Dinosaurus Planet Survivors

CHAPTER SEVEN

Rianav wished that they had a squad of troopers with them. Titrivell and Portegin were good men; she’d been in several tricky situations with them but, if her commander’s suspicion should prove valid, three troops in a four-man sled, equipped with only force belts and stunners were woefully insufficient.

Still, until a colony ship did somehow slip through the commander’s surveillance, three veterans could cope. She doubted the survivors had any sophisticated weapons if that Aygar had been hunting with a crossbow and lance. Not that such a primitive weapon was ineffective: bolts from a crossbow could penetrate thick metal and, at close range, probably knock fragments from the ceramic hull of the sled. The original landing party’s stunners would by now be inoperative. She’d match herself and Titrivell against any two or three of Aygar’s size so she really had no reason to be apprehensive about the meeting. Except Aygar’s insistence that it be held away from his current living area.

Once she had set the course for the secondary camp, she gestured to Portegin to take the controls. She must be fresh for the conference. Titrivell took the starboard observation post while she settled herself to port. Not that there was much to see except huge trees festooned with climbers and swaths of damaged vegetation where large beasts had broken trails through the dense jungle. She didn’t fancy any ground work there.

“Lieutenant?” Portegin interrupted her and she followed the direction of his point.

“The size of the creatures! Recorder going, Portegin? I want the captain to believe this!”

“Aye, aye, ma’am.”

Titrivell leaned amidships, to see past Portegin’s shoulder. “They must weigh megatons. Glad we’re up here instead of down there.”

“Bet they give the heavyworlders a tussle.” Portegin glanced over his shoulder as they passed the herd of creatures, eating whatever was within the reach of their long sinuous necks.

“We’ll have no jokes here, Portegin.” Rianav’s tone was stern. One couldn’t permit even subtle hints about sentient carnivores. Any member of the Federation that defied the civilized edict forbidding consumption of living creatures did so at the peril of its FSP membership.

“Well, Lieutenant,” said Portegin in a chastened tone, “I have heard from reliable sources that, on their own planets, the heavyworlders don’t adhere to Prohibition.”

“All the more reason for our mission, then, stupid as these creatures appear to be,” and she waved at yet another herd of foraging beasts, “they deserve as much of a chance to evolve as any other species. And our protection while they do so.”

“Lieutenant, fliers at eleven.” Portegin was pointing at an airborne species.

There were three of them. Golden of either feather or fur, Rianav could not be sure at the distance, but their presence in the sky was oddly reassuring.

“Shall I take evasive action?” asked Portegin when it became obvious that the golden-winged creatures had altered their course to take up a position on the same level, and at the same speed, as the sled.

“I don’t think that’s necessary, helmsman. They do not appear aggressive. Probably curious. We can out distance them at any time should they turn hostile.” Rianav took unusual pleasure in their exceptional escort, watching the graceful, powerful sweep of the huge pinions.

“They’re watching us, ma’am,” Titrivell called. “The heads of all three are turned in our direction.”

“They’re doing us no harm.”

They paused once in their outward journey. Rianav spotted a huge stand of fruit trees, the top boughs sagging under ripe fruit, a pleasant change from service rations. It did not occur to any of the three that it was unlikely for them to know if the fruits were edible.

When they reached the vast plain dotted with buttes and meandering herds of grazing animals, Rianav ordered the helmsman to circle gradually in on the target area. She took the monitor to search for any sign of Aygar and his people.

“They’re probably hidden in those hutment’s,” Titrivell remarked.

“Full Discipline,” she said, with a nod to indicate that she appreciated the possibility. “Helmsman, stand by the sled. If we are overpowered or I should signal you off, you are to report back to the commander. This sled must not fall into other hands. Keep your comunit open at all times and be on the lookout for any indication of a large craft landing in that direction.” Rianav pointed toward the northeastern hills where she suspected the heavyworlders were encamped.

At the speed with which Portegin was circling, she and Titrivell would have sufficient time to complete Discipline. But as she initiated the drill, she felt an unexpected energy, the most powerful surge of adrenaline she had ever experienced in Discipline. Glancing at Titrivell, she saw that he must have had a similar jolt. Of course, one expanded one’s abilities with every use of Discipline, but this? Rianav must ask her commander when she returned to the cruiser.

Portegin neatly brought the sled to a landing on the bare circular mark left by a dome which must have occupied that area for a long time.

Titrivell opened the canopy and Rianav stepped out smartly.

Titrivell followed, closed the canopy, and nodded to Portegin to secure it. Rianav caught the slight widening of Titrivell’s eyes just as she heard a slight crunch, and turned slowly in the direction of the sound.

Six figures, three men and three women, ranged themselves in an almost insolent parody of the parade stance of troops. Each wore a standard-issue shipsuit. Despite Discipline, the sight gave Rianav a flash of concern. Then she noticed that the shipsuits were patched and that the six wore neither forcebelts nor carried stunners. The reinforcements had not, then, arrived. These were descendants of the original force, mocking her by appearing in their ancestors’ garb.

Rianav was, however, grateful for the stunner at her side. Each of the six was taller, broader, heavier than she or Titrivell.

She hesitated only that brief moment for evaluation and then strode forward, not quite leisurely but not in formal martial pace. She glanced from one face to the next, almost as if she expected to recognize someone. Halting, exactly four meters from Aygar, she saluted.

“You are prompt, Aygar.”

“And you!” The man curved his lips in a half-smile, as his eyes flicked toward Titrivell, correctly standing two paces behind his lieutenant, then toward the pilot at the controls of the closed sled.

“Did your injured man survive?”

“Yes, and sends his gratitude for the remedy.”

“Any more trouble with fringes?”

“No,” Rianav said. “But you would certainly be safe from that menace on this butte?…” Her comment trailed into a question.

“We out grew its limited accommodations,” Aygar said. That prompted some smiles from his five companions.

“You may be unaware of the provisions made by the Federated Sentient Planets to reimburse survivors-”

“We’re not survivors, Lieutenant,” said Aygar. “We were born on this planet. We own it.”

“Really, Aygar,” said Rianav in a conciliatory tone, gesturing at the others, “six people can only own as much as supplies their needs.”

“We are more than six.”

“No matter how much your original number has multiplied, it is clearly stated in FSP law-”

“We are the law here, Rianav! We accuse you of trespass.”

The change of intensity in his voice alerted Rianav with her Disciplined sensitivity. She had her stun gun out and was firing at Aygar and the two on his right before they could complete their forward springs. Titrivell was not a millisecond later in stunning the other three.

With her gun in hand, for she had set for medium shock and she wasn’t certain how long such superb bodies would be affected, she strode to the sprawled forms, motionless on the dusty ground. Aygar’s eyes glittered with anger as she leaned down and, grabbing his right arm, hauled him onto his back. She nodded to Titrivell to perform the same courtesy to the others.

“You’ll be unable to move for approximately fifty minutes. Doubtless your grandparents mentioned stunners? You and your companions will suffer no ill-effects from stunning. We will continue our mission. We prefer not to use weapons on other humanoids, but three to one are unfair odds. Nor are we trespassers, Aygar. Our cruiser heard the distress signal and responded. We are morally obliged to do so. No doubt your isolation is the reason for your failure to comprehend the common laws of the galaxy. I will be lenient in your instance and not report your aggressive reaction to my superiors. You cannot own a world which is still listed as unexplored in the Federated register. Possession may be considered primary in law, but you possess,” and she stressed the word with a slight pause, “very little of this jungle world no matter how many offspring were produced by the original party. But that’s not a matter for me to decide. I report fact as I observe it.”

The tendons in Aygar’s neck stood out in his attempt to break paralysis by sheer will power.

“You could do yourself injury, Aygar. Relax now and you’ll suffer no harm.”

Punctuating her advice, thunder cracked and lightning spewed blindingly out of the sky. The thin clouds which had begun to gather during the fracas had coalesced with a ferocity fitting the aerial display.

“There! Something to cool you down.” Rianav clipped her stunner to her belt. Gesturing Titrivell to follow, she strode to the sled.

“Are there many more like that?” Titrivell asked as he settled himself in the sled.

“That’s what I think we’d better find out.” Rianav motioned to Portegin to slide into the other front seat.

“Aygar gave me directions by foot. Whether they’re accurate or not, we can but follow and see. “Run at a good steady pace,” he told me, “to your right, through the first hills, turn right up the ravine, but mind the river snakes. Continue along the river course to the first falls, take the easiest route up the cliff, follow the line of limestone, until the valley widens.” We’ll know their settlement by the cultivated fields.” Rianav snorted derisively.

She guided the sled along the course she had taken on her first visit, then intersected the ravine where she had encountered Aygar. She continued along the ravine and soon came to a fast river, diverted from its old channel by the debris of a huge rockfall. They followed the river upstream for some distance to a beautiful curtain of wide falls roughly forty meters high.

“Useful, too,” Portegin said, pointing to port. “They’ve set up a water wheel and what looks like a generator station.”

He glanced at Rianav to see if she intended to investigate, but she was already angling the sled above the falls keeping one eye starboard for the well-marked path, so that Titrivell and Portegin saw the second, larger falls before she did.

“Have they a power source there, too?”

“Yes, Lieutenant, another one, larger,” Portegin reported, homing in on the site with the camera eye.

“And there are the cultivated fields,” Titrivell said as the sled rose above the falls. “And a discontinuity fold!”

“A what?” Rianav asked, keeping her eyes on the scene before her.

“Which would explain this raised valley.” Titrivell went on. “Old sea bed probably. Look at the size of it!”

“And the reason why they abandoned the butte site,” Rianav said. “This plateau is large enough to support the biggest colony ship they build. Can you see evidence of a grid?”

Rianav spiraled the sled, then set it to hover as the three took in the vast area. The foreground was clear despite the beginning of a misty rainfall. The river and the terraced fields that began at its banks disappeared into a haze. In the far distance orange red flashes at several different points suggested that volcanoes added smoke to the heat mists. Portside of the river was the inevitable lush and tangled jungle growth, slanting upward to crown the heights and edges of the broad valley.

“Lieutenant, look!” Titrivell directed Rianav’s attention to the settlement to starboard. “Clever of them to use that stranded beach formation.”

“The what?”

“And look, ma’am, if you can spot it in the haze, the rock… it’s ore bearing! No mistaking that color.” Titrivell whistled, his eyes wide with excitement. “Just look how that color continues. The whole ‘narding’ cliff’s packed with iron ore.”

“A second reason for switching camps, then,” she said in a dry tone, dampening the rising enthusiasm Titrivell was displaying.

“See, over there, chimneys!” Titrivell continued, undaunted. Rianav applied a half-turn. “A foundry, all right, and a big one. And blast it all, they’ve got rails… leading to… Lieutenant, would you-about thirty degrees and-”

“We’re looking for a grid, Titrivell!” she said but corrected the helm.

“We don’t need to look, Lieutenant,” replied Titrivell, “if those rails lead to a mine or…”

She gave the sled a bit for power and they glided along the edge of plateau wall. Abruptly the vegetation disappeared and a huge pit opened below them, glistening in the rain.

“Or an open cast mine like this one!”

“I didn’t know you were so knowledgeable about mining, Titrivell,”

Rianav said with a shaky laugh. She hadn’t expected such evidence of industry from Aygar’s barbaric appearance and primitive weaponry.

“You don’t need to know much to miss that sort of operation, ma’am,” Titrivell said. He looked now, beyond the pit, and Rianav, following his gaze, turned the sled away from the mining area, down toward the immense natural plateau.

“They sure didn’t have far to haul,” Portegin remarked at his post. “Nor far to go home, either. There’s a sizable settlement three degrees starboard, ma’am.”

“I’m far more interested in whether the grid is finished or not.” Rianav was also aware that she should render as full a report as possible to her commander and that included the number of inhabitants. She diverted the sled to fly over the buildings that shortly became a geometrical arrangement, at the center of which was an expedition dome: its plastic had been scarred by wind and abrasive sands, darkened by sun, but it was still usable and, apparently, the focal point of the settlement.

Despite the rain, people seemed to be pursuing their normal tasks. The unexpected overflight of the sled was seen and soon people were pointing at them.

“There is a grid, ma’am,” Portegin said, lifting his head from the camera scan. “I can’t think why else so much of the undergrowth would be cleared from half the plateau. There’s even a road leading to the area.”

Rianav swung the sled about. “I’d like a head count on this pass, Portegin, Titrivell.” She nosed the sled down and slowed its forward speed.

“I make about forty-nine,” Portegin said, “but the children keep moving about.”

“I count fifty. No, fifty-one. A woman just came out of the dome and she’s assisting someone, a man. That makes fifty-two.”

“The old man must be the one survivor of the original group,” Rianav said. She increased their speed and headed toward the road Portegin had mentioned.

No observer could miss the grid, despite the mud and windblown debris that covered its lattice design, for the soil was divided into squares as far as they could see in the rain.

“Got to give such people credit,” Portegin said. “Heavyworld stock or no, that’s quite a feat. Going from nothing to that in four decades.”

She went far enough across the plateau to confirm that the project was probably finished, then circled widely, heading back toward the settlement.

“Are we going to land?” Portegin asked as they approached. They could see that a crowd waited at the edge of the settlement. “The old man’s waving. He expects us to land.” Portegin seemed nervous.

“It is our mission, after all, Portegin,” Rianav remarked dryly.

“And none of them have stunners or Aygar’s group would have had ’em,” Titrivell added.

“Aygar might not have mentioned our encounter to anyone in authority,” Rianav said. “All his welcoming party were young.”

“It’s to their advantage, Lieutenant, to remain ‘unrescued’ until that colony ship arrives,” Titrivell added.

Portegin snorted. “But we’re here, aren’t we?”

“It’s not as if they won’t do very well under the Shipwreck Contingencies,” Titrivell said.

“Aygar has greater ambitions, as we heard,” Rianav noted. “That’s not our problem, fortunately. All we had to do was check out the distress call.”

She landed the sled a hundred meters from the crowd, passing control over to Portegin with the same instructions she had given before. With Titrivell behind her, she proceeded up the slight incline. The old man, the woman assisting him, hobbled forward as rapidly as he could with a badly twisted leg.

They might, Rianav thought, have had the metallurgy requisite to make a grid but they’d missed out on medical skill. There had been a medic included in the original expedition, hadn’t there?

“You’re from the colony ship?” the old man exclaimed excitedly. “You’re orbiting? No need. See,” and he gestured to the plateau behind Rianav, “we’ve got the grid laid. You’ve only to lead the ship in.” He continued to move forward and Rianav realized that he was about to embrace her.

She backed off, saluting as a courteous way to avoid contact. “Your pardon, sir, Lieutenant Rianav of the Cruiser 218 Zaid-Dayan 43. We picked up your distress signal from the beacon-”

“Distress signal?” The old man drew himself up to a pridefully arrogant stance, his expression contemptuous.

“We set no distress beacon.”

He’d been a powerful man at one time, Rianav thought objectively, but under his loose tunic, his muscles sagged, stretching the hide at its underseams. Pockets of flesh hung from his big bones.

“We were abandoned, yes. Most of our equipment smashed in a stampede. We could send no message. We’d lost all our sleds and the space shuttle. Those misbegotten, ‘nardy’ high and mighty shippers never bothered their heads to come back. But we managed. We survived. We heavyworlders do well on this planet. It’s ours. And so you forget that distress beacon. We didn’t set it. We don’t need your sort of help-You can’t rob us of what we’ve made.”

From the corner of her eye, Rianav saw Titrivell draw his stunner. The woman at the old man’s side noticed the movement and restrained him, murmuring something which cut through his angry renunciation.

“Huh! That?” He peered near sightedly and then his face took on a sneering look as he recognized the naked weapon. “That’s right. Come among peaceful folk with a stunner. Blast your way through us! Take all we’ve worked for these long decades. I told the others we’d never be allowed to keep Ireta. You lot always keep the prizes for yourselves, don’t you?”

“Sir, we answered a distress signal as we are required to do by space law. We will report your condition to Fleet Headquarters. In the meantime, may we offer you any medical supplies or-”

“Do you think we’d take anything from the likes of you?” The old man was spluttering with indignation. “Nothing is what we want from you! Leave us alone! We’ve survived! That’s more than the others could have done! We’ve survived. This is our world. We’ve earned it. And when-”

The woman beside him covered his mouth with her hand.

“That’s enough, Tanegli. They understand.”

The old man subsided, but as the woman turned to Rianav and Titrivell, he continued to mumble under his breath, throwing angry glances at the two spacers.

“Forgive him, Lieutenant. We bear no malice. And as you see,” her broad gesture took in the well-constructed buildings, the fields, the obviously healthy people behind her, “we do very nicely here. Thank you for coming but there is no distress now.” She took a half-step forward, her body shielding the old man as she added. “He has delusions at his age, about rescuers and about revenge. He is bitter, but we are not. Thank you for answering the signal.”

“If you didn’t send it, then who did?” Rianav asked.

The woman shrugged. “Tardma, one of the originals, used to say that a message was sent before the stampede. But no one came. She was often contradicted.”

In her own way, the woman was as eager to be rid of them as Aygar had been. But it was also obvious to Rianav that Aygar had said nothing, at least to the woman and the old man, about the earlier encounter.

“Nothing you need from our stores? Medicine? Matrices? Do you have an operative comunit? We can request a trader to touch down. They’re always looking for new business and a young settlement…” Rianav looked past Tanegli. The woman must be his daughter, for she bore a resemblance to him. The others stood back quietly, but obviously were straining to hear every word. Some of the smaller children were working their way round to get a good look at the sled.

“We’re self-sufficient, Lieutenant,” was the adamant reply.

“No trouble with the indigenous life-forms? We’ve seen some huge-”

“This plateau is safe from the large herbivores and their predators.”

“I shall make my report accordingly.” Rianav saluted and, with a smart about face, strode back to the sled with Titrivell.

She didn’t like having her back to the group. She could feel the tension in Titrivell but Discipline kept her pace controlled and suppressed her urge to look behind her.

Tension showed in Portegin’s face and he shoved the canopy back hard enough for it to bounce forward again on its track. Rianav and Titrivell wasted no time climbing into the sled and were barely seated when Portegin executed a fast vertical lift and without spoken order, headed directly back over the falls.

“Every single one of those adults was bigger than we are by a third of a meter, Lieutenant,” Portegin said. His lips were dry.

“As soon as we’re out of sight behind that ridge, take a direct course to our camp, helmsman.”

“They might not have had gravity to contend with,” Titrivell remarked, “but that’s a mighty fit bunch of people.”

“They’d have to be to survive on this planet and keep their aim in mind.”

“Their aim, Lieutenant?”

“Yes, helmsman. They want to own all of this planet, not just that plateau or whatever other rights they’d possess on a shipwreck claim.”

“But they can’t do that! Can they, Lieutenant?” Portegin shifted uneasily in the pilot’s seat, clasping and reclasping the control bar with anxious, quick fingers.

“We’ll know more after we’ve made our report to the proper authorities, helmsman.”

Then it was Rianav’s turn to fidget, rubbing her fingers across her forehead because what she said sounded somehow wrong, and she couldn’t imagine why.

They were silent all the way back to the base; a silence partly imposed by the stormy weather, which made conversation in the sled difficult, partly due to the fatigue of Rianav and Titrivell as they came down from the height of Discipline.

Suddenly the sun, as if bored with meteorological displays, melted through the clouds and they were treated to vast panoramas of jungle, clear to the distant southern range of volcanoes, and on the east to the thrust of high jagged peaks, bare of the luxuriant, purple and green vegetation that seemed indestructible. Glancing around, Rianav caught sight of the three winged fliers and her anxiety dissipated for a reason she was unable to fathom.

The three remained discreetly above and behind the sled until Portegin descended to the vertical landing point in front of the camp’s veil screen. As Rianav climbed out of the sled, the golden fliers circled once and then disappeared to the northwest. As she had felt comforted by their curious escort, now she felt sad at their abrupt departure.

The veil screen opened and a woman walked out to meet them.

“Report, Varian.”

Blinking in confusion, Rianav gave her head a sharp shake. She did not recognize that person as part of her command.

“I promised you a barrier, Varian,” the woman said with a droll smile. “Did I set it too deep?”

At that posthypnotic cue, the overlay of Rianav gave way to Varian. “Krims! Lunzie, how did you manage that sort of change?” Varian turned around staring at Triv who had so recently been another person entirely, and Portegin.

Triv was shaking his head, too, while Portegin, emerging from the sled, nearly fell in his surprise.

“Hey, what happened? We’re not from any cruiser!” As the realization of his day’s adventure seeped into his true self, Portegin collapsed against the side of the sled. “You mean, we just went in among those heavyworlders and… How?”

“Lunzie did it,” Varian said laughing with relief and nervousness as she absorbed the enormity of what they had done.

“He who thinks he’s telling the truth is more convincing Portegin,” Lunzie remarked.

“And you made sure our truths matched?” Triv asked.

“I’m better pleased that they weren’t needed. Come on in,” Lunzie said, wagging her hand to indicate tiny insects flying through the veil opening. “Kai’s fretted long enough.

“He’s improving?” Varian asked.

“Slowly. That fringe toxemia is affecting his sense of touch. He burned his hand, picking up a hot shell and wasn’t aware of heat or pain. I smelled the seared flesh. We must all watch out for him.”

Varian, entering the domed shelter, found herself viewing it with Rianav’s values: neat, functional on a primitive level, but cramped. Rianav also looked over the slightly built man-the effects of the poisoning were evident in his posture as well as the pallor of his face. Aygar was more to Rianav’s liking. Varian reasserted herself with an angry shake of her head. She was not Rianav, the lieutenant of a nonexistent cruiser; she was Varian, veterinary xenobiologist. It was obvious from the state of Kai’s health, that she must assume the leadership of what remained of the expedition. Or was she leader? Lunzie had been acting far more decisively than she and along more constructive lines. Rianav lingered in Varian’s perceptions. Varian wished fervently to be only herself again, without these disruptive second thoughts.

“I am glad you got back safely, Varian,” Kai said, his face lighting with a wide smile. Odd blotches marred his face where the fringe punctures had healed but left bleached circles. Varian wondered if that flesh was desensitized as well. “Lunzie kept reassuring me you’d be safe but I don’t trust those heavyworlders.”

“They’re not heavyworlders any more,” Triv said with a derisive snort. “Not even Tanegli. He’s just a crippled flabby old man with delusions.”

“I’d question the use of ‘delusions’, Varian said, sounding like her alter ego again.

“Why don’t you start at the beginning?” Lunzie suggested.

But once they had seated themselves and Varian began speaking, she was Rianav, reporting dry fact. Triv added his observations while Portegin listened, occasionally shaking his head as if he could not reconcile his barriered experience with what he was hearing.

“Did Tanegli recognize you?” Kai asked.

“No. But then he hardly expected to see us,” Varian said, aware of a vague sadness for Tanegli’s disintegrating body and personality. Or was that Rianav thinking? “We presented ourselves as a rescue party and while only a week of subjective time has passed for us, it was forty-three years for him.”

“Rianav-I mean…” Triv corrected himself with a laugh and then a sly glance at her, “Varian makes a convincing lieutenant, Kai.”

“Our appearance, even as a rescue team, upset Tanegli,” Varian went on, determined to suppress one set of her reactions. “He expected to see heavyworlder colonists emerge from that sled, reporting from their mother ship.”

“Aygar didn’t mention his encounter with you?”

“No-”

“And he hand-picked his reception committee at the old compound,” Triv said with a derisory grin. “Only they weren’t fast enough for Disciplined troops.” When Lunzie gave him a sideways glance of amusement, Triv’s expression turned to one of chagrin. “Well, we were Disciplined and we thought we were troops.”

“So you used the stunners?” Lunzie’s question was more statement.

“They made the difference all right,” Varian said. “On medium, they’d only be immobilized about fifty minutes. It was raining.”

“A thoroughly chastening experience for your friends, I’ve no doubt,” Lunzie said. “It’s also less likely they’ll mention their abortive attempt when they return to the plateau. Not that that matters one way or another.”

“You mean, our deception will be discovered when the colony ship lands?” Kai asked.

Lunzie blinked once as if he had taken her meaning entirely wrong, but he couldn’t think how.

“First thing they’d do after landing is try to find us,” Varian said, “once they have the equipment and personnel to mount a planet-wide search.”

“Oh?” Lunzie was amused. “I thought you said you were a convincing rescue team.”

“Yes, but…”

“That colony ship is not coming in with due authorization from FSP,” said Lunzie, ticking off her points. “You said they had primitive hydroelectric plants? Then they’ve enough to send pulsed code signals to alert the colony ship. Which, because it is not authorized, will not wish to be challenged by any FSP cruisers in the system. Remember, colony-sized ships have got to start slowing once they enter a solar system. They’d come in on a polar entry, more than likely. Did you see a beacon during your sweep of the settlement?”

“No, too hazy, but I’d say it was on the far edge of the grid, on the ridge,” Portegin said.

“Would it have a reciprocal facility?” Lunzie asked.

“They had all the spare matrices from the shuttle,” Portegin said in a sour tone.

“Bakkun had the basic technical knowledge to improvise,” Kai said, remembering the man’s personnel record.

“It’ll buy us more time if they have augmented their communications,” said Lunzie, pleased.

“More time for what and how?” Varian asked. She was surprised to see a twinkle in the medic’s eyes as Lunzie turned to her.

“To establish our own claims on Ireta. Believe me, with as grand a larceny as this, no colony ship commander is going to land unless he’s very sure there isn’t a cruiser lurking behind one of Ireta’s moons or-” Lunzie turned to Portegin. “Do we have enough matrices to contact the Ryxi?”

“The Ryxi?” Varian was startled by the question. She glared at Lunzie in sudden antagonism. The Ryxi mustn’t learn about the giffs.

“I’d quite forgotten about them,” Kai said.

“I’d rather we didn’t,” Varian said in a tight voice. “How could they help us?”

“Why would they?” Triv wanted to know.

“Vrl wasn’t pleased with Kai’s report about the giffs,” Varian began urgently. “You must know what the Ryxi are like, Lunzie?”

“Oh, I do. As I recall it, Kai, you mentioned that the Ryxi had sent out a homing capsule directing their colony ship to start. They’d be well settled in by now-”

“Why would they help us?” Kai asked. He was as unhappy about contacting the Ryxi as Varian but for a less altruistic motive. “They probably assumed that the ARCT-10 picked us up decades ago.”

“The Ryxi generally employ human crew for their space craft,” Lunzie said, cutting through Kai’s objections. “I’d be vastly surprised if they didn’t have a supply ship calling in at intervals.”

“You mean to ask them to pose as Varian’s cruiser? What good would that do except delay the colony ship a while?”

“Any delay helps our purpose.” Lunzie was unruffled.

“And what is our purpose?” Varian asked, a little relieved that perhaps the Ryxi needn’t personally be involved.

“Delay. Especially to delay that colony ship from landing and consolidating the heavyworlders’ gains.”

“Their plans have worked out very well so far,” Varian said. “They have established and maintained a settlement on a brutal, primitive world-”

“Whose side are you on?” Kai asked, startled by her comment.

“Ours, of course. But you can’t deny that the survivors have done a thundering good job of being stranded-for whatever reason.”

“They are, however,” and Lunzie’s cool tone rebuked Varian more pointedly than Kai’s agitation, “about to commit grand theft against the Federated Sentient Planets.”

“Grand theft?” Triv was torn between laughter and shock.

“What else do you call stealing a planet?” Lunzie asked, completely serious. “Which is what they’ll achieve if that colony ship lands. Oh, FSP can still charge Tanegli with mutiny…” and Lunzie shrugged at that useless display of legality. “We, and the sleepers, will get sweet nothing for a lapse of forty-three years because we didn’t produce any significant results in opening the planet.”

“We were sent on an exploratory mission,” Kai began defensively.

“Which remains incomplete.” Lunzie made another eloquent shrug of her shoulders.

“What are you driving at, Lunzie?” Varian asked.

“If we, too, make a significant contribution, the planet cannot be ceded entirely to the Heavyworld colonists, even if their ship lands. We do that by continuing with the original intention of the landing party: a survey of the geological and xenobiological features. It would be better if we could prevent the colony ship’s landing, any way we can. If we somehow validate the ‘rescue’ before the colony ship sets down, we could limit the settlers to that part they have worked.”

“They’d do right well then,” Triv said with a long sigh, “for the plateau is iron-rich. Aulia and I also found significant uranium traces along the up thrust of that long mountain chain the day they mutinied. Never did have a chance to tell you that, Kai.”

“One wouldn’t wish them to have nothing for their labors,” Lunzie said with deep irony, before she turned to Varian. “There’re also your pets, the giffs, Varian, who need to be permitted to evolve without interference. I’d go before the Supreme Council to defend their protection as a patently intelligent species.”

“The whole planet should fall under that protection,” Varian declared.

“Quite possibly,” Lunzie said, “especially if Trizein’s notion is correct about this planet’s having some how been populated with species from Earth’s Mesozoic age. That could be the preemptive consideration.”

“Not with a world as rich as transuranics as this.” Kai said in a tone that brooked no contradiction.

“The two are not mutually exclusive,” Lunzie remarked mildly. “But if the colony ship gets down…”

“And if we should be found?” Triv asked.

“Which is undoubtedly the first thing Aygar would instruct them to do,” Varian said, remembering the fury in that young man’s eyes, promising retribution.

“We could use Dimenon and Margit,” Kai said thoughtfully into the silence that followed.

“And Trizein,” Lunzie said.

“Why him?” Portegin asked. “He’s only an analyst and he wouldn’t have any facilities.”

“He’s our authority on the Mesozoic zoology,” Lunzie said.

“Portegin, could you rig a jammer for the communications mast at the plateau?” Kai asked.

“That’d mean getting close to the settlement again,” Portegin was making no secret of his disinclination.

“Not very close,” Triv remarked blandly.

“They wouldn’t be expecting a ‘rescue’ party to interfere,” Kai said with a grin.

“Good point,” Varian said, pleased and relieved that her co-leader was reasserting himself. “And the sooner that is done, the better.”

“Agreed!” Lunzie’s single word was unexpectedly emphatic. “But, if doing that would use matrices required to reach the Ryxi…”

“No, I think enough are available,” Portegin said blithely unaware of the consternation on the faces of both Kai and Varian.

“Kai,” and Lunzie turned almost brusquely from the technician, “how clearly do you recall the deposits of ore we’d already found?”

“Very clearly,” Kai said in a tone that he hoped Lunzie would interpret.

“Excellent. When I go back to the shuttle, I’ll run fiber through the synthesizer for writing material. Trizein never forgets anything he’s analyzed, so he can rewrite his notes.”

“Terilla could repeat those exquisite drawings of hers,” Varian said.

“Children do not adapt well to the trauma of elapsed time,” said Lunzie in a cool voice. “It’s hard enough on adults to realize that most of their friends, and probably all their immediate family are aged or dead.” The silence that greeted her remark caused her to glance at each of their faces. Her expression was kinder as she went on. “It’s hard enough for us, but at least we have a task to which we can devote our energies.” She paused again, looking about her. “I think we’d best get some sleep now. We’ve a lot to begin tomorrow.”