Part 3 (2/2)
We will be debarking shortly, ladies and gen- tlemen,” the voice from the speaker said. ”Welcome to Cachalot.”
Pa.s.sengers were unslipping their flight harnesses, organizing luggage and tapecases and personal effects.
Cora tried to single out those who might be natives, settled on the man and woman in the first two portside seats. They were not of Polynesian ancestry, but boasted skin tanned the color of light chocolate. They wore only fishnet tops over swim shorts.
The shuttlecraft slowly taxied across the lagoon.
Through the windows, which had automatically dark- ened in response to the reflected light, she could see down into the limpid transparency that was the surface.
Gradually the darkness gave way to lighter, brighter colors as the water grew shallower.
Now Cora could make out shapes moving through the water. So excited was she at these first signs of Cachalot life that she almost forgot to breathe. The forms darted in and around the peculiar branchlike growths formed by the hexalates.
None of the crystalline growths possessed the gentle curves or smooth surfaces of the corals of Earth. Large or small, the formations universally displayed straight, angular architecture, a crystallographer's nightmare.
The tiny creatures whose decomposed skeletons
formed the sand that filled the lagoon's bottom and comprised its sh.o.r.es created their exoskeletons from silicon, whereas the corals of Earth utilized lime. The beaches of Cachalot were made of gla.s.s. Multicolored gla.s.s at that, for minute quant.i.ties of different miner- als were enough to produce hexalates of every color of the spectrum. The tridee solidos Cora had seen of Cachalot's islands reminded her of vast heaps of gem- stones.
She could see buildings now, built on the nearest outer island. Scattered here and there around the structures were long, low green plants. They were sea- langes, varieties of local plant life that had developed the ability to take oxygen from the air instead of from the water. Their roots were anch.o.r.ed deep within the body of the reef.
More familiar vegetation had been used to landscape the complex. Cora recognized numerous varieties of off-world, salt-tolerant plant life, including several from Earth. Outstanding among the latter were the prosaic, arching shapes of coconut palms. Probably the plants and the soil they survived in were imported.
Several small docks came into view. Men and women worked on or near them, engaged in unknown tasks.
All were clad in the barest essentials. Wide-brimmed dark hats seemed popular among many. The instru- ment belts several wore contained more material than the rest of their clothing.
Turning right, the shuttle slid toward several large, two-storied structures. Traveling in the opposite direc- tion, a small skimmer roared past. Its crew waved cheerily at the shuttle's occupants.
The once reverberant thunder of the shuttle's engines had been reduced to a chemical snore. They coughed once or twice more as the pilot altered the shuttle's heading slightly. Then it was sitting silently alongside a floating dock of brown polymer. The dock bobbed between thin posts of green gla.s.s.
20.
CACHALOT.
CACHALOT.
21.
Cora wondered if the gla.s.s was composed of hexal- ate sands, decided that most likely it was. Any out- post world had to make the most of its own resources.
Self-sufficiency was the goal of every colony. She ex- pected to find a great many of Cachalot's everyday items constructed of gla.s.s. A small suprafoil was linked to the far side of the dock.
The forward door between the pilot's compartment and the pa.s.sengers' was opened. A gust of warm air filled the cabin, replacing the stale canned atmosphere with dampness and the strong, pungent aroma of the sea. Cora inhaled, her eyes closing in pleasure. Per- fume, pure perfume.
”Why is it,” Rachael was grumbling, ”that all the oceans of all the planets have to stink?”
They had been through such arguments before. Cora did not comment on her daughter's insensitivity to one of the most wonderful smells in the universe.
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