Norton, Andre - Anthology (3 page)

           
 
Strong on ingenuity, he thought bitterly, but
terribly short of radioactives. That was another reason why this expedition was
so important. There was little radioactive fuel left on any of the Glom worlds.

 
          
 
Ages ago, the Glom had spent their store of
radioactives spreading throughout their neighbor worlds, occupying the ones
that they could live on. Colonization barely kept up with the mounting
birthrate. New worlds were constantly needed.

 
          
 
This particular world, discovered in a
scouting expedition, was needed. It suited the Glom perfectly. But it was too
far away. They didn't have enough fuel to mount a conquering space fleet.

 
          
 
Luckily, there was another way.
A better way.

 
          
 
Over the centuries, the Glom scientists had
developed the Displacer. A triumph of Identity Engineering, the Displacer
allowed mass to be moved instantaneously between any two linked points.

 
          
 
One end was set up at Glom's sole atomic
energy plant. The other end had to be placed in proximity to another atomic
power source, and activated. Diverted power then flowed through both ends, was
modified, and modified again.

 
          
 
Then, through the miracle of Identity
Engineering, the Glom could step through from planet to planet; or pour through
in a great, overwhelming wave.

 
          
 
It was quite simple. But twenty expeditions
had failed to set up the Earth-end Displacer.

 
          
 
What had happened to them was not known.

 
          
 
For no Glom ship had ever returned to tell.

 
          
 
Before dawn they crept through the woods,
taking on the coloration of the plants around them. Their Displacers pulsed
feebly, sensing the nearness of atomic energy.

 
          
 
A tiny, four-legged creature darted in front
of them. Instantly, Ger grew four legs and a long, streamlined body and gave
chase.

 
          
 
"Ger!
Come back
here!"
Pid
howled at the Detector, throwing
caution to the winds.

 
          
 
Ger overtook the animal and knocked it down.
He tried to bite it, but he had neglected to grow teeth. The animal jumped free
and vanished into the underbrush. Ger thrust out a set of teeth and bunched his
muscles for a leap.

 
          
 
"Ger!"

 
          
 
Reluctantly, the Detector turned away. He
loped silently back to
Pid
.

 
          
 
"I was hungry," he said.

 
          
 
"You were not,"
Pid
said sternly.

 
          
 
"Was," Ger mumbled, writhing with
embarrassment.

 
          
 
Pid
remembered what
the Chief had told him. Ger certainly did have Hunter tendencies. He would have
to watch him more closely.

 
          
 
"We'll have no more of that,"
Pid
said. "Remember—the lure of Exotic Shapes is not
sanctioned. Be content with the shape you were born to."

 
          
 
Ger nodded and melted back into the
underbrush. They moved on.

 
          
 
At the extreme edge of the woods they could
observe the atomic energy installation.
Pid
disguised
himself as a clump of shrubbery and Ger formed himself into an old log. Ilg,
after a moment's thought, became a young oak.

 
          
 
The installation was in the form of a long,
low building, surrounded by a metal fence. There was a gate and guards in front
of it.

 
          
 
The first job,
Pid
thought, was to get past that gate. He began to consider ways and means.

 
          
 
From the fragmentary reports of the survey
parties,
Pid
knew that, in some ways, this race of Men
were like the Glom. They had pets, as the Glom did, and homes and children, and
a culture. The inhabitants were skilled mechanically, as were the Glom.

 
          
 
But there were terrific differences. The Men
were of fixed and immutable forms, like stones or trees. And to compensate,
their planet boasted a fantastic array of species, types, and kinds. This was
completely unlike Glom, which had only eight distinct forms of animal life.

 
          
 
And evidently the Men were skilled at
detecting invaders,
Pid
thought. He wished he knew how
the other expeditions had failed. It would make his job much easier.

 
          
 
A Man lurched past them on two incredibly
stiff legs. Rigidity was evident in his every move. Without looking, he hurried
past.

 
          
 
"I know," Ger said, after the
creature had moved away. "I'll disguise myself as a Man, walk through the
gate to the reactor room, and activate my Displacer."

 
          
 
"You can't speak their language,"
Pid
pointed out.

 
          
 
"I won't speak at all. I'll ignore them.
Look." Quickly Ger shaped himself into a
Man.

 
          
 
"That's not bad,"
Pid
said.

 
          
 
Ger tried a few practice steps, copying the
bumpy walk of the
Man.

 
          
 
"But I'm afraid it won't work,"
Pid
said.

 
          
 
"It's perfectly logical," Ger
pointed out.

 
          
 
"I know. Therefore the other expeditions
must have tried it. And none of them came back."

 
          
 
There was no arguing that. Ger flowed back
into the shape of a log. "What, then?" he asked.

 
          
 
"Let me think,"
Pid
said.

 
          
 
Another creature lurched past, on four legs
instead of two.
Pid
recognized it as a Dog, a pet of
Man.
He watched it carefully.

 
          
 
The Dog ambled to the gate, head down, in no
particular hurry. It walked through, unchallenged, and lay down in the grass.

 
          
 
"Hmm,"
Pid
said.

 
          
 
They watched. One of the Men walked past, and
touched the Dog on the head. The Dog stuck out its tongue and rolled over on
its side.

 
          
 
"I can do that," Ger said excitedly.
He started to flow into the shape of a Dog.

 
          
 
"No, wait,"
Pid
said. "We'll spend the rest of the day thinking it over. This is too
important to rush into."

 
          
 
Ger subsided sulkily.

 
          
 
"Come on, let's move back,"
Pid
said. He and Ger started into the woods. Then he
remembered Ilg.

 
          
 
"Ilg?" he called softly.

 
          
 
There was no answer.

 
          
 
"Ilg!"

 
          
 
"What? Oh, yes," an oak tree said,
and melted into a bush. "Sorry. What were you saying?"

 
          
 
"We're moving back,"
Pid
said. "Were you, by any chance,
Thinking
?"

 
          
 
"Oh, no," Ilg assured him.
"Just resting."

 
          
 
Pid
let it go at
that. There was too much else to worry about.

 
          
 
They discussed it for the rest of the day,
hidden in the deepest part of the woods. The only alternatives seemed to be Man
or Dog. A Tree couldn't walk past the gates, since that was not in the nature
of trees. Nor could anything else, and escape notice.

 
          
 
Going as a Man seemed too risky. They decided
that Ger would sally out in the morning as a Dog.

 
          
 
"Now get some sleep,"
Pid
said.

 
          
 
Obediently his two crewmen flattened out,
going immediately Shapeless. But
Pid
had a more
difficult time.

           
 
Everything looked too easy. Why wasn't the
atomic installation better guarded? Certainly the Men must have learned
something from the expeditions they had captured in the past. Or had they
killed them without asking any questions?

 
          
 
You couldn't tell what an alien would do.

 
          
 
Was that open gate a trap?

 
          
 
Wearily he flowed into a comfortable position
on the lumpy ground. Then he pulled himself together hastily.

 
          
 
He had gone Shapeless!

 
          
 
Comfort had nothing to do with duty, he
reminded himself, and firmly took a Pilot's Shape.

 
          
 
But Pilot's Shape wasn't constructed for
sleeping on damp, bumpy ground.
Pid
spent a restless
night, thinking of ships and wishing he were flying one.

 
          
 
Pid
awoke in the
morning tired and ill-tempered. He nudged
Ger.

 
          
 
"Let's get this over with," he said.

 
          
 
Ger flowed gaily to his feet.

 
          
 
"Come on, Ilg,"
Pid
said angrily, looking around. "Wake up."

 
          
 
There was no reply.

 
          
 
"Ilg!" he called.

 
          
 
Still there was no reply.

 
          
 
"Help me look for him,"
Pid
said to
Ger.
"He must be around here
somewhere."

 
          
 
Together they tested every bush, tree, log,
and shrub in the vicinity. But none of them was Ilg.