Part 13 (2/2)
”Fights!?!”
”They were terrible,” said Coulomb-Force. ”It only took a few turns of n.o.body working before the food got short. Some of the plain-hides tried to kill a food Slink and got into a fight with the speckled-hides.”
”It ended with most of the plain-hides being driven off to the east,” said Quick-Writer. ”They stripped the plants before they left and managed to hold onto some herds of food Slinks. We went with them at first, but decided our first duty was to the future of Egg and came back to where Coulomb-Force had hidden the communicator. Speckle-Top and the rest of the speckled-hides didn't bother us as long as we kept out of sight.”
”They obviously didn't like us, though,” said Coulomb-Force. ”So we started fortifying this compound.
How do you like my magnetic barrier?”
”Is that the coil across the top of the wall?” Qui-Qui asked.
”Yes, I've been collecting superconducting wire since I was a hatchling, and it finally found a good use. It sure used up the energy when I charged it, but it keeps us safe from speckles and Swifts alike.”
”I was attacked by a pack of Swifts when I landed,” said Qui-Qui.
”There are a lot of wild animals now,” Quick-Writer told her. ”All the pets that people used to have are now on their own. I also noticed that the young miniature Swifts and Flow Slows are bigger than the older ones. The hybrid miniaturization process must be a temporary one, since the new generations seem to be reverting.”
”Where is Speckle-Top now?” Qui-Qui asked. ”I didn't see .anyone around when I flew in.”
”She knew you would be returning shortly,” Quick-Writer replied. ”I guess she didn't want to meet you eye-b.a.l.l.s to eyeb.a.l.l.s, so she and the rest of the speckled-hides left a dozen turns ago. They headed north, taking the food Slinks with them.”
”We had better get the communicator operational again,” said Qui-Qui. ”I should tell this to the s.p.a.cers.”
”They already know all about it,” said Coulomb-Force. ”I set up the communicator as soon as we secured this compound Newton-Einstein is using it now. I think he is getting instructions from Engineer Cliff-Web.”
”Follow me and I'll take you there.” Quick-Writer led them through a maze of wall and pa.s.sages. ”Don't go that way,” he said, pointing with his eye-stubs at what looked like the main pa.s.sageway while turning to his left into what looked like a storage alcove and climbing over some bags of dried nuts.
”Why?” asked Qui-Qui.
Coulomb-Force didn't answer, but picked up a heavy nut from a burst bag and rolled it down the corridor. The nut flashed into an incandescent glare of purple-hot plasma.
”Cliff-Web suggested it,” said Coulomb-Force. ”Of course it is more spectacular on a small object like a nut, but it is enough to turn a large cheela into dinner.”
They worked their way through the maze to the inner compound where Newton-Einstein was at the communicator.
”Yes. She just arrived,” said Newton-Einstein. ”I will give her the directions.”
Qui-Qui was hoping to hear the familiar voice of Cliff-Web again, but Newton-Einstein had obviously finished the conversation and wasn't willing to wait another two grethturns.
”Greetings, Teacher Qui-Qui,” Newton-Einstein said, his eye-b.a.l.l.s seemingly locked on her newly restored eye-flaps. ”Rejuvenation has certainly treated you well. I would be glad to take lessons from you any turn.”
Qui-Qui now regretted the necessity that had required her to mate with some of the young nubile males so long ago. They grew up so quickly and now seemed so brash.
”What were the directions from the s.p.a.cers?” she asked, ignoring his remarks.
”Cliff-Web now feels that I am properly prepared to evaluate the condition of the gravity catapults on Egg. He suggests that we start with the ones at the West Pole, since they were furthest from the epicenter. Shall we go?” He moved closer and extended an eye-stub out to her.
”We will bring Coulomb-Force along with us,” said Qui-Qui, taking charge once again.
”Why?” Newton-Einstein asked. ”He knows nothing about gravitational engineering. Besides, he is needed here to keep the power generators running.”
”I brought a robot to take care of the power generators,” Qui-Qui explained. ”You forget that a gravity catapult also needs a power plant. While you are checking out the status of the gravity catapult, Coulomb-Force can be finding out if we have some way to run it.”
”If you say so.” Newton-Einstein was obviously disappointed that he wouldn't be taking the trip alone with Qui-Qui.
”Show me the rest of the compound.” Qui-Qui started off down a corridor that had alternating stripes of dust and hard rock on the floor. ”Then we should be on our way.” Quick-Writer hurried to block her path.
”We don't have this one activated,” said Quick-Writer. ”But you should learn what those alternating stripes in the dust mean when you come across them in the maze.”
”Another shock treatment?” asked Qui-Qui.
”Worse,” said Quick-Writer. He pressed a portion of a picture on the wall in a coded pattern to activate the trap.
”Careful,” warned Coulomb-Force.
”Sooner or later we are going to have to learn to do this with our eyes under flaps,” said Quick-Writer.
He didn't pull in his eyes, but moved quickly over the striped pattern on the floor, his tread developing an exaggerated rippled that allowed his tread to touch the hard crust, but bridged over the undisturbed dusty portions. Safely on the other side, he rolled a nut back across the path. An explosion from a tube buried in the crust at the middle of the striped pattern sent a heavy weight up into the sky, trailing a thin, tough fiber. The weight fell back down, just to one side of the firing tube. It sank deep into the crust, carrying the end of the fiber with it. The sides of the hole glowed from the impact.
Qui-Qui looked at the two holes in the crust connected by a tough fiber, then looked at Quick-Writer.
”Those Zebu barriers are all through the compound,” said Quick-Writer. ”Only the outer ones are activated all the time. If the high speed weight doesn't damage your brain-knot, then the fiber will st.i.tch you to the crust until we get there to cut you loose.”
Quick-Writer deactivated the barrier, and Qui-Qui tried to cross with the required exaggerated ripple.
She made it across with only one buzz from the training monitor.
Before they left, Qui-Qui took the flyer up on a high trajectory to look around. There were some large herds off in the distance to the north, but no danger nearby. Coulomb-Force obviously enjoyed the experience of flying, but Newton-Einstein came down with all twelve eye-b.a.l.l.s tucked under pale eyeflaps.
Leaving Quick-Writer in charge of the compound, Qui-Qui, Newton-Einstein, and Coulomb-Force set off for the West Pole, gliding just above the crust. One of the gravity catapults was not far from White Rock City. Qui-Qui had been taken to the catapult site for a visit when she was in creche-school.
As they approached the site, Coulomb-Force had Qui-Qui stop. ”There is a major power conduit running alongside the road. The conduit joined the road just a meter or so back. I think it came from that power plant over next to those foothills.” He flicked his eye-stubs to the north.
”We might as well look at it while we are here,” said Qui-Qui. She turned the flyer to the north, raised the elevation to a few centimeters so she would pa.s.s easily over the deserted homes and office compounds, and headed for the artificial mound off in the distance.
The power plant was in surprisingly good shape. During the starquake, the crust motions had bounced back and forth through the chaotic pattern of mountain roots at the West Pole and had nearly cancelled out at the site of the plant Qui-Qui was so pleased with their find that she went back to the food lockers in her flyer and brought out a bag of sparkling wine to help pa.s.s away the time while they waited for the West Pole s.p.a.ce Station to respond. While they were traveling over the surface, Cliff-Web had orbited to the West Pole s.p.a.ce Station to keep the communications delay down.
”I'm glad to hear that most of the power equipment looks in good shape,” Cliff-Web said. ”The first thing to do is to connect the power circuits of the flyer to the control console. Hopefully we will find some power units that were shut down by the safety monitors before the units were damaged by the starquake.
Let me know what the status board says and what you plan to do before you activate anything. We don't have any ground power experts up here, but our s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p power plant engineers may have some suggestions.”
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