Dinosaurus Planet Survivors

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

The two men left at the campsite were still goggle-eyed about the appearance of so many Thek.

“More than I’ve ever seen, thassa fact,” said the older steward, “and I been around this galaxy, so I have seen a lot of them, you know, only sort of one here and then another there, but so many at once?” He scrubbed at his stubbly pate, dragging his hand down his face, and then mimed the wiping off of an expression. “Quite a sight, really! Something to swap for drinks.”

“Did any address you?”

The steward’s mouth dropped in amazement. “Address me?” he cocked his thumb and jabbed it against his chest. “Me? I told ’em to locate the cruiser,” and he paused to wink broadly, “cause I know they can find anything anywhere.”

Kai and Fordeliton exchanged amused glances.

“They found you.” He exhaled a hissing breath. “Never seen anything like it, though, all those Thek,” and he planed their angle of arrival with his left hand, “just flowing in-if silicon triangles can flow-just sort of gliding in and never losing their formation, just all of a sudden down on the ground.”

“Thek can be impressive,” Fordeliton agreed urbanely and then gestured for the men to board the pinnace.

“Governor, we left some dinner on the hob like. Had some time to kill,” the older steward said, and the younger one began to grin, well pleased with himself. “I like messing with real food stuffs. Only this time, someone else gets the kp.”

Kai nodded, grinning. “That’s fair enough. Believe me, your efforts will be much appreciated by everyone.”

“Least we could do, you guys having had such a rough time and all.”

As the pinnace took off with a high-speed whush, the globe’s glow caught his eye, brightening momentarily before regaining its regular coloration. Then the silence in the amphitheater was broken only by the faint hiss of the forcescreen as it disintegrated insects, a comforting noise. Kai took in a deep breath, inordinately relieved to be alone, to have a few hours before the others trooped back in. He strolled over to the mess hall, sniffing at the odor of simmering stew.

He realized suddenly that he had never had the chance to delve into the Zaid-Dayan’s memory banks, to check whether there had been any similar mass movements of Thek. Not that his original question held any pertinence in view of the day’s development. Surely the presence of-and Kai grinned-the Great-Big Bears was exceptional. He’d swap a few drinks on that account himself when he got back to the ARCT-10. Kai inhaled sharply. “When,” he’d said. Another matter he’d forgotten to ascertain, though surely Sassinak would have mentioned any communication about the ARCT-10! Better to assimilate the day’s startling events than deal with… with unknowns.

So, the Thek had been here and no living Thek had retained a record of the event, despite the much praised memory of the species. Kai knew that when each new Thek was created-and some wits insisted that propagation occurred when two Thek bumped into each other with sufficient force to chip off fragments-it immediately acquired the race memory as well as the working memories of every Thek in its direct line. No reliable figures about the exact numbers of Thek were available. Once again, the humorists’ theories filled a vacuum. They maintained that old Thek never died, they became planets.

A sudden thought, more fanciful than Fordeliton’s, erupted into Kai’s mind: could Ireta, itself, be a Thek? The notion had a certain appeal, if no plausible scientific basis. But was it possible that somewhere in the areas his team had not yet penetrated, there was a Thek mountain? Kai ran from the mess hall, and then, because his curiosity was intense, he increased speed, pelting up the slope, mindful though, not to catch his shoulder on the iris as he entered the shuttle. He did bang his hip against the narrower door into the pilot’s compartment. Then he tapped out the file designation of the probe survey maps, hoping that time or some unforeseen wipe had not yanked those records from the shuttle’s memory banks.

To his relief, his request was implemented and the screen showed the probe’s journey as the vehicle zoomed in on the planet. As usual, clouds covered most of Ireta’s face but the probe’s filters very quickly produced a clear view of the nearing planet. All right, now, what does an ancient Thek resemble? A pyramidal form might be the most common, but was it the most enduring, the most effective long-term configuration? Surely a silicon mountain would be unusual enough for a probe to register? Catching his underlip on his upper teeth, Kai watched as the probe changed orbit to overfly a new portion of the planet’s main continent. Unless-Kai tapped for a magnification of the island chains but the shattered formations were almost uniformly, and easily identified as, volcanic atolls. Theks had great patience and never “blew their stacks.”

If there had been a Thek, where was the most logical place for it to have positioned itself on Ireta? Basement rock! Kai called back the map of the main continent and peered over the area, sighing as he realized that the teams had traversed most of the shield rock and had not sighted any unusual mountains. But then, had they been looking for a Thek mountain? No, but wouldn’t Tor have noticed, or been contacted by such an elderly Thek? When did a Thek stop emitting conscious thought to its peers? And would it not have propagated to continue its existence? To perpetuate its memories? Or had that search been the one conducted near Dimenon’s site, when forty Thek had landed? Were the old cores merely incidental to that vastly more important search?

“Verifying,” Tor had said. Verifying not that the old cores had been Thek manufacture or that the planet had been claimed by the Thek, but verifying the whereabouts of that incredibly ancient Thek which had not been linked with any current generation of its kind.

And, if the Thek did claim Ireta for their own, how would that effect Kai and his team? A long sad sigh escaped his lips. Just when they thought they had a chance to snatch some profit from the debacle, a prior claim appears. All they’d end up with after forty-three lost years would be their base pay and a kindly handshake from the Exploration and Evaluation Corps. At least, he thought to cheer himself from the depression that now engulfed him, Varian might be able to rescue something positive.

He heard the bleep of the globe, a friendly warning of arrivals. Wearily and with considerable effort, Kai rose from the pilot’s seat. He dismissed the data he had retrieved and went to see who was returning. It was with a sense of reprieve that he recognized the big sled with Trizein’s group coming in to land in the vehicle park. But he realized that he must warn his team of his reflections, if only to cushion a subsequent shock. And if he had put the facts in the wrong configuration, one of the others might refute his conclusion or suggest an alternative operation so that they could rescue some gains.

“Oh, I am glad you’re here, Kai,” Trizein said, his face suffused with excitement as he jogged up to the veil opening in the forcescreen. Behind him Bonnard was laden with record disks, his face wreathed with a smug smile. Terilla and Cleiti followed, chatting animatedly.

“We have had the most incredible encounter with the Thek. They are here in the most incredible numbers.”

“A horde, Kai, a real horde of them!” Bonnard confirmed.

“What were they doing?” Kai tried to keep his voice even but his level of depression increased in direct proportion to their enthusiasm.

“Looking!” Bonnard said triumphantly.

“No, my dear boy, they must have been surveying.”

“No, they were looking because they were keeping an awfully close line to what I think is the shield rock area.” Bonnard looked to Kai to support him. “We can use the shuttle’s data banks again, can’t we? I’ll show you what I mean because I took coordinates of the positions and angles of flight of the Thek to back up my observations.” He gave a decisive nod of his head in Kai’s direction, again seeking reassurance.

“Let’s check then,” Kai said with a heartiness he did not feel. He did manage to keep his voice calm and maintain a composed expression, despite a sensation bordering nausea for this crushing disappointment. Thus does Muhlah reward the doubter! he thought as he retraced his steps back to the shuttle.

Once Kai had called up the required maps, he had little to do for Bonnard, cheerfully but firmly arguing with Trizein, proved his coordinates, and his theory, that the Thek were searching the edge of the shield rock.

“And it was a search pattern, Kai,” Bonnard said firmly. “I mean, they were hovering ground level,” and Bonnard showed the distance with his hands, “and scouring, back and forth and back and forth. I thought they’d been sitting on old cores, or something. What could they be looking for now?”

“An ancient Thek,” Kai said.

“An ancient Thek?” Trizein turned to frown at Kai, concern and surprise on his seamed face. “Our telltagger has never registered that sort of heat mass, now has it, Bonnard?”

“Nope,” replied the boy cheerfully.

The globe’s cheerful bleep penetrated to the shuttle’s interior and Kai gratefully used it as an excuse to escape Trizein’s saurian enthusiasms and Bonnard’s innocent confidence in Thek infallibility.

“Kai!” Bonnard came after him. “Kai.”

Reluctantly Kai paused, turned, saw the boy removing an antiseptic wipe from his first-aid pouch. Bonnard extended it to him with a bashful grin.

“You’ve got a trickle of blood on your chin. I don’t think it would do to let Varian or Lunzie see that.” Bonnard turned on his heel and ran back into the shuttle.

Dabbing at his lower lip, Kai felt a warmth suffuse the tight knot of despair that had taken up residence in his chest. Then he continued to the veil.