section of this intersection. He rolled himself down into the other conduit, flattening himself against the current, and came up into the mouth of the pipe on the opposite side. The grate here was firm, too.

The Erb joined him. But now there was a problem. The gate was too high for her to reach from the floor of the large conduit, when her drill was formed. Heem could not communicate with her linguistically, in the absence of the translator, but tasted the problem clearly. They were balked again.

'Could she stand on you?' Jessica inquired. There it was! Weight was not much of a factor, here in immersion. If the timid Erb would trust him enough...

Heem nudged down beside Windflower's roots. She yanked them out of contact as if burned. He flattened his base, fitting it to the caked floor of the conduit, and humped his body. And stayed there, motionless.

The Erb was intelligent. Soon she realized what he was offering. Tentatively she touched him with a root. Heem remained firm. She brought another root. Finally she climbed on top of him, anchoring her roots uncomfortably in his soft skin. He did not like this contact any better than she did. Yet there was an alien delicacy in Wind-flower's touch that had a strange appeal.

'She's female,' Jessica said. 'Males like the female touch, and you
are
a soft touch for—if I were only physical—' She stopped, having reminded herself of the futility of such speculation.

"In Solarian hosts—people touch closely?" Heem inquired. "Not merely jetting each other from a distance, but making tight contact—like this?"

'They do. Not precisely like this, as we don't have physical roots, but close, yes. It is called an embrace.'

"Disgusting!" Heem said involuntarily.

She laughed. 'It really can be a lot of fun, Heem; you'd know that, if you could ever try it.'

"Perhaps," he agreed, becoming curious. After what he had learned about the alien sense of sight, and about cooperation with assorted alien creatures, he was becoming more liberal about alien values.