Part 10 (1/2)

The two men stepped out onto planetary surface and Smith cried hoa.r.s.ely, ”Chouns, look at that!”

Chouns shook off the other's grasping hand. He said, ”The same plants! I'll be d.a.m.ned.”

There was no mistaking the pale pink blossoms, the stalk with its veined buds, and the coronet of spikes below. Again there was the geometric s.p.a.cing, the careful planting and fertilization, the irrigation ca.n.a.ls.

Smith said, ”We haven't made a mistake and circled-”

”Oh, look at the sun; it's twice the diameter it was be- fore. And look there.”

Out of the nearest burrows in the river bank smoothly tan and sinuous objects, as limbless as snakes, emerged. They were a foot in diameter, ten feet in length. The two ends were equally featureless, equally blunt. Midway along their upper portions were bulges. All the bulges, as though on signal, grew before their eyes to fat ovals, split in two to form lipless, gaping mouths that opened and closed with a sound like a forest of dry sticks clapping together.

Then, just as on the outer planet, once their curiosities were satisfied and their fears calmed, most of the creatures drifted away toward the carefully cultivated field of plants.

Smith sneezed. The force of expelled breath against the sleeve of his jacket raised a powdering of dust.

He stared at that with amazement, then slapped himself and said, ”d.a.m.n it, I'm dusty.” The dust rose like a pale pink fog. ”You, too,” he added, slapping Chouns.

Both men sneezed with abandon.

”Picked it up on the other planet, I suppose,” said Chouns.

”We can work up an allergy.”

”Impossible.” Chouns held up one of the sighters and shouted at the snake-things, ”Do you have any of these?”

For a while there was nothing in answer but the splas.h.i.+ng of water, as some of the snake things slid into the river and emerged with silvery cl.u.s.ters of water life, which they tucked beneath their bodies toward some hidden mouth.

But then one snake-thing, longer than the others, came thrusting along the ground, one blunt end raised questingly some two inches, weaving blindly side to side. The bulb in its center swelled gently at first, then alarmingly, splitting in two with an audible pop. There, nestling within the two halves, were two more sighters, the duplicates of the first two.

Chouns said ecstatically, ”Lord in heaven, isn't that beautiful?”

He stepped hastily forward. reaching out for the objects. The swelling that held them thinned and lengthened, forming what were almost tentacles. They reached out toward him.

Chouns was laughing. They were Gamow sighters all right; duplicates, absolute duplicates, of the first two. Chouns fondled them.

Smith was shouting, ”Don't you hear me? Chouns, d.a.m.n it, listen to me.”

Chouns said, ”What?” He was dimly aware that Smith had been yelling at him for over a minute.

”Look at the flowers, Chouns.”

They were closing, as had those on the other planet, and among the rows the snake-things reared upward, balancing on one end and swaying with a queer, broken rhythm. Only the blunt ends of them were visible above the pale pink.

Smith said, ”You can't say they're closing up because of nightfall. It's broad day.”

Chouns shrugged. ”Different planet, different plant. Come on! We've only got two sighters here; there must be more.”

”Chouns, let's go home.” Smith firmed his legs into two stubborn pillars and the grip he held on Chouns's collar tightened.

Chouns's reddened face turned back toward him indignantly. ”What are you doing?”

”I'm getting ready to knock you out if you don't come back with me at once, into the s.h.i.+p.”

For a moment Chouns stood irresolute; then a certain wildness about him faded, a certain slackening took place, and he said, ”All right. ”

They were halfway out of the starcl.u.s.ter. Smith said, ”How are you?”

Chouns sat up in his bunk and rumpled his hair. ”Normal, I guess; sane again. How long have I been sleeping?”

”Twelve hours.”

”What about you?”

”I've catnapped.” Smith turned ostentatiously to the instruments and made some minor adjustments. He said self-consciously, ”Do you know what happened back there on those planets?”

Chouns said slowly, ”Do you?”

”I think so.”

”Oh? May I hear?”

Smith said, ”It was the same plant on both planets. You'll grant that?”

”I most certainly do.”

”It was transplanted from one planet to the other, somehow. It grows on both planets perfectly well; but occasionally-to maintain vigor, I imagine-there must be crossfertilization, the two strains mingling. That sort of thing happens on Earth often enough.”

”Crossfertilization for vigor? Yes.”

”But we we were the agents that arranged for the mingling. We landed on one planet and were coated with pollen. Remember the blooms closing? That must have been just after they released their pollen; and that's what was making us sneeze, too. Then we landed on the other planet and knocked the pollen off our clothes. A new hybrid strain win start up. We were just a pair of two-legged bees, Chouns, doing our duty by the flowers.” were the agents that arranged for the mingling. We landed on one planet and were coated with pollen. Remember the blooms closing? That must have been just after they released their pollen; and that's what was making us sneeze, too. Then we landed on the other planet and knocked the pollen off our clothes. A new hybrid strain win start up. We were just a pair of two-legged bees, Chouns, doing our duty by the flowers.”

Chouns smiled tentatively. ” An inglorious role, in a way.”

”Hen, that's not it. Don't you see the danger? Don't you see why we have to get back home fast?” fast?”

”Why?”

”Because organisms don't adapt themselves to nothing. Those plants seem to be adapted to interplanetary fertilization. We even got paid off, the way bees are; not with nectar, but with Gamow sighters.”

”Well?”

”Well, you can't have interplanetary fertilization unless something or someone is there to do the job. We We did it this time, but we were the first humans ever to enter the cl.u.s.ter. So, before this, it must be nonhumans who did it; maybe the same nonhumans who transplanted the blooms in the first place. That means that somewhere in this cl.u.s.ter there is an intelligent race of beings; intelligent enough for s.p.a.ce travel. And Earth must know about that.” did it this time, but we were the first humans ever to enter the cl.u.s.ter. So, before this, it must be nonhumans who did it; maybe the same nonhumans who transplanted the blooms in the first place. That means that somewhere in this cl.u.s.ter there is an intelligent race of beings; intelligent enough for s.p.a.ce travel. And Earth must know about that.”

Slowly Chouns shook his head. Smith frowned. ”You find flaws somewhere in the reasoning?”

Chouns put hi!; head between his own palms and looked miserable. ”Let's say you've missed almost everything.”

”What have I missed?” demanded Smith angrily.

”Your crossfertilization theory is good, as far as it goes, but you haven't considered a few points. When we approached that stellar system our hyperatomic motor went out of order in a way the automatic controls could neither diagnose nor correct. After we landed we made no effort to adjust them. We forgot about them, in fact; and when you handled them later you found they were in perfect order, and were so unimpressed by that that you didn't even mention it to me for another few hours.