Part 40 (2/2)

”A hundred and nine and a half years alive!” Oh, she was feeling the brandy. ”But I'm learning. I'm learning. I'm especially learning,” and she waggled an admonis.h.i.+ng finger at him, ”I'm gradually learning to accept each person as an individual, and not as just a representative of their subgroup or species. Each one is individual to his, her, itself and can't be lumped in with his, her or its peer group. My Discipline Master would be proud of me now, I think. I've learned the lesson he was doing his d.a.m.nedest to impart to me.” She took the last swallow of Sverulan brandy and fixed her eyes on his impa.s.sive face. ”So, Captain, we're on our way to Ambrosia. What do you think we'll find there?”

”All we may find is the kittisnakes chasing each other up trees. We will be ready for any surprises.” The captain stood up and extended an arm to Lunzie as she struggled her way out of the deep armchair. ”Can you get back to your bunk all right?”

”Captain Zebara, Mespils have been known for centuries to hold their liquor. Dam' fine brandy. Thank you. Captain, for that and the listening ear.”

Chapter Thirteen.

The scout s.h.i.+p slowed to sublight speed and came out of its warp at the edge of the disk of a star system. Lunzie was strapped in the fourth seat on the bridge, watching as the stars spread out from a single point before them and filled the sky. Only a single yellow-white star hung directly ahead of the s.h.i.+p.

”There she is, Captain,” Pilot Wendell said with deep satisfaction. ”Ambrosia's star.”

Zebara nodded solemnly and made a few notes in the electronic log. ”Any energy traces in range?” the heavyworlder asked.

”No, sir.”

”Is Ambrosia itself visible from this position?” Lunzie asked eagerly.

”No, Doctor, not yet. According to system calculations, she's around behind the sun. We'll drop below the plane of the ecliptic and come up on her. There's an asteroid belt we don't like to pa.s.s through if we can help it.”

”Why do you call Ambrosia 'she'?”

Wendell smiled over his shoulder at her. ”Because she's beautiful as a G.o.ddess. You'll see.”

”Any traces?” Zebara asked again, as they began the upward sweep into the ecliptic toward a blue-white disk. ”No, sir,” Wendell repeated.

”Once we drop into atmosphere, we're vulnerable,” Zebara reminded him. ”Our sensors won't read as clearly. The pirates could get the drop on us.”

”I know. Captain.” The pilot looked nervous, but he turned up a helpless palm. ”I don't have any readings that shouldn't be out there.”

”Sir, why are we returning without military backup if you expect pirates to attack?” Lunzie asked, gently, hoping that the question wasn't out of line. ”This scout has no defensive armament.”

Zebara scowled. ”I don't want anyone intruding on Ambrosia. It's our province,” he said, waving an arm through the air to indicate the crew. ”If we aren't here to back up our claim, someone else - someone who didn't spend years searching - Krims,” Zebara said, banging a palm on the console. He pa.s.sed a hand across his forehead, wiping away imaginary moisture. ”I should be enjoying this ride. I suppose I'm too protective of our discovery. See, Lunzie, there's the source of all our pain and pleasure. Ambrosia.”

The blue-white disk took on more definition as it swam toward them. Lunzie held her breath. Ambrosia did indeed look like the holos she had seen on Earth. Patterns of water-vapour clouds scudded across the surface. She could pick out four of the six small continents, hazy gray-green in the midst of the s.h.i.+mmering blue seas. A rakishly tilted icecap decorated the south pole of the planet. A swift-moving body separated itself from the cloud layer and disappeared around the planet's edge. The smallest moon, one of three. ”The big satellite is behind the planet,” Wendell explained. ”It's a full moon on nightside this day. Look, there's the second little one, appearing on the left.” A tiny jewel, ablaze with the star's light, peeked around Ambrosia's side.

”She is beautiful,” Lunzie breathed, taking it all in. ”Prepare for orbit and descent,” Zebara ordered. ”We'll set down. A s.h.i.+p this small is a sitting target in orbit. Planetside, we'll have a chance to run a few more experiments while we wait for backup.”

”Aye, sir.”

”Just after midday local time,” Wendell had a.s.sured them as he set the scout down on a low plateau covered with thick, furry-leaved vegetation. EEC regulations required that an Evaluation Team locate at least five potential landing sites on a planet intended for colonisation. The astrogation chart showed no fewer than ten, one in the chief island of a major archipelago in the southern sea, one on each small continent and more on the larger ones.

As the hatchway opened, Lunzie could hear the scuttling and scurrying of tiny animals fleeing the noisy intrusion. A breeze of fresh, sweet air curled inside invitingly. With force-s.h.i.+eld-belts on, Dondara and Vir did the perimeter search so that no indigenous life would be shut inside the protective s.h.i.+eld when it was switched on. They gave the go-ahead, and Pollili activated the controls. A loud, shrill humming arose, and dropped almost immediately into a range inaudible to human ears.

If the view from s.p.a.ce was lovely, the surface of Ambrosia looked like an artist's rendition of the perfect planet. The air was crisp and fresh, with just a tantalising scent of exotic flora in the distance. The colours ranged from vivid primaries to delicate pastels and they all looked clean.

Lunzie stepped out of the shuttle into the rich sunlight of dayside. The sky was a pale blue and the c.u.mulus clouds were a pure, soft white. From the hilltop, the scout commanded a panoramic view of an ancient deciduous forest. The treetops were every shade of green imaginable, interspersed every so often with one whose foliage was a brilliant rose pink. Smaller saplings grew on the edge of the plateau, clinging at an absurd angle as if fearful to make the plunge.

Off to the left, an egg-shaped lake glistened in the sun. Lunzie could just pick out the silver ribbons of the two rivers which fed it. One wound down across the breast of the very hill she stood on. Lunzie rested in the sun close to the s.h.i.+p as the other crew members spread out nearby on the slope of the hill and took readings. Under her feet was a thick blue-green gra.s.soid whose stems had a circular cross section.

”More like reeds than gra.s.s, but it's the dominant cover plant,” Elessa explained. ”It doesn't grow to more than six inches in height, which is decent of it. We don't have to slog through thickets of the stuff, unlike other planets I could name. You have to push it over to sit on it or it sticks you full of holes. See that tree with the pink leaves? The fruit is edible, really succulent, but eat only the ones whose rinds have turned entirely brown. We got the tip from the local avians who wait in hordes for the fruit to ripen. The unripe ones give you a fierce bellyache. Oh, look. I don't have a sample of that flower.” Carefully, she uprooted a tiny star-shaped flower with a forked tool from among the gra.s.soids and transferred it to a plastic vial. ”They have a single deep taproot instead of a spread of small roots, which makes them easy to harvest. It's the stiff stem that keeps them upright, like the gra.s.soid. You could denude this whole hillside with a tweezers.”

A hovering oval shadow suddenly covered Lunzie and the botanist where they knelt.

”You ought to see more than a single meadow, Doctor,” Dondara scolded her from above, appearing from the rear of the s.h.i.+p in a two-man sled. ”You're enjoying a rare privilege. Not twelve intelligent life-forms have seen this landscape before. Come on,” he beckoned her into the sled. ”I've got some readings to take. You can come with me.”

Reminding herself of her drink-taken vow to trust individuals of any subgroup, Lunzie levered herself to her feet and climbed in after him. Elessa looked up as she went by and seemed about to say something to her, but changed her mind. Lunzie looked questioningly at the botanist but the girl shot her a ”What can I tell you?” expression. Lunzie had confided her distrust to the botanist during the long flight here and Elessa only reiterated the statement that Zebara and those on the scout were truly in a cla.s.s all their own.

The medic wondered as she and Dondara pa.s.sed through the force-s.h.i.+eld and flew over the meadow. The terrain was dramatically different less than half a mile from the gra.s.sy landing site. Beyond the breast of the k.n.o.bby hill which bounded the lake on its other side, the land began to change. The foliage was thinner here, reduced from lush forestry to a thin cover of marsh plants. Water flowed over worn shelves of rock, stained with red-brown iron oxide and tumbled into teeming pools. Nodules of pyrite in the rock faces glittered under the midday sun. Lunzie caught the occasional gleam of a marine creature in the shallow pools near a broad sweep of rapids that swept and foamed around ma.s.sive boulders. In the distance, more forest covered the bases of rough, bare mountain peaks.

”Quite a division here; this could be another world entirely,” Lunzie announced, delighted, twisting around in her seat to get the best view.

Dondara activated his force-belt and signalled to her to do the same as he set the sled down.

”This is a different continental plate from the landing site,” Dondara explained, splas.h.i.+ng through a pool.

Lunzie skirted it to follow him. He pointed out geological features which supported his theory, including an upthrust face of sedimentary rock that was a rust-streaked gray which contrasted with the sparkling granite of the hilly expanse of the continent. With unexpected courtesy, he helped her up onto a well-worn boulder peeked with small pools.

”This was once a piece with the landma.s.s across the ocean northeast of here, got slid over a spreading centre over a few million years. This plate is more brittle. But it's got its own interesting life-forms. Come here.” He gestured her over to a tubular hollow in the rock.

Lunzie peered at the hole. It was so smooth that it could have been drilled by a laser. ”What's down there?”

”A very shy sort of warm-water crustacean. It'll only come out when the sky is overcast. If you stand over the hole, it'll think it is cloudy.” Curious, Lunzie leaned down. ”Look closely and be patient.”

Dondara moved back and sat down on a dry shelf nearby. ”You've got to turn off your force-belt, or it won't come out. The frequency annoys them.”

As soon as she had deactivated the belt, she could see movement deep in the hollow. Lunzie knelt closer and spread her shadow over the opening. She heard a soft clattering noise, a distant but distinct rattle of porcelain. Suddenly, she was. .h.i.t in the face by a fountaining stream of warm water. Lunzie jumped back, sputtering. The water played down the front of her tunic and then ceased.

”What on Earth was that?” she demanded, wiping her face.

Dondara roared with laughter, making the stones ring. He rolled back and forth on his stone perch, banging a hand against the rock in his merriment.

”Just a shy Ambrosian stone crab!” he chortled, enjoying the look on her face. ”They do that every time something blocks their lair. Ambrosia has baptised you! You're one of us now, Lunzie!” Once she recovered from the surprise, Lunzie realised that she had fallen for one of the oldest jokes in the database. She joined in Dondara's laughter.

”How many of the others did you sting with your 'shy rock crustacean'?” she asked suspiciously.

The heavyworlder was pleased. ”Everyone but Zebara. He smelled vermin, and refused to come close enough.” Dondara grinned. ”You're not mad?”

”Why? But you can be sure I won't get caught a second time. Here on Ambrosia or anywhere else,” Lunzie promised him. She was also obscurely pleased that she had been set up. She'd pa.s.sed a subtle test. She was also soaking and the air was chilly, weak lightweight that she was. She flicked some of the excess off her hands and s.h.i.+rt.

”You really got a dose. Must have roused the granddaddy. If I don't offend your lightweight sensibilities, you better get yourself back to the scout. Take the sled.” She was beginning to feel that such solicitude was only to be expected from one of Zebara's crew. ”I've got to take some temperature readings in the hot springs upstream. The exercise will do me good. I've got my communicator.” With a hearty wave, the big humanoid waded off upstream.

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