Part 13 (1/2)
”You're not so special,” said the non-speckled one raising his pull-pike that he used to bring down fruits from the taller plants.
”That's enough ofthat,” Qui-Qui hollered from a distance. ”You younglings are acting just like a bunch of hatchlings.”
07:12:02 GMT TUESDAY 21 JUNE2050.
While Hohmann-Transfer was busy with her scrollwork, some of her eyes noticed that one of the stars in the sky was rapidly growing in size. She let the scroll roll up and went to the command deck as the star grew larger and larger. By the time she got there, she could see the yellow-white speck in front of the star. It was the last of the large interstellar exploration s.h.i.+ps, the Abdul Nkomi Farouk. Now, all that were left out in interstellar s.p.a.ce were a few scout s.h.i.+ps.
”East Pole s.p.a.ce Station calling Abdul,” said Hohmann-Transfer. There was nearly two methturns delay while the signal traveled across the 30 kilometers that separated them. During the wait the spinor warp drives on Abdul were turned off and the star receded back into the heavens, while the s.h.i.+p stayed in orbit around Egg.
”This is Captain Searching-Eye of the interstellar exploration s.h.i.+p Abdul reporting to base as ordered.
Captain Far- Ranger and Admiral Steel-Slicer were given the last positions of our two scout s.h.i.+ps and were still searching for them when we left Here X-l. What is the status of things on Egg? We are all concerned.”
”Terrible,” said Hohmann-Transfer. ”We are reduced to depending upon the capabilities of an entertainer, and she has been able to do nothing for two dozen greats of turns. I am calling a general meeting as soon as you get here.”
The main meeting bowl on East Pole s.p.a.ce Station was jammed with bodies. The larger a.s.sembly rooms elsewhere on the station were also crowded with concerned s.p.a.cers watching the video links to the main meeting bowl.
”It has now been two dozen greats of turns since the disastrous starquake destroyed civilization on Egg,”
Hohmann-Transfer began. ”I have done the best I can with the inadequate support from the surface, but the situation continues to look completely hopeless. The one engineer we had left on the surface flowed before we could save him. We are now reduced to training our own engineers with an entertainer as the teacher.”
”She is doing a good job under the circ.u.mstances,” said Cliff-Web. ”The problem is that without robots and other labor-saving machines, everyone on the surface has to spend a good deal of his time just keeping himself alive. We give them as much advice as possible, but the two-grethturn time delay in the communication link doesn't help.”
”How much longer will it be before they will be able to get a gravity catapult into operation?” someone asked.
”It all depends upon whether Qui-Qui can keep things under control down there and keep the cla.s.ses going,” said Cliff-Web. ”If she can, then by selecting out the ones most competent in gravitational engineering and keeping them free to go to cla.s.ses, we should soon have someone competent enough to go to the gravity catapult sites at the East and West Poles and tell us how bad the damage is.If the damage is not too bad, then it will only be another one or two dozen greats until we have trained a batch of engineers who can fix the damage, repair a power plant to run the catapult, and get it into operation.”
”You are talking about generations!” exclaimed Hohmann-Transfer. ”You didn't tell me that before! We can't wait that long!”
”I told you, but you wouldn't listen,” said Cliff-Web. ”And we have no alternative but to wait as many generations as it takes.”
”But we're getting older all the time. Without rejuvenation we will all be dead before they finis.h.!.+” said Hohmann-Transfer. ”You will have to make some rejuvenation machines.”
”You forget we are limited to the materials that we have on hand in the s.p.a.ce stations and s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps. I have had my engineers look into the problem. We could easily rework some of the metal in the less essential portions of the s.h.i.+ps into machines to produce the rejuvenation enzymes. But the actual process requires the use of a rare metal isotope. In the whole s.p.a.ce fleet there is just enough to make two machines, each capable of making enough enzyme for one person every three dozen greats. Basically, only two people can be kept alive by rejuvenation.”
”Then the rest will have to die!” said Hohmann-Transfer. ”What is the use of fixing the gravity catapult if there are only two people left to save?”
”We can't allow the s.p.a.ce contingent to die off to two people,” said Cliff-Web. ”The cheela on the ground have lost all their scrolls and all their technology. We need to keep the s.p.a.ce contingent at full strength. Since we don't have rejuvenation machines to make young cheela out of old ones, we will have to make younglings the old-fas.h.i.+oned way. I understand that it's not bad, once you get used to it.”
There were a number of amused rumbles from the audience, but they went right under the tread of Hohmann-Transfer.
”I don't understand,” she said.
”I am recommending that the medicos take selected personnel off their contraceptive drugs. Can't you just see it?” he said, his eye-stubs sweeping around the large meeting bowl. ”We could put the egg-pen down here at the bottom of the meeting bowl, with the hatchling pens stretching up the sides, and the creche-schools around the top.”
It was ultimately decided to proceed with the building of the two rejuvenation machines. It would be important to have some continuity as the collection of s.p.a.ce stations and s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps were converted into a s.p.a.ce colony. After much debate, Hohmann-Transfer and Cliff-Web were chosen to use the rejuvenation machines. The rest of the cheela were allocated one egg each, for the s.p.a.ce stations could not handle much more than a doubling in the population. Many cheela went through many greats of serious thought before they finally decided on their ”egg partner.”
07:15:16 GMT TUESDAY 21 JUNE 2050.
Qui-Qui was called to the communicator by one of the scribes, Quick-Writer.
”I am still copying a section of a maintenance manual for auxiliary power generators.” Quick-Writer told Qui-Qui when she arrived at the flyer. ”They inserted a message to you a few methturns ago asking that you come.”
Qui-Qui waited while Quick-Writer finished writing down the last words of the maintenance manual on the scroll in his neat script from the dictation 406 kilometers above. Quick-Writer then activated the video link. Some diagrams appeared on the screen. He copied them quickly, for the video link was extremely wasteful of energy. As soon as he was done, the link was switched back to audio only. There was a pause, then Cliff-Web came on the link.
”Our new s.p.a.ce Council has come to a decision,” said Cliff-Web. ”We feel that it is now time for you to go to the West Pole and undergo rejuvenation. Now, I know what you are probably thinking-that Zero-Gauss should be the one to go, since she is older. The problem with that is the rejuvenation robot has been unable to get more than one enzyme machine going. If we send Zero-Gauss now, then you can't go for some 36 greats. By then you would be close to 90 greats old and might flow before you could be rejuvenated. We decided we couldn't afford to lose you. You are the only one with the mixture of drive, determination, optimism, and charisma that is needed to keep the surface younglings concentrating on our joint goal, reunification of the clans of Egg. The vote was 288 to 1. I needn't tell you who the 'one' was.
As soon as you can, you are to travel to the West Pole, undergo rejuvenation, then return bringing the rejuvenation robot and the enzyme machine. The robot will be useful in getting some power generators running at Bright's Heaven and possibly repairing some of the other equipment.”
Qui-Qui acknowledged the message, then turned the communications link back to Quick-Writer. He started writing again as the dictation continued.
It took a few turns for Qui-Qui to get things organized so that she could be gone the half-great it would take for her to undergo rejuvenation. One of the engineering students, Coulomb-Force, removed the communicator and an acc.u.mulator from the flyer so the education of the cla.s.ses could continue.
Zero-Gauss was relieved that it wasn't she that had been chosen for rejuvenation, for she wanted nothing more than to be with her little ones. Now that there were adults to help take care of the older hatchlings and run the creche-cla.s.ses, she had nothing to do but hatch eggs and tell stories of the old days before the starquake.
As the flyer carrying Qui-Qui zoomed down the old road toward the West Pole, it pa.s.sed by a large herd of food Slinks. Speckle-Top was with the herd, teaching her herding cla.s.s. Everyone in the cla.s.s had speckles and at least one pink eye. She was teaching them things that were not found in the textbooks, like how to look at an animal with your special pink eyes and tell where it hurt, and how to approach an animal so that it would think you were a friend.
As Speckle-Top watched the flyer pa.s.s, an old worry began nagging her brain-knot. Every turn they came closer to fixing one of those gravity machines they kept talking about. Then down would come the s.p.a.cers and with them their laws. Then after that would come the clankers and their lashes. Speckle-Top didn't want the s.p.a.cers to come; she liked things the way they were.
07:15:32 GMT TUESDAY 21 JUNE2050.
Eighty turns later, Qui-Qui returned from her rejuvenation in her flyer, bringing the rejuvenation robot and the enzyme machine with her. She glided to a landing near the Inner Eye Inst.i.tute. No one seemed to be around, so Qui-Qui got out to attach the flyer to the tie-bolts. She heard a slithering in the crust, and her eyes saw a number of miniature pet Swifts approaching. She didn't recognize any of them. She had a little bit of food in a carrying pouch and took it out. She formed some tendrils to pat the animals and called them to her.
The pack of Swifts saw the food, and their slither turned into a charge. Their maws opened, and sharp teeth snapped out into ripping position. Roaring with hunger, they rushed at Qui- Qui. She threw the bit of food to one side to distract them, then made a dash for the flyer. The robot watched impa.s.sively as she flowed rapidly aboard the flyer and slammed the magnetic s.h.i.+eld shut, a manipulator dripping juices where she had fended off one of the beasts.
Hurt and a little frightened, Qui-Qui became concerned. Something had happened while she was gone.
She raised the flyer, flew over the frustrated pack of Swifts, and moved slowly down the streets. The plants that once had flourished on the grounds of the Inner Eye Inst.i.tute looked untended. All the fruits and pods had been stripped. She came to a compound in the middle of the Inst.i.tute that looked sealed off. The doors were shut and rocks were placed outside so that it was difficult even to get to the door to open it. The sliding window panels were shut too, and bars were placed across many of the openings.
Along the top of the wall was a makes.h.i.+ft coil of wire. Tiny curlicues of light appeared in the middle of the coils as stray nuclei from s.p.a.ce spiraled to their death in the super-strong magnetic fields.
A sliding panel in a barred window moved aside slightly, and a single eye-ball peeked through. The panel was thrust aside and Quick-Writer thrust half his eyestubs through the bars and waved frantically at the rapidly moving flyer. Qui-Qui raised the flyer up over the walls and brought it down inside the closed compound. She was greeted by eight of her former students. Three of them-Quick-Writer, the scribe; Coulomb-Force, the electromagnetic engineer; and Newton-Einstein, the gravitational engineer-were the older ones she had left in charge of the cla.s.ses. Of the three dozen that had been in advanced cla.s.ses when she left, there were now only five.
”It was terrible,” said Coulomb-Force. ”Right after you left, Zero-Gauss flowed. Then things got worse.”
”Actually,” said Quick-Writer. ”Things were fairly stable while we went through the ritual of butchering Zero-Gauss and distributing her meat. Most of it went to the hatchlings, since she loved them so. After the ritual distribution, however, things did get worse. Speckle-Top told me to turn off the communicator.”
”Why?” Qui-Qui asked.
”She said we shouldn't be paying attention to voices from the sky,” interrupted Coulomb-Force. ”Then she started to destroy the communicator, but I said she might get shocked and I would do it for her. I just disconnected it from the power source. Later I got some parts from a store in centertown and smashed them up, then hid the communicator.”
”She also told the students that they didn't have to attend cla.s.ses anymore,” said Quick-Writer. ”Most of them cheered and went off to play games. A few came to me and asked if they could learn on their own.
There were eight. Three were killed in the fights.”