S. Kye Boult - The Habitat Manager [Novelette]

They were very helpfully seeing to it that The Scientist found exactly what he expected. Wasn't that what he'd sought to find?

The pounding on the door was now violent enough to affect her respiration, adrenalin balance and nervous tone, so Dr. Boon gave up his examination and removed his instruments.

Dr. Boon said, "My dear Jme, either you leave my office and report back to duty, or check into a hospital and do this right. You are entitled to hospitalization, you know. My door is not, I might add."

Jme said, "No hospitals, Boon, old friend. How am I?"

"Wonderful! At the first knock you went straight off my recording paper. Right now your respiration is up and you've got enough adrenalin to keep you moving ten minutes after you're dead.

"Jme, Jme, slow down. You are absorbing energy faster than my life-support lamps can put it out."

Jme curled up on the examining table and said, "You always complain about the power drain when I come in. It used to be my beauty, you said. Now, that I'm getting all wide and flat ..."

He said, "Don't be coy with me. You are alive, very healthy ... and will reproduce at the proper time without medical problems. I refrain from saying reproduce normally. Nothing you do is normal. But healthy. Satisfied?

"Now get on that communicator and save my door!"

Jme colored and asked, "Doctor, can that be delayed?"

Dr. Boon scanned her record cards. So, that was the problem; reproduction fear syndrome, bah! His mind flashed to three tests he wished he had remembered to make. He pretended to misunderstand her and answered, "My door? Not very long. They will break through it at the rate they're pounding. Who's out there?"

She pressed, "Not the door, Boon - the other. Reproduction?"

He scooped her off the examining table and whirled her in front of a polished metal cabinet door. His voice vibrated with his anger as he said, "Look at yourself!"

Jme saw herself in the polished surface. Her body was a flat, rather thick, sheet of protein flesh, just a meter tall and about two thirds of that wide. Her pale gray sensory surface had a ten-centimeter bar of modulated black running width-wise across its top quarter. She was absorbing visual light in that area in order to see her reflection. Beside her the doctor was gripping her with his arms. He was taller and thicker and his flat sensory surface was mottled with darker gray areas of age. He, too, had a black band of sight receptors energized, and below that a white area radiated sonic frequencies when he yelled at her.

He spun her sideways and held her so she couldn't extend her arms for balance. She had to curve her bottom edge quickly to, keep from falling.

He said, "Look at that sigmoid curvature. That's the finest I've seen in twenty years of practice."

She couldn't see much of her reflection with her sensors turned away, but she was proud of the curve of her back and smoothed it's S-shape instinctively.

Dr. Boon thumped her on her back with one arm and said, "Back a dull black; not a spot of shine anywhere." He spun her around to face the mirror again. His voice dropped in volume and he said, "Jme, take a good look. You're young and beautiful."

She said, "And wide."

He dismissed this. "Three centimeters, poof! Don't interrupt my diagnosis. Heh, now ... you are also the youngest and prettiest Habitat Manager our race has on this side of the planet. You've only been in rank ten weeks, but so far the Central Government is backing every decision you take. So far as I can see you've got it made. So, where did you leave your brains!!"

He let go of her and went on sternly, "I make some allowances. This is your first time and you are entitled to some maidenly squibbles. But, don't you ever, ever, ask me to break the law, or to kill a life that hasn't lived!"

She squirmed a little. "Oh, no! I didn't mean ..."

He wanted her to know in her own mind what she did mean, so he went on cruelly, "Think, beautiful. You are a Habitat Manager. You know biology as well as I do. What you are asking can be done, Jme, but the word is death, not delay."

Jme curled up a little, then stiffened into an erect S-curve. Her voice became formal with the almost masculine frequencies of command she used in her work. She said, "Doctor, I asked you for a medical opinion. I am a Habitat Manager, as you remind me. That noise on your door, means that decisions I take in the next few hours may affect the racial survival of many species" - she paused, and went on weakly - "or they might, if I leave here." Then she gathered more strength, turned to face him and said, "Therefore, as Habitat Manager, and officially, Dr. Boon, I must have an answer to my question - now! For the duration of an emergency, can it be delayed, Doctor? Delayed!"

He had made a mistake. Oh well, diagnosis without tests... He answered her in formal frequencies, "Reproduction? No, in no important way. Delay is beyond my skill. You may be a Habitat Manager now, but your body is busy getting ready to insure your racial survival - in case your mind bungles the job. Science cannot help or delay such a basic physical process. It will go on, my dear, normally, or it can be curtailed ... terminated.

"However, I will not do that. If that is your decision, I will fight it as your medical adviser long enough to keep you locked in a hospital through any conceivable emergency!"

She soothed, "Relax, dear. Dr. Boon. You should know from my medical profile, that I would never take that sort of decision. I don't know what got you on such morbid thoughts. You know my sensitivity to life. It was only the time ..."

Dr. Boon had made a mistaken diagnosis and also a mistake in character judgment, so he fed her a platitude, saying, "Nature's timing of such things is always wrong." He had better run the energy lamps in his office at a higher output. He was getting old.

The Communicator on his desk began to radiate an insistant call signal. Dr. Boon stared at it in amazement. Somebody had an override canceling his medical privacy code.

The door gave up its resistance with a tearing crash. It swung open against the wall to hang on one hinge. The doorway was filled with the bulk of a Runner. Dr. Boon had seen Runners before, but never this close, or this violently. He was big, of course, a surface running quadruped had to be big. This one filled the doorway. His muscles, heaving from the exertions with the door, rippled his rusty red hide. His mouth was snarling open to reveal his triangular tearing teeth. Riding on his back, in a saddlelike harness was another male of Dr. Boon's race and a spiney ball body of a Communicator with his rods erected to radiate in the frequencies used by the three races.

Dr. Boon whirled on one corner and stalked straight at the Runner. He lost his temper. He yelled, "Get out! Out! This is a medical examining room. Get out, you mad men! Privacy! I claim Privacy! Get out! Get out!"

The Runner raised one front paw and opened his mouth.

Jme's voice commanded, "Staph! Hold him!"

The being in the saddle was evidently Staph, because he said, "Easy, Msee." The big Runner put his paw down.

Dr. Boon half turned to Jme and snapped, "Now, get them out of my examining room. That door was locked"

Staph said, "Doctor, there is a planetary emergency and I am instructed by the Central Government to find the Habitat Manager, Jme. I have authority to open doors."

Boon raved at him, "No being has the authority to open locked doors. That is my right of Privacy. More, young idiot, it is my patient's right to professional privacy. You ought to be back in a creche. Nobody has that right."

Jme moved to touch him, calm him. She said softly, "Dr. Boon. I have that right."

"What?"

"Two weeks ago, Doctor, we thought this planet was going to be severely damaged by a projectile from the inner planet. We, the Central Government and I, were forced to evacuate nearly one third of our population from what we believed was the danger area.

"You didn't hear about this, because the projectile turned out to be a scientific instrument carrier and it soft landed. Soft landed almost on top of me, I might add, which seems to have triggered my present degree of personal survival.

"Well, no matter. That instrument package, that lander, failed to work. Its power supply did not function and it sits in a crater twenty kilometers east of here. The scientist capable of sending one such lander would be expected to send another. And so he did. Ten days ago the astronomers on Timor detected the firing of another projectile. It is evidently about to arrive, or they wouldn't have sent Staph after me.

"You see, dear Doctor, there is an emergency and your door is not really very important. Oh, Boon, they wouldn't have sent Staph after me without some authority."

Staph explained. "She's right, Doctor. She is the Habitat Manager. In any habitat emergency, the Central Government has given her the command of all life forms, anywhere. We didn't come through the door before, out of respect for her Privacy, not yours." He ignored the doctor and turned to speak directly to Jme.

"Manager Jme, you are called. Your summary was correct. The second projectile from the inner planet is definitely on the way in. It is nearing the moons now."

She asked, "What is its trajectory?"

Staph handed her a card and said. "The Moon astronomers are only making guesses, so far, but the assumption is that it will orbit and impact in the same area as the first one."

Jme signified agreement. "That appeared to be the inner planet scientist's plan when the projectile was launched from there ten days ago."

Staph agreed. "Apparently. Both trajectories will be plotted on the charts at Operations. In any case, we are ready. The ecological displacement is virtually complete. The working ground path was a strip eighty kilometers on each side of the first lander's course, as before. This gives us a good Sigma margin on the lander's volume of uncertainty.

"The ground path is clear of any object that would show from the fifteen-mile pass. All the small mobiles have been ordered to den-up, or stop moving, for the two days. There may be some loss of life here, Jme, if the food supplies fail. I've got several teams ready to go out on that as soon as the lander is down.

All of the Trees are down underground. Bushes and the larger Mosses were also asked to go subsurface and we are feeding them through the root network. The Mosses grumble about the minerals, but they'll live.

"There's one thing, Jme. I can't conceal the Tree bores or the habitat potholes where those forestations were. It just isn't possible to put ground scrapers all around the planet. They're going to be visible, probably out to two diameters. I expect they will show as very small craters. We might ask the Moon astronomers for some holograms, to check.

"The other big problem is the Grazers. They are hard to stop when they move and harder to feed when they stop. The diversionary plant growths I've had to order have changed the traditional cycles in many places. Also, I've lost a herd in a wind storm, east of here. The Runners working with it got lost in the sand. We will be a long time fixing this up."

"Life security, Staph. File it for now." Jme's mind was flashing along some of the details of the job. Staph and his team had virtually relocated part of the planetary life cycle. The task was one of fantastic detail. She would have to get to the Operations map room soon, before the details got out of scope. She instructed, "Have the Advisers meet me in the crater Operations Center. I will work from there, right from the beginning. You can stay in the Center, or finish up with the underground crater coordination. Just be where I can contact you."

Staph said, "The Advisers are there now, H.M. I intend to stay in the surface tunnels. There is a lot of detail to finish. Will you come with me, now?"

Dr. Boon answered that positively, "She will not! I am still examining her. You've delivered your message, now get out of my surgery."

Jme said, "Give me fifteen minutes, Staph. I will take the tube. You go on ahead and set up the Operations Center. I will want to see the astronomical data displayed as well as the biotopes for the displaced areas, please."

The two in the doorway hesitated. The Runner looked around for something else to break.

Jme said, "That's an order, Staph. Msee!"

The Runner whirled and bounded out of the room.

Dr. Boon let the relief show in his voice, "Those Runners are big. All teeth and legs." An idea flashed across his mind. "You are not planning to ride around on one of those brutes, are you? I forbid it!"

Jme laughed lightly. She said, "No. I won't, Doctor. Staph is the only one so far who likes to move that fast, and Msee is the only Runner who will ride him."

"It's an odd symbiosis."

"Just a partnership, Doctor. A symbiosis would be in my field, but their relation is not that sophisticated. Staph and Msee are just friends.

"Now, back to me, please. Will you finish your examination, so I can go back on duty."

"I finished it, my dear. You are completely healthy. Don't worry about the reproduction. That will be healthy, too."

"My only worry is the time and my work. How long can I stay active, Doctor? How long before ...?"

"I can't say, Jme. Four hours to three days ... very soon now. You will apparently be working underground, true?" She signaled an affirmative and he went on, to himself, more than to her. "Artifical light will give lower energy ... the longer time, maybe. But you will undoubtedly be under stress and working at a high pitch. That will increase your activity. It could come sooner.

"I don't know, Jme."

She said, "A fine doctor you are, Boon. Plus or minus three days. So much for science."

Dr. Boon had an epigram for that. He said, "Medicine is the science of curing sickness. What you've got, Jme is not a sickness. Besides becoming gametic only relieves the symptoms."

"A very old joke, dear Dr. Boon. Perhaps I deserve it. Only with this emergency and all, it's a bad time. Awkward."

He soothed, "I know it, Jme. Take it easy. Let your assistants do the work. Be a manager. Just direct.

"Let me get serious for a minute, then you can go. You will be completely normal, mentally ... thoughts clear. They may even seem brilliant. That's the energy level storage build-up and the excess chromatin your body is building and it's definitely normal.

"There may be some periods of disorientation - you may notice double vision, fuzzy frequency control, or you will just concentrate on one object; things like that. They will be very brief, and you should have no lack of control. Just watch for them.

"There will be a period of pain at the beginning, of course. When this happens, Jme, you must relieve yourself of duty and get medical help. You are about one hour away, then, and physical mitosis is rapid after that. Believe me, my dear, nothing, not even a planetary emergency, will matter at that point. Your body will take over ... you understand?"

Jme said, "I understand." Then she asked, more hesitantly. "Dr. Boon? Will you be that ... medical help? Come to the Operations Center and just ... be there? I ... I ... I will be very efficient and precise and never notice you while I work, but I would like an old friend close ..."

His voice was gruff, "Of course. Do I have to break down the door to get in?"

She laughed, "No, this will be business, not pleasure."

"Then get out of here and let me clean up this mess. I'll be there. Leave my name at the gate."

Jme said, "Thank you, Dr. Boon." She turned away and quickly walked out the broken door.

She hurried to the end of the hall to board the transport tube directly to the crater Operations Center. A good part of the fifteen minutes she had promised Staph had already passed. As she left the office Jme left her medical worries behind her. They would intrude fast enough, in the meantime she began to consider the details Staph had left to finish.

Her mind reverted momentarily, when she discovered that she was wider than the tube transport shell and was forced to curl up uncomfortably in its cylinder to close the cabin lid. However, her body accommodated and she forced her outraged female mind back onto thoughts of the ecological problems and things that might yet go wrong. She worked on solutions as the transport slid through its tube to the interchange and out to the domed room under the crater floor; Operations Center.

When she entered the Center's map room, her training led her to check the furnishings and atmosphere. By experience, almost instinctively, she knew the ecology was not in balance. What was it? In so small a living unit, this single room, the reason would be something simple, uncomplicated. What was it?

She checked the maps and display boards. They filled half the room and a group of mobile communications assistants were marking them in fluorescents to show the situation. A star chart showed the predicted orbit path and the present position of the incoming vehicle. A curved hemisphere displayed the ground path of the orbit from the local horizon to the impact point and a stylized strip chart showed the entire ground area under the lander's orbit, clear around the planet. Mounted in the air above, was a giant globe of the whole planet, where the ecological data could be summarized. The ecological displacement was going on simultaneously all around the planet. The task was one of fantastic detail and only the continuous charting and recharting of the map crews let Jme and her Advisers keep track of any of it.

The display map crew was working normally. Operational notes were being added to the charts in symbols, even as she watched.

The room life support panel was carrying normal operating mode signals for all five types of life forms present in the room and the indicators showed there was food and drink available, with stimulants or depressives, as might be required. She knew that panel would be fully operational, because Staph was not in the Center. He would never have left with a mechanical imbalance in the environment. There must be something else.

She glanced at the raised platform that had been built for the Advisers and scanned it quickly. The Adviser for the Tree and Bush people was placed in his mobile root tub under the high energy light cone he required. He seemed satisfied, except that the few leaves he had extruded from his limbs were quivering nervously. The Adviser for the Communicators was also apparently comfortable, although Jme suspected that he would rather be running the map communications net than looking at it. He was curled tightly in a ball with the jointed tubes of his communication rods folded tightly to his body - a position of rest. The Advisers for the Bacteria and Micros were present in their shielded pressurized globe. They presented a milky blue swirl to the outside world, that was really the nutrient fluid of the several hundred collective colonies of Bacteria that made up the Advisers. Jme's instruments said they were in good health.

The Runner ... Ahh! That was it. The Adviser for the Runners. The huge red-brown body was crouched on the observing platform which had been built for him, but he was not relaxed. All of his muscles were in tension, and he was hot. Jme had seen the color change from rusty brown to this red color before. The Runner was radiating heat. She shifted her sensors to the infrared range to verify this. The Runner was a glowing shape of heat. The path of cold conditioned air above his station was flowing at full volume. In fact it was causing a considerable cold air circulation over toward the Tree Adviser's tub. Jme changed the frequency response of her sensors to the cold temperature range and the whole air movement of the room be came visible to her. It was rapidly deteriorating.

She crossed quickly toward the Runner and went back to visual perception. The Runner himself was producing the heat as an emotional reaction; probably to being in this confined room. She would have to get him calmed down, if possible.

As she drew closer she suddenly recognized the shape of his ears, certain scar patterns, and realized that she knew this Runner from a previous time. He had helped her in a job of locating and transferring several thousand small mobile life forms to a better food area.

She said, "I recognize you, now. You are, Utoo. I am Jme. Remember the little fur crawlers?"

He said, "I remember. I still do not like to look on those little ..." His voice was a harsh purr. "I remember you also, friend Jme."

She went closer to him and bent one corner over to rub it up and down against his forepaw. This was as high as she could reach and as close as she could come to the Runner method of greeting friends. They rubbed shoulders. She was rewarded by the deep rumbling noise the Runners use on such occasions and a noticeable drop in the temperature as the laboring air-conditioner overcame the Runner's body heat.

She said, "I'm glad we can work together again, Utoo, although I am sorry that I must ask you to stay inside a building and to lie still, but that is the nature of the work. I won't ask you to run for me this time, so you may relax completely. If you need anything, please ask the Communicator units for it."

Utoo did relax, suddenly. His paws drooped over the edge of the low resting platform like they had been broken. He said, "I do not need anything, thank you. I have eaten before coming to avoid embarrassment." Runners were carnivores and their twin rows of triangular teeth made their feeding periods... uncomfortable, for other races.

Jme said, "That was kind, old friend, but unnecessary. Privacy screens are available. If you hunger, do not deprive yourself."

She touched his paw once more and then walked to her own raised platform and mounted it. She noticed briefly that the Runner's temperature was nearly down to the general room background and then she turned to look at the map display.

She said, "Utoo, I've called the Runners in out of the High Deserts to help move and turn the migrating Grazer herds.

"Will you fluoresce the Grazer coordination on the strip maps, Tubes, please?"

The map lit up as the Communicator in charge, Sprkss, radiated control frequencies at the luminous fungus placed on the giant map.

Utoo said, "There are more than a thousand Runners working the herds, Manager."

Jme saw that all the arrows on the map curved away from the evacuation belt. She said, "The herds will have to be diverted into large circular migration paths or they will overeat the food supply."

Utoo said, "That is being done and will continue. One of the herds is passing near the impact area, now; coming in from the High Desert. The Grazers will be hurried."

"Is that the herd Staph reported as lost?"

Utoo nodded, "They are running in the wind. The storm is blowing away from the impact area. They will be located."

Jme said, "Very well." She turned to the Adviser for the Tree and Bush people. "Have you experienced any difficulty relocating the Tree population, Adviser?"

One of the comm-rod units in her podium began to radiate as a Communicator translated the quivery leaf vibration of the Tree Adviser's voice. Jme interrupted. She said, "Adviser, please. I want to record this briefing. Will you utilize my translators and speak audibly at this frequency." She indicated a glass booth at one side of the working section of the room. Several spiney Communicators were in this booth, their comm-rods erected in readiness.

The Tree Adviser began again. The translator gave him a slow whispery voice that matched his size and the leaf vibrations he produced. He said, "I am the Adviser Entne. I know your translators, Manager. They will speak with my voice.

"Whole forests are retracting underground. Bushes and Trees are retreating from valleys they do not leave even when the great carbonic clouds come down the winds. We fold our leaves and sink into foul tasting food-pots." He wrapped the leaves on three of his branches tight against the branch, snapped the branch up against his trunk and slid his rings one inside the other to reduce his height. He telescoped down, then back up again, erecting his leaves to catch the energy of the overhead artificial lights.

"We feed from chemicals poured into the root channels and crowd the soil of other forests. Is this needful, Manager? Who will take care of our home forest soil while we hide beneath the permafrost like seed pods?"

Jme explained, "The lander will be here today. By tomorrow, or the next day, I will start returning your forests."

Entne had a further objection, "The planet has turned, Manager. Forests on the equator are deep in winter night. And at the poles ... Look, your own charts show the great carbonic clouds you have set free. They are twenty to thirty kilometers farther from the poles than the longest recorded summer. Trees will die if they return to those valleys with the heat and carbonic wind."

Jme said patiently. "Adviser Entne, we will not do that sort of returning. You are here to advise for just such matters. The polar caps were heated to save lives not to kill Trees.

"When the Tree and Bush populations left the polar valleys, the surface soil changed. The nitrogen-tonutrient ratio went to pieces and the temperature dropped.

"The nutrients can be balanced by injection up through the permafrost, but I had to bring the Co, clouds from the poles to make a reflective thermal barrier. I need to protect the Bacteria and Micro populations in some soils. I personally know of two stanno-thermal colony areas. There are many others." She swung back to Sprkss at the map console. "Sprkss, what is the polar cloud plot? Let's see it for the North first, Tubes."

The patterns of fluorescence shifted for a minute on the versatile map and then a frosty silver glow began to develop around the polar cap. Jme grinned inwardly at Sprkss choice of colors.

She watched the cloudy movement of the polar air as it developed on the map model. Fingers of silver flowed down across the northern valleys in a premature summer. Fine water sprays from hurriedly converted communication tunnels made convective swirls of air and guided the clouds across the landscape to cover the evacuated forest areas. Under the blanket of reflective gas the greenhouse effect built up the temperatures. With the rising temperature the soil Bacteria, Virus, and Micro colonies continued their vital task of converting the soil to air and the air to nutrient in the ageless primary task that kept the planet alive.

A translator's voice said, "Manager, I speak for the Adviser of the Bacteria colonies. He says, 'Manager, we are the Speaker.' "

Jme asked, "Is that all?" She turned to Sprkss. "Does he have a good link, Tubes?"

Sprkss said, "They are very hard to talk to. I get a multiple signal, of course, and I have to link in a translator for any other life form ... You should be able to talk directly, H.M. The translator is linked."

The translator radiated again: He gave the Adviser's voice a slight double-echo quality. Bacteria colonies always spoke collectively. They said, "Manager, we are the Speaker. You are viewing the work of our Ancestors on your map device. May we ask, is the work done as you wish?"

Jme sought for quick phrases to answer. The efforts of a whole colony of Bacteria were required to generate the vibrations that the translator picked up and amplified. The senders would live and die, before she replied. If she delayed, generations might pass within the Adviser's globe and her answer would be meaningless.

She said, "That effort went well, Speaker. Those Bacteria colonies were a corner I did not want to cut. You can't move a Bacteria/Micro population. Oh, I could have relocated all of the area by selective sampling and growing new sibling colonies. They could have taken along the records and memories of their ancestors; their life would continue, but the old generations would die where they were born.

"Your race is important to our planet, Adviser. I'm glad the cloud effort helped. Your work was well done. Have I answered?"

The Adviser said, "We are the Speaker. Yes, my ancestors thank you, the question was answered. We are fortunate that you are sensitive to our life problems, Manager. Your summary was exceedingly exact. There were deaths-before-time, but the generations were recorded and the wisdom passed on as is needful. Your gift of warmth helped. We will record and watch in silent generations until you need our services."

Jme's mind swam with a sudden realization of despair. All of the evacuation was planned for no deaths, no losses of live, but she had forgotten these millions upon millions of Micros. These beings would die; were dying. There was nothing she could do about it.

She said. "Data, Sprkss. How many died?"

Sprkss said. "We don't know. Here is the math curve. Screen Two." Jme stared at the display. Her sensitivity to life made a sickness rise in her. So many. She swayed on the platform. Oh, something more had to be said.

She called, "Speaker. Speaker. I am sorry that your life form could not be removed from the orbit area. There will be more deaths at the impact point, too, Speaker. We cannot remove ... You know I cannot do such a task, even though in my love I would want to. I cannot remove Bacteria and Micros from the soil, Speaker. In our language, Speaker, sterilization means death for your colonies and generations. Oh, believe me, Speaker, I would never order such genocide, even if I could do it physically."

The Speaker said, "We are the Speaker. Do not regret. You are the Manager. We have been told by our ancestors that there will be loss of life at the impact point, from the heat and your preparations. We accept that. Those who die will be mourned and remembered. It is a high honor. I may speak no more for a time."

Jme shuddered. She wondered what it would be like to be the spokesman for a life form that lived and died so fast. She had seen the math on their deaths-per-second. For a planetary bacteria population it was on the low-normal side, but it was still a very big number.

The Adviser for the Communicators waved his frequency rods for attention and radiated in his own voice. "We are all complying with the planned directives, Manager. Your organization is able and most of our species, or families, are on the way out of your designated area. That still does not fully explain the haste of your emergency. Could you clear this up, please?"

Jme answered him. She said, "Adviser Cybnd seeks to get me back on the main line of work by asking a question for which he already has the answer. Sound psychology, Cybnd, thank you.

"Outside of the fact that we knew from the beginning that there was a ten-day deadline before the second vehicle arrived, I ordered the speedup because of some very unique aspects of this second vehicle. Adviser Cybnd, as head of our very new Department of Astrobiology, has a coordination of the data. I'd like him to present that now.

"Adviser, please?"

Cybnd erected two more rods and said, "Very well, Manager. If you can spare the first screen on the data display, Sprkss ...?" Sprkss could, and it went blank, then began displaying charts to back up Cybnd as he talked.

He said, "The Astrobiology Department was formed to handle communications with our neighbors on the inner moon, Timor. They contacted us as a matter of routine, when the first vehicle came in, and aided greatly in plotting its orbit and studying its approach.

"My coordination in regards to this second vehicles was a simple one, compared to a difficulty such as an elementary ecological balance, Manager, but it showed one amazing fact. Repeatability. The second vehicle is the same as the first.

"The incoming vehicle, the second one, is now on a collision course for our planet. This course is identical with the path of the first vehicle. Because of this repeatability, we conclude that the second vehicle is identical to the first. It was launched from the same spot on the planet, within a mile, and almost exactly on the same point in the planet's diurnal rotation. That alone is an incredible feat of astronomy."

Utoo asked, "How do you know it is the same type of device?" His race was very direct.

Cybnd said, "I don't, of course. However, the fact that the second vehicle was launched right after the failure of the first argues that no time was spent on analysis and that a duplicate lander was sent. The logic is for repeatability, and, if the indicated points of similarity hold out, as they have so far, I will work on the assumption of repeatability. What else would you expect such a Scientist to do?"

Utoo said, "Nothing less, I guess. I was going to suggest you check your theory as you went along, but you seem to be doing that."

Cybnd said, "I am correlating the data as it comes in, but thank you for the thought. The landing device might be different. I do not think so, however. The Scientist would be able to tell that his lander had suffered a power failure, I think, and not something requiring a design change. The timing of the second shot also seems to indicate this.

"Now, where was I... . Curve three? Yes, well, in this plot, we made some preliminary assumptions. With the vehicle's rockets firing at the same time as the first vehicle, it will orbit, so, and the lander, detaching at this point in the equations, will impact within yards of the first Lander.

"We do not think that these assumptions are unfounded. We consider the coincidence of landing points an example of incredible, marvelous repeatability on the part of The Scientist who designed this experiment. Astrobiology bows to a fellow scientist who plans his experiments so precisely. We have given him, as you may have noticed, the honorary title of The Scientist."

Jme broke in, "Yes, thank you, Cybnd. Well, Advisers, it is precisely that repeatability on the part of The Scientist that caused my ecological alert and speed up. Instead of passively waiting for this vehicle to come in and land, we, the Central Government, and I, have decided to do everything in our power to help this magnificent Scientist from the inner planet to complete his experiment successfully. In addition to the safety policy of removing all major life forms from the orbit area, we are implementing an active policy of aid, planetary aid, to this Scientist.

"As you know the first vehicle landed, but its power systems failed. It crashed and did not return any data to its builder. Gentlemen, in ten days we were able to examine the crashed vehicle and discover that it was an amazing mechanical device to collect specimens of our world. We have fully analyzed its operation and are prepared to assist the second lander in every way. Staph is up above us now with a crew of trained mobiles who will be able to provide the exact sample required by each type of experiment on the second lander. He has planned to do this without introducing a single disturbing factor into The Scientist's experiment. He will work from under the permafrost and the lander will collect only those samples it has been designed to collect. Thus we will aid and help The Scientist with his great two-planet experiment, while at the same time marveling at the genius of a being who could design the mechanisms of such a giant inter-planet effort. In any event, Advisers, we have had ten days to get this plan into effect and we expect it to succeed.

"We expect the second landing to occur here, in the crater, and our greatest effort is concentrated here. We do have other teams located at probable landing spots around the orbit path and will rush all possible aid to support them, if it becomes obvious that the lander will set down somewhere else.

"The speed up of the ecological displacement ... the extra time which you have given us has been devoted to getting the details of this support ready. You have given us the time, Advisers, and we will be ready. This experiment of The Scientist of the inner planet must not fail. To this we are dedicated."

The voice of Sprkss, the Communicator operating the map displays, interrupted her. His words were carried to all the Advisers on an open translation. He announced, "Manager, I have a lasar recording from the Moon astronomers."

Jme said, "Transmit it, Sprkss."

Sprkss said, "Astronomer Minon reporting. Message begins: 'Have checked the predicted orbital ground track during 1045:10 transit. 40X magnification. No visibles. Your ecological evacuation complete. Holograms covering impact local horizon section squirt xmitted on 2445:10 transit your horizon.' Message ends."

Jme acknowledged. "Very well. Transmit to them please: What is your report on the vehicle? H.M. And Sprkss, will you translate his codes, please?"

They both waited for the brief message lag, then Sprkss read out the coded light modulations he was monitoring.

"Astronomer Minon reporting: Message begins: 'We are realigning, now. The vehicle is calculated at one minute to rocket firing time - if it is going to make the same orbit as before. Telescopes are now aligned. Hold.' " After a short wait he continued, leaving out the salutation. " 'The vehicle has fired its rockets. We are computing. The firing has stopped. Here are the results. The orbit is stable. Astronomer Dunro reports the firing was exactly at the predicted time. The ground track should be the same as before. He will know in fifteen minutes, but by then the vehicle will be over his horizon. It should appear over your local horizon in one hour, your planetary local time system.' He also says personal to H.M.: 'Repeatability, marvelous.' Message ends."

Jme said. "Thank you, Sprkss. Keep a channel open to them, please. I want to verify the ground track as soon as they can plot it for us. Our theory is coming along nicely."

She turned to face the vision screen which was set to communicate with Staph's tunnel headquarters. She said, "Staph, the ship is in orbit. Can you give me a summary of the crater work?"

Staph came on the vision screen. His sensors darkened in embarrassment. He said, "That will be close, H.M. I've stopped all work up there for now, while we get all the visibles out of the way for the first orbit pass. The ground is almost ready, but we've got a couple of other hot problems."

Jme said, "Staph, that ground has got to be just exactly, precisely, as it was when the lander came down the first time."

"I don't see how the ground got so pounded in just ten days, or where all this equipment came from. We must have had every scientist on the planet out there."

Entne's voice registered a chuckle. He said, "Except the Trees and the Lesser Mosses."

Jme asked, "Sprkss, do you have visual circuits out to the crater, yet?" "Yes, the center screen."

"Well, turn it on. Turn it on. Let's watch something else besides these maps."

The large center screen which hadn't been used up to now, began to light up from right to left. Above in the crater wall, a bank of light-collecting filaments were pointed at the impact area. The Communicator, Sprkss, uncovered the lenses on their filament ends in succession, so he could check for defects, or missing filaments. When they were all uncapped, the visible light from the scene was channeled down the filaments to the screen surface and was visible to the Advisers. The effect was a larger-than-life picture of the crater with the first-lander sitting in the left-hand corner. One of its solar panels was deployed, like an ugly mobile with one wing broken.

There was still much activity at the site - too much, considering how close the orbiting vehicle was. Jme could see Trees and some Bushes that were part of Staph's ecological team.

She snapped, "Staph, get those beings out of there! That orbiter moves fast!"

The four Trees were sinking down into the ground. Their ring sections slid inside each other as the branches folded against the trunk, the leaves turned white-gray to conserve heat and tucked against the branches: The tops of the branches telescoped into the ground and they were gone.

The Bushes were spread out a bit more and they writhed around in patterns as they shrank in area and then pulled themselves below the surface to wait out the landing.

Four groups of mobiles began pulling a frame around, smoothing the soil, removing footprints, tracks, and making the crater surface look rough and natural.

Suddenly there was a lot of noise and much excited yelling. Sprkss had managed to activate some sound detectors in the thin air of the crater. Three Runners went dashing across the crater. One of them was carrying Staph on his back. That would be Msee.

Utoo said, "It's a herd of Grazers, moving right toward the impact site." His eyes, skilled at seeing such things had caught the movements in the screen. "Looks like they outran the sandstorm. Well, they aren't lost now."

Entne said, "Didn't they get the word. They should be moving off the. other way."

Jme said tensely. "He's got to get them out of there. The area has got to be clear for the first orbit pass."

Utoo said, "Staph will do it. He's got Msee to help. Look, they've got the leader of the herd, now."

Jme asked, "Communications, can you get a detector over there?" "Checking."

Jme hurried him. "Come on, Tubes. In ten days that whole crater has been honeycombed with your detector net. Get one working."

Sprkss' voice was calm. "Yes. I found one. Network linking up, now. No. No time. Watch the screen."

To the right of the group of Runners and Grazers a brilliant point of light sprang into being and began to modulate. Sprkss had linked a light unit into his detector and was sending the conversation verbatim. He switched to another group of visuals and ran the magnification up in order to bring the figures in close.

A translator began reading the light signal from the smaller screen, using Staph's voice, Msee's purr and giving the Grazer a high-pitched squeak that had a comedy effect.

Staph said, "You must turn your herd and run. This area is being cleared."

The Grazer said, "No land is cleared ahead of my herd. We have always grazed here. We are fleeing a great storm. It blinds our young."

Msee growled, "No time to argue, Staph. Let me run them. I haven't eaten a Grazer in months."

The Grazer bleated, "This is not an eating matter. We are changing grazing grounds. The law protects .. You can't eat a whole herd."

Msee said, "No, but I, and my friends here, can kill the first five that move toward the crater." At that he rose up on his hind feet and opened his forearms and mouth at the same time. "I will eat the first one. Will that be you, succulent one. Your ears look fat and juicy."

In the Operations Center, Utoo chuckled deep in his throat.

The Grazer said, "You can't kill without food need. It's a crime." He bounced on his feet in alarm.

Msee went on - Staph was letting him do the talking - "We have the authority of the Habitat Manager, Delicious Nose. I can eat you if I like. This is a planet-wide ecological shift and you are in the way. Besides it will be fun." He opened his teeth and howled. The translator didn't trouble to translate the howl. He didn't have to.

The Grazer whirled and stampeded into his herd. The herd picked up his panic and twisted off away across the plain. Six Runners came up with the flanks of the herd. They were part of the detachment that had lost contact in the storm. They spoke briefly to Msee and went off with the herd.

The swift movement of the Runners caused Jme's vision sensors to whirl and she leaned against her podium to catch her balance. Then her senses were blanked by a rippling pulse of pain. It stabbed across her back twice and then was gone, leaving her shaken and clinging to the podium to keep from falling. She had missed part of Sprkss' announcement. He was saying, "... Orbiter is one minute from our hori zon. This is a standby warning!" A voice from Staph's area came over the comm-unit at a loud volume. "Everybody inside and freeze!" Get that Dragger out of sight!"

Jme forced her voice out in low tones. She said, "Calm down up there in the tunnels. Follow Staph's instructions."

A warning light flashed.

Sprkss announced, "Here it comes." Then, speaking to his remote detector crews, he ordered, "Visual only, now. Don't hit it with any radiation."

The orbiter flashed into view as a pale light spot in the vision screen and stayed centered as the outside optic rods moved swiftly to track it. As it went overhead, the picture wavered a bit, a new bundle was taking over the tracking, then steadied down and the orbiter fell away over the horizon.

Jme said, "All right, Staph. Get at it. I want that ground just exactly the way it was when the first orbiter landed." She glanced at the plotting chart. "The orbit elements were exactly the same, Staph. The impact predictor has zeroed in on the crater. Get going!"

Staph's voice came out of a speaker. He said, "The ground is almost right, now, H.M. We want three or four more passes with the pulverizers to get the sand grain size down and the density distribution spread out a little more."

"Good, Staph. I want the ground just exactly ..." Jme realized she was repeating instructions and broke off. She left him to do his work and tried to relax. Her body was tense and tended to stand straight and flat. She gripped the edge of the platform with the corners of her lower edge and realized that she was now wider than the platform. Dr. Boon was right, her body did seem to be taking things into its own hands. Well, she would last. She had to!

Desperately she took her mind away from that line of thought and began following the 'tracking reports around the planet, as Sprkss marked them on the big map. The orbiter and the lander units separated and the lander began its descent trajectory. The little red triangle indicating the firing of it's retro-rockets was exactly in the yellow circle of the predicted firing point.

Staph reported his, all ready and all life clear, minutes before the orbiter-lander combination came over the horizon. The lander was detestably lower. It fired more rockets and began to slow. Then it came into the atmosphere and the detectors that were recording the long heat wave lengths from the retro-rockets began showing a steady temperature rise and helping to track the path. In minutes the lander was down low enough for the crater visuals to see and the screen gave them a picture of the flat, boxy, lander hanging under the bright curved domes of its fluttering air brakes.

Jme was relieved at the sight. Her nerves were tired of reading and interpreting the charts. The visual picture was reassuring. She watched the lander come down the sky. It moved swiftly to a point just above the hills where, the air brakes blew away and fluttered in the sky.

Jme's vision doubled. She seemed to see two sets of the fluttering brilliant brakes. At the same time her attention was fixed on the falling lander. The experiment had failed again. It was going to crash!

Her energy intake slowed, then pulsed rapidly, then slowed again. She was only dimly aware of the Adviser's chatter around her.

"It's broken!"

"No, there, the motor fired. See the flame?"

"Did those air brakes stay with it last time?"

"Yes, right down to the ground." "Maybe that's why the first one crashed."

"Look, there's one of its legs!" Jme recognized Utoo's loud voice.

Sprkss' voice came through. He said, "The flame is melting the ground. I've lost my heat sensors. We are recording from the crater wall, now, H.M."

Jme changed frequencies on her visual receptors. The doubling images swam together into single one, just as the lander's motor cut off. The lander went forward a little and another air brake ejected to lower it to the ground. It hit and the legs deflected to take up the shock.

The ring and cables just above the lander separated with a flurry of motion and shot up through the air brake, carrying it out and away from the lander. The sudden violent movement brought Jme back to her alert sensing. She saw the projected crater floor now in very clear bright colors.

She asked, "What was that? Did you record it, Sprkss?"

"A helix of metal, compressed to store energy and released. See it is still vibrating."

Utoo reported, "It shot a projectile into the air brake and carried it clear of the lander. Ingenious! It was operated on purpose.

Cybnd said, "That didn't operate on the first lander."

Jme said, "No, and it didn't operate when we were inspecting and analyzing the lander either. If it had, somebody would have lost a head.

"Well, no matter. The lander is down and The Scientist should begin his research program any time now. Staph are your units positioned?"

"Almost perfect, H.M. The heat is radiating away and I have a tunnel complex almost directly under it. We are extending the tunnels and detector bores up to the surface, now."

"Good. Stand by. I -don't know which experiment will come first."

From the top of the lander a square rod erected itself, then another. The third movement was a dome-shaped turret with a flat side. This gave off a wink of light.

"Laser!"

Jme asked, "Sprkss, anything?" Sprkss replied, "Just reflection, Jme. Overloaded an optic."

Jme said, "No. I mean, did a signal come in to start this?"

"Oh, I understand. No, nothing detected."

"Then this is all automatic. Good. That should speed things up."

Adviser Entne asked, "What do you mean, Manager?"

Jme turned to face him. "Transmission lag, Adviser. If The Scientist had designed this so that he had to start and stop every experiment with a signal of some kind, the transmissions would take four hundred seconds to the inner planet; eight hundred seconds plus analysis time all told. We would be here for months. As it is the lander seems to be working on an automatic program of some sort. We suspected as much.

"What are those rods, Sprkss? Got them figured out yet?"

Sprkss said, "They're optics, H.M. The rods are coated for light reflection and they are turning slowly. The Scientist is using a light lever system to see around the lander."

"Visual light?"

"So we believe. We noted these rods on the first lander. I don't think they can handle any other frequencies; although low red and medium high blue are possible."

"What can it see?"

Sprkss said, "Estimating, now, H.M." A diagram appeared on one of the auxiliary chart boards. Sprkss explained. "Studying the triangle of the rods and dome, and assuming all three move through these small arcs, I'd say The Scientist can see three hundred sixty degrees. The detector in the dome of the lander sees everything in front of it, plus whatever is reflected from the rods. Yes, it ought to get the whole horizon from the level of the top of the lander. It can't look up or down.

"I have units duplicating the arrangement for a precise answer, but the experiment will be over before... yes, there, the rods have stopped moving. The Scientist has had his look around and shut off the system, I'd guess."

Adviser Cybnd was curious. He asked, "Why not continuous vision?"

"Limited power, Adviser. Continuous vision would only be valuable if The Scientist were looking at the scene directly. He is not. That lander is not radiating anything but low grade heat.

"Excuse me, here comes the next experiment!"

A third rod was lifting up from the top of the lander. On top of this rod was a round, flat plate, curved in at its center. Unconsciously Jme formed the same shape with the curve of her back. She felt the energy level of the center of her back go up to an exciting level, then she straightened and the sensation was gone.

Cybnd was unfolding more of his rods to watch this experiment more closely. He said warningly, "That may be a radiator, Sprkss. Tap it!"

Sprkss got busy. He said, "Right! But it won't be radiating light. Not if it's going to try to reach The Scientist, himself ... high frequency receptors! Quick! Very high; very short ... there!

"No, not right. Missed it."

Utoo asked quickly, "What happened?"

Sprkss said, "It sent out a very short wave of a tremendous frequency. I had some receptors that were short enough to vibrate in harmony, but the frequency was too high. No communication, Jme, sorry. There were deaths in my receptors."

Cybnd asked, "Can you replace them? I will help ..."

Sprkss said, "I can replace them. I will bring up some high-frequency units, but they are sensitive and it will take time.

"The signal was Intelligence, however, H.M. It was modulated on two levels, almost pulsed. Also the time of sending was just as long as the visual observation period."

Utoo said, "The Scientist did get his look around sent back to him, then."

Jme said, "Yes, and he may have sent a signal for the next experiment.

With Sprkss' detectors out we couldn't tell. Our theory of an automatic experiment package doesn't look too good, right now.

"I want to follow this from the surface tunnels. Tell Staph that I'm coming up." She left, before anyone could stop her.

The lift and transporter above the Operations Center took her to Staph's tunnels just under the permafrost. They were crude bores. He hadn't wasted any time on them. She glanced at the roof. Staph had thrown up supports for the life-support lamps and the tubes of the comm-units, but the roof was unfinished. In places it was hollowed away to expose the permafrost. She didn't like the tunnel. She adjusted her body energy input to compensate for the cold and hurried along to Staph's working area.

Staph was up ahead where the tunnel branched. He had set up a comm-panel with two fair-sized vision screens and a crew of working Communicators. She heard him say, "Sprkss, get your detectors in position and record the next signal. I suspect that each experiment will be followed by such a signal." From the sound of his voice she was able to find him. He was almost out of sight up in a Tree bore that led up to the surface. The lander must be directly overhead.

Adviser Entne exclaimed, "Of course, The Scientist would check the results of each step. He is a most precise person." His voice was clear and distinct. The Communicator on the comm-panel mimicked it perfectly.

Staph came down out of the Tree bore and saw Jme. He said, "You are in time, Jme. There is an experiment beginning. This is one we have been expecting."

They looked at the vision screen in time to see a long rod begin to extend from the side of the lander.

Jme said, "Ah, that is the soil scoop. We were able to get that to work. It extends straight out and the bucket locks down. Then the rod retracts. The bucket digs a trench and fills with soil... There the bucket has locked down."

Cybnd's voice asked. "Will it get a good sample?"

Staph answered, "Absolutely. We have analyzed the scoop mechanism and the soil consistency is just right. The scoop will fill completely in the length of its dig and it will leave a clean, uniform trench, with sides exactly at the angle of repose for the soil density. It will work exactly as designed. I guarantee it."

The bucket tip dug into the soil and scraped its trench easily and smoothly. The soil crumbled into the bucket, leaving a trench about a meter long.

Utoo's rattley purr came over the comm-unit. He said, "A very neat job. No waste motion."

Jme nodded. "The soil density was exactly right, Staph."

Staph said, "Nothing, really. The design of The Scientist's experiment made it obvious what he wanted. H.M., what experiment do you expect next?"

Jme said, "I don't know. There are only a few experiments on the lander. The soil sample is going to be taken inside and separated into small samples and dissolved in various chemicals. All of this is done by an intricate machine, and the data will either be stored, or transmitted, by one of those high-frequency pulses. In any case, I don't think anything will start until that process is over."

Adviser Entne wanted to know, "Can a machine be made to analyze the soil like that?"

"Oh, yes. Of course, I don't know what logic The Scientist will use in reading the data. His thought processes will be forever beyond us, but his method is clear and he will get a good picture of the chemical and molecular structure of the soil. A very good picture."

The Adviser for the Bacteria signaled for attention and his odd double voice came from the translator, "We are the Speaker. Manager, can you spare a Communicator so that we may contact and record the generations of our brothers?"

Jme said, "What? What do you mean?"

The Speaker answered, "We would like to contact our brothers in the soil, Manager. When the soil is dissolved by the chemicals, as you have described, there will be deaths. There already have been many in the digging. Since this is so historic an occasion, the ancestors of these generations should be recorded and not lost."

Jme said, "The soil Bacteria, of course; I had not remembered. Sprkss, can you reach them?"

"I don't know, H.M. How can I tell one colony from another. Wait one moment, Speaker. Wait... I have set three listeners in sets, to check the colonies. The colonies that show movement ... they may triangulate the bucket.

"Ahh, there! We have them I think. One colony will give you a link to the others, won't it? Will you do the contacting, Speaker. The linkages for communication are quite difficult..."

"We are the Speaker. We will do that gladly. Sprkss. We know you will be needed elsewhere. We will speak to our brothers."

"Thank you. Here is your linkage." A sheaf of tendrils grew beside the Adviser's globe and fanned into invisible filaments. The swirling mass inside the globe darkened before the filaments as the Speaker concentrated the colonies necessary to do the job of communicating.

Jme watched the soil sample disappear into the body of the lander and the rod and its linkages retract. The lander was motionless for a time.

Sprkss reported, "It has sent another high-frequency pulse, H.M. We recorded it, but analysis will take time."

"No hurry, Sprkss. The next experiment will probably commence soon. Let's watch that."

The lander slid out a wide flat panel. The panel came out with its flat side facing the ground, stayed in that position for a time and then began to rotate slowly on an axis parallel to the ground. As it turned the Advisers could see that it was a very thin sheet of some material held in a frame. It shivered slightly in the air movement caused by its turning.

Adviser Entne said, "It's like a leaf. The Scientist samples the air, now. How ingenious. With a very thin panel like that he would be able to feel density and air pressure; also wind speed, if there were any wind. Is there?"

Sprkss answered, "No, very calm. The air moves from the heat differential only. Just right. He will get excellent results."

Utoo asked, "Do you suppose he collects solar energy, too?"

Jme said, "I don't know. What is your opinion, please, Adviser Entne?"

Entne said, "I doubt it. The foil is not thick enough to carry receptors. We decided early, that those two blue-black leaves are the only receptors on the lander. I see no reason for another at this stage. Also, The Scientist likes to do one thing at a time. He is very precise."

Jme said, "You may be right.

"Was there any outgoing signal that time, Sprkss?"

"No, not this time. Either a malfunction, or the lander is going onto a programmed sequence."

"Keep monitoring."

"Staph, the life experiment may be next. Are you in position?"

Staph answered vocally. He had moved back to the Tree bore under the lander. He said, "Yes, H.M. I'm ready. The carrier is in the bore, now, with the solution of Little Brothers. The whole thing is right under the lander. I'll spray the solution up through the surface as soon as the probe touches."

"Very well, stand by.

"Sprkss, can you boost the magnification on some visuals so I can see the base of the lander? I want to see the probe when ... the instant it comes out."

"I have that ready, H.M. Look at screen Two, please."

Screen Two showed the bottom of the lander and one leg at a very high magnification. The small rotating door that covered the probe could be seen. The visual angle was slightly up. Sprkss said, "That's all the visuals I've got under the lander, Jme. I didn't want to get in Staph's way."

"Don't let them become visible from the lander, Tubes."

"The receptors are very small. I'm using light amplifying bundles farther back in the network."

"Good. I don't want to spoil the experiment by introducing anything The Scientist hasn't planned for." Utoo said, "There's the probe. The door's opening!"

A metal rod, supporting a glass tube descended slowly from the bottom of the lander, until it touched the ground.

Jme ordered, "Get in there, Staph!" He didn't reply.

The glass tube was supported just off the ground by the metal fingers when the probe came to rest. Then the metal fingers tightened and the glass tube broke.

Just as the fingers began to snap the tube, Staph acted.

He said, "Pressure!" and the end of the tube was misted by a thin fog. The fog appeared just as the glass snapped. Some of the fog and some dust from the sand swirled into the tube.

Utoo let out a purr of breath. He had been holding it and released it so loudly the Communicator radiated the sound. Utoo laughed and said, "There was a vacuum inside?"

Jme said, "Yes. Staph, it looked very good from here. I think you did it."

Utoo asked, "What about the water? Do you think that will hurt the lander's instruments?"

Staph answered, "It wasn't water. It was a chemical carrier for the virus population. It sublimed almost instantly. Anything left would be mostly silicones and ferrics. The same stuff that will be present in the dust and in our Little Brothers. The experiment will never notice it.

"Does anybody know if they have got there - the Little Brothers? The probe is retracting."

Jme asked. "Speaker, can you contact them?" The communication net for this had been set up in advance. The Speaker's voice announced. "We are the Speaker. We cannot contact them very well. Our Little Brothers do not communicate like the rest of ... Ahh!

"We will translate into verbals. Can you record them?"

Without waiting for an answer the Speaker went on: "They are saying, `Food. Food. Rich, better food! It is all as was promised to our generations. Lovely, wonderful place. We can make much acid here. Already our relatives, er ... ah, children, grow around us. Lovely long chains of acid; and the molecules rush to link and form... Food. Food!'

"They go on in the same thought. We offer the opinion that they have indeed arrived in the nutrient designed by The Scientist to receive them."

"Purragh! LOOK!!"

Jme twisted to face the screen at Utoo's cry. The lander pictured there was shrouded in smoke. Four puffs swirled out from each corner.

Then the shock wave hit the tunnels. The lights rocked and swung. Dust filtered from the walls. Jme saw the pave of the tunnel floor rise and fall like a wave.

Staph's voice went to full volume. "OUT! EVERYBODY OUT! Head for the crater wall!"

Jme realized the shock wave was reflecting from the permafrost above them and reenforcing the waves in the tunnel. A mild explosive shock was reverberating down the tuned tube like a major earthquake.

She spun, scooped the two Communicators off the console and made for the open car of the transporter. There was time to get the lid down and the power bar full out, when the ceiling came down behind them and the lights went out.

The lights went out, but the car moved forward fast and let the grinding rock fall. The car ran for half a minute, then stopped.

Jme said, "Now what? Power cut off?"

One of the Communicators radiated, "We are at a junction, Manager. The crater wall opening is over that way, of course. Not too far; see the light."

Jme had her sensors tuned for heat detection in the darkness; a reflex when the lights went out. She went back to visual and discovered the dim light, off to the left.

She said, "O.K. We walk." She got out of the transporter, picked up the two Communicators and went toward the light.

It was a crater-wall cave opening. More than that, it was one of Staph's observation posts and sported a com-console and a set of working lights.

Jme put the Communicators down on the console and said, "See if anything works, Boys. Tell them the tunnel behind us is down." She had seen the rock fall when the lights went on. "They might as well dig us out through the back tunnel. The transport tube we rode is probably blocked clear to the lift system."

The two Communicators went right to work, but they had to test almost all of the console's corn-tubes before they found an open line. From that point, they were almost instantly in contact with Sprkss' net. The two of them linked themselves together with a jointed tube pattern and began operating the four-voice speakers on the console as if they were running a Comm-net.

Jme said, "Take it easy, Tubes. We've only got to talk to them one at a time."

The Communicator said, "I'm Tellyr and he's Bellyr, of course. Don't worry, this is easy, Manager. There are a lot of people yelling for you. This way we can split them up and give you voice reproduction. It's just a jolt, of course."

Jme said, "Very well, Tellyr. You've told them we're here. Was anybody hurt? Find out what happened and how bad."

Sprkss' voice answered. "No serious casualties, Jme. Only the tunnel branch you were in collapsed. Staph's Communicators all were taken out safely."

Jme said, "Good. Wonderful. What happened? I know the shock wave reenforcement brought the permafrost down. I could see that. What exploded? The lander?"

Jme's Communicator said, "H.M., screen One. If Bellyr can handle all the vocal for a while, I can hold vision from Staph's crater-wall location. It's a 20X magnification and a recording and it will be spotty, of course."

Staph's voice came from the other Communicator. He said, "Jme, the lander ejected something, violently, and threw it a long distance away ... over twenty meters. My attention was on retracting the ejection tube below the lander, so I didn't see any of this, but it was recorded."

This, turned out to be a pointed cylinder of dull metal lying half buried in the sand. There was a disturbed sand trail out from its pointed end, marking where it landed and slid.

Jme asked, "Is the lander still upright? Did the ground collapse under it?"

Staph said, "The lander is exactly as before, H.M. The ground is still good. I've got a crew checking the tunnels. They are also cutting through to you. That fall isn't too big, but the tunnels under the lander are all messed up."

Jme said, "Very well. Back to this explosion. I want an analysis set up, Sprkss, quickly. That was not on the first lander. We have to decide what kind of experiment is going on, and decide quickly. Opinions, Advisers?"

Sprkss said, "There were four smoke puffs, so logic says there are three more of these cylinders. We are hunting for them visually, now."

The cylinder moved. It slid on the sand.

As it moved, a very thin filament became visible. This was attached to the base of the unpointed end and the cylinder was being pulled backward by the filament. It now became obvious that the trail marks in the sand were not caused by the cylinder's impact, they were drag marks.

Adviser Entne said, "Communications, this has the feel of a Bush, or one of the Mosses. Can we see the corner of the lander?"

Sprkss worked his controls. He asked, "The corner nearest to the cylinder?"

Entne said, "I suspect that any corner will do."

The picture came on the screen as Sprkss actuated his vision network. It showed a corner of the lander and two objects that had not been there before - a short tube and a wide reel. Coming off the reel was more of the thin filament. It disappeared into the lander and stretched into the air in the other direction to connect to the moving cylinder on the sand. As they watched, the reel moved and the filament wound over it and into the lander.

Sprkss said, "That's not a commtube. It's being pulled in and drawing the slug back after it. That's just a cable, or rope, like the ones that worked the digger bucket."

Entne said, "It is part of another experiment."

Jme said, "Of course, but what is wanted. We don't know what The Scientist wants with this experiment."

Staph's voice was patched into her panel. He said, "Jme, I can see the cables on all of those slugs, from here. They are all moving. Also, Jme, each cable is covered with something sticky. Dirt and grains of sand are adhering to it, covering it up, as it moves."

Entne interjected, "I thought so! Some of the Bushes act like that." Jme said, "You know what the filaments are for, Entne?"

"I believe so. The Bushes collect nutrient that way. I believe this is a soil-sampling experiment. The Scientist, of course, has no need for nutrient, so he is collecting soil.

"The first experiment collected soil samples by the lander's roots, right? Well, it hasn't any root... er a ... in close, then. Now, this experiment throws sticky cables out and gets samples away from the lander ... out from under its leaves ... ah ... it doesn't have leaves, either, but ... I mean, the logic is..."

Utoo finished, "... Is elementary. You've hit it!"

"What do we do about it, H.M.? Staph?"

Staph answered, "Me? Do? I can watch it. That's all. I haven't got any equipment or access tubes out that far. I haven't got much of anything; it's all broken up under the lander.

"The soil is normal out there, though. Just like it was before the first lander crashed in. I did that much. The soil is acceptable. It will analyze out very much like the near samples. No surprises."

Cybnd asked, "Why don't we just let the cables wind in?"

Staph called, "Jme? H.M.?"

Utoo said, "What is the matter with her? Is the comm-tube still open? Did anybody send a doctor with that rescue team? Medic!

"Never mind, I'll get him, myself."

Jme came out of her reverie. The colors of the cave mouth were bright and clear to her vision. A plan for dealing with those dragging filaments was also sharp in her mind. She began to direct her team. First a check on an item of data. She asked, "Staph, is the soil out there barren? Sterile?"

"Sterile." Staph had been trying to hurry up the tunneling crew; her question caught him by surprise. "No, not at all, if you mean chemically, Jme. It will support many forms of root life. Sprkss, can you display our analysis on that little visual unit she's got?"

Jme stopped him, "Never mind. I don't mean that. Does it have any other smaller life; Micro population or such?"

Staph answered, "Oh, well, I don't know, Jme. We kept no controls in this crater except near the lander. My statistics show the population should be in the lower three Sigma curve on Bacteria, Fungus and Micros. I can't be sure. We have kept all normal ecology out of this crater for something like nineteen to twenty days, now, while we studied the other lander and set up for this one. That is a long, long time, for Micro populations. I'd say the outer crater is pretty barren, Jme."

Jme said, "So would I, and that being the case, I think we owe it to The Scientist to send him some more of our Brothers. There were soil Bacteria in his bucket sample. Can you and your Communicators locate volunteers to ride the sticky filaments with those soil particles?"

Staph was amazed. "Jme, that's impossible. There are four widely separated filaments, smaller than any communicator tube. You want me to locate them, drill an approach tube and spray Bacteria colonies at them. It can't be done. My whole network under that lander has collapsed in the cave in. I'd need new tubes, Jme. Even if I could get the volunteers, those filaments are moving. Time them! They'll be retracted before I could bore the tubes."

Jme broke in, "Not tubes, Staph, dear. Please, listen. Use the crater gliders. The little fliers. There's one here in this cave with me. You must have some over there. Just use two of them, Staph, in one gliding pass across the crater. Oh, it will work, I know it will! Are they able to do that for you, the gliders? Are they willing enough to follow instructions?"

"Gliders! Oh!" Staph considered this. "Oh, sure, they'll do what they're told. We've made pets of some of them. I might even get one of the spray tubes to open on time. If they can carry one ... I'll have somebody ask ... Jme, what about the lander's vision system - if it sees one of these gliders?"

Jme said, "A calculated risk, Staph. Sprkss says the vision-power system is off. He'll monitor it, so check with him before you send the glider out. Oh, Staph, also make sure they can't drop a tube, will you? The Bacteria are acceptable, but broken plastic is not."

The Communicator, Bellyr, perched on the panel was waving his comm-rods and Jme searched for his frequency.

He said, "The Adviser for the Bacteria is talking, Manager. I will filter out his formalities." Then he changed the tone of his voice as Communicators did when they were translating and said, "Might we offer a delicate suggestion?"

Jme forced herself to answer. There was nothing she could do to help Staph with the gliders, but the last thing she wanted to do, now, was to talk to the Speaker of a Bacterial colony. She braced herself against the side of the tunnel and said. "Of course you may, Speaker. The Scientist is sampling members of your life form. Of all species on our planet, your advice is paramount. Please go on."

"Your assistant, Staph, being underground, is no doubt using a type of fungus to produce the visible light he requires. Our elders inform us that many of these higher, less colonized life forms reproduce by sporulation, and this they do violently, spreading their siblings over large distances from the parent."

Jme thought she was getting very sensitive about the subject, but it did seem like everybody was thinking about reproduction today. She spoke up sharply, "What is your suggestion, Speaker?" She really didn't have time for a biology lesson.

The translated voice answered her, "We suggest that your gliders might carry such types of fungi and present The Scientist with spores in place of Bacterial generations. It is such a sensitive subject, advising a species on the disposition of its offspring, that we hesitated ..."

"Thank you. Your generations will be recorded." Jme cut him off with the formal phrase. The idea was good.

She asked, "Staph, can you do it?"

Staph's voice came from Tellyr, "My Tubes are checking the fungi, now. Yes! Easily. Good! Jme, I have the volunteers right here in the tunnel. We can send one of our small receptor comm-units along to take a light signal and the spores can be released right over the cables. Where they will fall ... I can't control that, Jme."

Jme said, "If you can do what you have described it will be enough. Oh, send them out, Staph. Quick. We are talking too much!"

She turned out to face the opening of the cave. She pushed herself away from the tunnel wall so she could see the lander on the crater floor, and discovered that her corners were over and off the edge of the smooth paved tunnel floor. She was getting wider. She curled her edges in, and the pain began. Little rhythmic pulses that were easy to bear, but warned of more to come. Her back was almost flat and she had to force it into a decorative S-shape and hold it there.

She said, "Where is that rescue team?" But she didn't say it very loud.

She heard Sprkss' voice say, "No emission from the vision system, Staph. Go ahead." The Communicators were not transmitting anything else over the net.

Jme adjusted her vision for the light out in the crater and the distance to the lander and was in time to see the tiny gray-white glider dart from the crater wall. It swooped in a wide arc low down along the sand and then back up to the same spot on the crater wall again. That must be where Staph's other cave opening was located. The glider soared again and, as it tilted up to return, the bottom plan form of the swift animal was visible to Jme. From its pointed nose, the thin delta shaped wings of its body tapered sharply back. They gave one flap for power and stiffened to glide again. In that interval, Jme's ultra clear, sharpened, sight caught the shine of Staph's communit and fungus, clutched tightly in the glider's claws.

Then the fliers swooped away. A second white dart made the trip and the job was done.

Jme continued to stand and watch the lander until Sprkss reported the pointed cylinders were back aboard the lander. She said nothing; did nothing. She ignored the congratulatory chatter coming from Tellyr and Bellyr behind her. She didn't seem to hear the falling rock from the collapsed end of the tunnel or notice the swirling cloud of dust that blew past her.

The pain she couldn't ignore any more.

It came at her in jumps and waves. When it was there, she couldn't see or hear. When it went away, she filled her mind with insistent commands for silence. She mustn't cry out, or scream; just hold on and wait for the next spasm.

Suddenly she realized that Utoo was in front of her. His heavy paws gripped her sides and the flat red head blocked her view of the crater from a foot away. All those teeth.

Then there were two of him and more pain, then one, then two again. So many teeth.

Utoo said, "Jme, what's wrong?" His voice roared at her; twice its usual volume.

Too loud, Utoo, she thought, vaguely, it hurts.

A voice behind her yelled, "The light! The flare! What's that?"

She fought back the pain and struggled against Utoo's hands to see past his great head and shoulder.

The lander, out on the crater! Its motor had fired. In a flare of dust and flame, it was rising off the crater, climbing higher, higher. The Scientist had finished his experiments and called back his instruments. The lander went higher and then there were two of them in the sky. Two landers, more pain, and two of Utoo, rimmed in the cave opening with all of his teeth.

Jme said, "You have lots of teeth." Her voice was weak.

Utoo whirled. He saw her standing, straight and flat, swaying back and forth in the middle of the tunnel. Down the center of her body from top to bottom was a fuzzy band, the color of her back, that was getting darker.

Utoo yelled, "Medic! The Manager ..."

A doctor, Dr. Boon, was sliding in beside Utoo. He said, "Quiet. This is no yelling thing. I'm here. Use your hands, big one, not your tongue. As gently as I know you can; get her down flat before she falls over. Easy! She is hurting in pain."

Utoo cradled her across his arms and brought her to the floor. The doctor had unfolded a pad from his case and spread it on the pave of the tunnel.

He pointed, "On that! Face down."

Utoo said, "Face down?"

Dr. Boon said, "Certainly. I want her energy receptors turned up to those lights. She needs as much energy as she can get. Can anybody turn those lights up brighter? Do it! The light won't hurt any life form in here. Somebody check it, quick! Also I need a privacy screen."

Sprkss' voice came from the comm-panel, "On the way, Doctor, and the lights are coming up. How is she?"

Boon said, "She is hurting. Very bad, but only for a little, Jme. This is the worst. The nucleus pulls apart, you understand, so it hurts. Sure it does. That's where you carry all your pretty little pain cells."

Jme managed to say, "The ... lander? It ... flew?"

Boon kept talking. "Don't worry about your precious machine. Sure it flew. Lots of fire. I saw it myself. Relax. Relax. Don't fight the pain. Let it happen."

Two thick tubes folded across the tunnel floor from Tellyr on the comm-panel. One of them carried a resonator for voice. It said, "Doctor, I am talking, for Staph, since I had no duties. All is well with the lander. It took off and will meet the orbiting section in a few hours. Staph is cleaning up around the crater. Tell her when you can, of course."

Boon was opening his equipment case. He said, "She heard you, loudmouth. There's nothing wrong with her ears.

"Ahh! There! Pyr's syndrome. Look, the color fades. Good. The pain will stop now." He pointed to a gray-white stripe that was materializing in the black color of Jme's back, also running from top to bottom. Tellyr asked. "Do you need my receptors, Doctor? I am capable of medical detection. Ah, I see you have your own Communicator, of course."

The doctor was placing the tubes of a small medical Communicator on Jme's back. Boon said, "I don't need anything, but that privacy screen. Get out of my way!"

The screen arrived, as he was complaining. Two mobiles shoved it up through the hole in the rubble and placed it around the group, then scurried back to help enlarge the tunnel opening. Utoo rose to join them.

Dr. Boon said, "No. Stay with me, big one. Sometime maybe, I might need your hands again."

Utoo said, "You want me to help with surgery?" He stared down at his hands.

"Surgery? No, nothing like that. I explain ... No. No time. Anyway, soon I don't need an explanation."

He went on talking softly to Jme. "Now, Jme, you are going to stop sensing, black out, pretty soon. Don't worry. It happens. You will wake up, fine, and I will stay with you. You will not be alone. Far from it.

"Now, the respiration and heartbeat have doubled. That we were waiting for. Now, it begins, Jme. The pain is all gone, yes? So, you can relax. Soak up the energy and spread it out. Stop worrying about your lander. Stop worrying about how wide you are. You are very wide and beautiful and getting bigger." His voice was crooning, not really saying anything, just soothing. "You are big, but this red Runner ... Heh, Utoo... is here and that monster is a whole lot bigger. He will help and I am here to help. You are not alone, Jme."

Under Boon's direction, the medical Communicator was touching Jme's body with his detector rods at various places. The rods seemed to find no trouble, at least they didn't linger in any one spot on her body, but her body itself was changing. Utoo watched in horror, his leg muscles stiffening to push him away from the tunnel floor as his tension increased. Her body ...

The dull black rectangular shape of her back had become a bright shiny surface, now. As he watched, it shrank in length and got wider and wider. At the same time the gray band in the middle of her back grew lighter and whiter. Her body began to puff up, swell and thicken along this band. The band became translucent, and Utoo began to see things through it. His imagination was picturing Jme's inner organs, when he recognized the doctor's detector probes underneath the pale strip. He was looking through her body. No; through a thin, transparent skin ...

Suddenly a low rumbling laugh began deep behind Utoo's clenched teeth. His mouth relaxed open and he sagged into a crouch as he loosened his leg muscles. The suddenness of her attack; the pressure of the work and the cave in, he had only just now realized what was happening to Jme. Again he growled his purring chuckle.

Dr. Boon looked up. He said, "So your father did get around to telling you about the Mosses and Spores and Bacteria and pretty parthenogenic female Habitat Managers, did he? What did you think, viral plague, or ferric mold cancer, huh?"

"Something like that. Do they know; Staph and the others?"

"Sure. My Tubes here contacted Sprkss to get the hospital set up. He ordered two stretchers. Hold a minute! There! It's all done!"

The membrane between the two halves of Jme's body had thinned and split down the center. The pad on the floor now held two flat black rectangles. The black color was rapidly losing its unnatural shine, as the two units, Jme and her son, began to thin and reshape themselves to their normal proportions.

Dr. Boon's Communicator waved his rods over the two, touching, analyzing.

Boon said, "Now, I must find out which one is our pretty Jme. How do I tell? Easy. She is all female, now. The male part separates. Ahh! That one ..." The Communicator had finished his diagnosis and indicated the left-hand unit with one tube, this was Jme, while it fastened all the rest on the right-hand one to monitor the new life. "Thanks, Tubes."

Utoo asked, "Jme?"

Dr. Boon said, "Yes. This is our pretty. You must have noticed that she was getting more and more female as her time neared. So, now, all the male part of her is in her son, there. She, Jme, can be a beautiful female again for a while. And don't you ever tell her she's fat, you hear, you mouth full of teeth."

Utoo growled a laugh.

Boon said, "Where is that other stretcher team? Get rid of that screen. Who needs privacy, now. She's beautiful again and she has a lovely son, with all her brains and skill. A few months in the creche learning to use his equipment and we have got a useful citizen."

Utoo moved the screen to find everyone crowding into the tunnel opening. Staph, Msee, and another Runner were in the forefront with enough Communicators to let him know that everybody was looking and listening. Carefully he reached down and turned Jme over so she could see.

Jme said, faintly, "The lander?" Utoo said, "It left, Jme. The job is done."

Jme said, "I know. We did it, Utoo. I didn't think I could, but I did." Her voice was very faint, she was tired and her back wasn't getting any energy. "We gave The Scientist everything his lander was looking for, just like he planned it. We did it, Utoo."

Utoo said, "You did it, Manager. You did it."