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catalog. There was a new novel by Ramsey Taggart that he'd been wanting to
look at. Taggart was one of his discoveries, but he'd begun coasting.
MacAllister had spoken with him, shown him where he was going wrong.
Nevertheless the last book, a dreary adultery-in-the-mountains melodrama, had
shown no improvement. If the trend continued in this latest book, MacAllister
would have no choice but to take him to task more formally. In public.
He thought through the conversation with Casey, because it seemed to him he
was missing something.
He was not one to put him-self to trouble on behalf of others, and yet he'd
volunteered to do an on-site interview that would seriously inconvenience him.
Why had he done that?
Gradually, it occurred to him that he wanted to go down to the surface of
Maleiva III. To walk among its ruins and let its great age surround him. To
soak the sense of oncoming disaster into his blood, What would it be like to
stand on the surface of that doomed world and watch the giant rushing down?
To manage things, he would have to win over the assistance of Erik Nicholson.
Nicholson was the captain of the Evening Star, a small man, both in physical
stature and in spirit. He was, for example, quite proud of his position, and
strutted about like a turkey. He spoke in a manner that was simultaneously
distant and weak, as if he were delivering di-vine instructions from the
mountaintop and hoping you'd believe
MacAllister was scheduled to join the captain for dinner next evening. That
would serve as an opportunity to draw him into a pri-vate conversation and get
the ball rolling. The trick would be to find a reason strong enough to
persuade him it would be in his interest to send the ship's lander to the
surface.
With MacAllister in it.
The book came up and he started on it. Once or twice, though, he glanced
around the room to reassure himself he was really alone.
V
All the important thing? that ever happened to me occurred while I was going
someplace else.  Gregory
MacAllister, Notes from Babylon
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Wendys shuttle delivered two passengers, the additions to the ground survey
team, to Wildside. Hutch met them in the bay, where they traded introductions.
Kellie Collier was a head taller than Hutch and wore a standard blue-trimmed
white Wendy Jay jumpsuit She shook Hutch's hand warmly and said how pleased
she was to be included.
Chiang Harmon's Asian ancestors revealed themselves in the shape of his eyes
but nowhere else that she could see. His hair was brown, he was big-boned and
broad-shouldered, and he seemed a trifle clumsy.
Hutch decided on the spot she liked him'. She also recognized that he had more
than a professional interest in Kellie.
"Either of you ever been down on a frontier world before?" she asked.
Kellie had. Although she confessed she'd never traveled anywhere beyond the
bases and outposts. "No place where there might have been trouble," she
admitted.
On the other hand, she knew how to use a stinger.
"We don't have any stingers on board," said Hutch.
Her eyebrows rose. "You're going down onto a potentially lethal world without
weapons?"
Hutch showed her a cutter.
"What is it?" she asked.
Hutch turned it on. A blade of white light appeared. "Laser," she said. "Cut
through anything."
"I don't think I'd want to let the local gators get that close."
"Sorry," said Hutch. "They're all we have. We have to make do."
They had half a dozen on board. They were probably a notch or two more
efficient than the cutter Biney
Coldfield had used to fight off the cardinals. They were a basic tool for
archeologists, but in the right hands they also made an effective weapon. But
Hutch was unsure whether her volunteers were people to whom she was willing to
entrust the weapons. If they weren't, she decided, she shouldn't take them
along.
She'd given long consideration to the wildlife hazards on Deepsix. There'd be
no repetition of the earlier mistakes. She'd put together a set of operational
requirements that everyone would adhere to without exception. She gave each of
them a copy, and insisted they read and sign it before the discussion went any
farther. Any deviation, she explained, would result in the offender's being
shipped back into orbit.
Posthaste.
Did everyone understand?
Everyone did.
She showed them around Wildside. They found Scolari and Embry in the common
room, where Chiang asked whether they were going down to the surface, too.
When they replied that they weren't, both looking uncomfortable and a shade
indignant, Kellie glanced at Hutch, and it was impossible to miss the judgment
she'd just made.
"Why not?" Kellie asked innocently. "It's the chance of a lifetime."
"I'm not an archeologist," said Scolari defensively. "And to be honest, I
think it's a damn-fool thing to do. That place down there is full of wild
animals, and it's going to start breaking up at any time. I don't plan to be
there when it happens. Not for the sake of a few pots."
Embry smiled coolly and let it go.
Hutch would have preferred more young males in the group, because she hoped
they would be cutting engraved stones out of walls and hauling them back to
the lander. Gravity on Deepsix was .92 Earth normal, and .89 Pinnacle, which
was the level to which Toni was accustomed. It would help somewhat, but they
might still have use for some muscle.
Nightingale joined them, and they did another round of introductions, and then
took time for a training session. Hutch explained the importance of getting
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pictures of whatever they might find, and of taking measurements and mapping
where everything was. "We do all that," she said, "before we touch anything."
She described the hazards, not only from predators, but simply from moving
around in an ancient building. "Be careful. Floors will give way; overheads
will cave in. Sharp objects won't penetrate your suit, but they can still
punch holes in you." She invited Nightingale to speak about his experience. He
was understandably reticent, but he advised them not to underestimate
anything. "The predators on Deepsix have had an extra couple of billion years
to evolve. They have very sharp teeth and some of them look innocuous. Trust
nothing."
She handed out the cutters and talked about how they would be used and where
things could go wrong.
She watched while they practiced, and required each to demonstrate
proficiency. "Be careful in close quarters, if it comes to it. The cutter is
almost certainly more dangerous than anything we're going to meet."
Nightingale met that remark with a frown. But he said nothing.
She dismissed the rest of the team and ran a short course for Chiang in
wearing the e-suit. The others were experienced with working inside a
Flickinger field.
They joined Scolari and Embry for dinner. Whatever tension might have existed
seemed to have dissolved. Embry even made a point of taking Hutch aside and
apologizing. "I hope you don't think this is personal," she said. "My
objection is to management. If they hadn't had a chance to do this earlier and
get it right "
"I understand," Hutch said.
The lander was loaded and ready to go. Hutch opened the cargo hatch and turned [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]