Delta Pavonis (15 page)

"Trade assignments with me!" Hannie urged.

"Why should I go out and sweat my tail off in the brush when I can pull a cushy assignment right here?" This was getting better all the time.

"Will you two shut up?" Forrest said out the side of his mouth.

"I know that a double-planet system like this has long been deemed impossible," Pflug continued. "However, I remind you that many astronomers right up to the twenty-first century considered Earth's Moon a theoretical impossibility, despite its obvious existence. There may still be much to learn about the dynamics of planetary formation. However, the anomaly of the double planets, Xanadu and Atlantis, proved to be the least of the surprises in store for them."

"I'll pull all your graveyard shift duties every night I'm on-site for the next month," Hannie offered.

"You're hardly ever here. Make it two months."

"Okay."

"Deal." The custom of shaking hands had been lost during the zero-gravity decades, but Hannie gave her a sloppy kiss on the ear.

"Shhh!" Forrest hissed.

"The first sequence you will see was made by the first-in team. Some of the voice-overs are theirs, some we added for purposes of clarification. We've dispensed with the usual first-off-the-shuttle and historic first words sequences and have gone forward several days into the preliminary exploration, when things really began to get interesting."

The room lights went out and the holo began. To all appearances, the viewers hung suspended at a viewpoint atop a high cliff overlooking a tremendous valley. The scene was one of breath-taking grandeur. The valley was intensely green, ringed by high, craggy cliffs. Plateaus and valley were carpeted with dense forest, and a broad river wound a lazy path through the valley, and in the distance they could see an immense waterfall where the river tumbled over the cliff wall and into the valley.

For a few minutes the extravagant beauty of the scene held them spellbound, then their trained explorer's eyes spotted something strange on the valley floor—oddly regular lines, some straight, others curved. Mostly they showed up as mere variations in the color of the vegetation, but there appeared to be some physical features as well.

"Xanadu preliminary survey, day five, 0930 hours, Team Leader Arthur Perlmutter reporting. Our assignment is to get a close look at the anomalous formations that seem to carpet the bottom of this river valley for hundreds of kilometers. They were spotted from orbit but are too covered with vegetation to tell much from above. This is the largest cluster of the formations, in the upper canyon of what is now officially the Alph River. We landed here atop the plateau at 0915 and are making a quick overall scan of this end of the valley. This afternoon, we begin exploration of the valley floor."

The scene jumped to one taken from ground level. Directly before them was a wall. It was covered with vegetation—huge trees with roots that snaked down to pry stones loose—but it was perfectly clear that the thing was no natural phenomenon. There was murmuring from the spectators. It was fascinating, but they were getting used to marvels. At first there was nothing to give scale to the scene, then they saw a file of explorers walking along the base of the wall. Each block was the height of a man and twice as long.

"They're everyplace!" said Perlmutter's excited voice. "This was once a huge city, although so far we've found no indication of who might've built it. We're looking for sculpture, writing, anything that might give an idea of what they were."

A sharp-faced man walked into the scene. A holographic label flashed over his head: "Nathan McIntyre, geologist."

"Nothing to prove tech level, Chief," Mclntyre said. "It's too eroded and worn to show tool marks. Neolithic cultures have built on a scale this massive."

"But the size of the cities!" said Perlmutter's voice. The man himself was still invisible. "There must've been millions of inhabitants in this valley alone. Primitive agriculture couldn't have supported so many."

McIntyre shrugged. "We don't know what they were, so how do we know what sort of support they needed? Besides, all these ruins may not have been inhabited at the same time. Maybe they'd build one, wear out the soil in a few generations, then build another one fifty klicks away. Happened all the time, back on Earth. We need more data."

There followed a collage of exploration scenes. Apparently, there was no true excavation, but things were pried up from the dirt for examination. At one point the holo zeroed on a knot of excited explorers surrounding a grinning man. For the recorder's benefit he held out his find: A glasslike figurine of a bat-winged creature. A voiceover broke in: "This does not resemble any creature so far discovered, but we've only been at it for a short time. It could be extinct or mythological. Whatever it is, the medium is extremely hard, indicating relatively advanced technology or great patience to carve."

Abruptly, the scene changed to the inside of a scoutcraft. People were piling into the cargo bay through the main door, their attitude one of panic. Through the door could be seen a vista of the now-familiar greenery. Above, a holo label flashed: "Day 9, Alph River Valley Expedition. 1600 hrs."

"What the hell are they?" someone shouted.

"Never got a look at them," said McIntyre. He clutched his left arm, which was bleeding steadily from a wound in the biceps. A young girl began to treat the wound from her medkit.

"How's Perlmutter?" Mclntyre demanded.

A man with a medical corps patch on his coverall came into the scene, holding out a bloodied stick. "He'll be OK, but look at what I just carved out of his butt."

Sound halted as the holo enlarged the object. It was a polished wooden stick painted in a delicate pattern. It terminated at one end in an elegantly shaped point of flaked stone. The other end bore three feathers, each differently hued.

"Obviously an arrow," said the voiceover. "Anthro specialists have pronounced the craftsmanship superb. Range and penetration analysis indicates a weapon of about twenty kilo draw weight, consistent with the hunting weapons of primitive Earth societies, far less powerful than the armor-piercing war bows of later Medieval cultures."

For the first time they saw Perlmutter. He was bent over an examination table while a medic made repairs behind him.

"We never saw them. Still haven't. We were checking out a big stone tank, some sort of cistern. While we were looking at it the arrows started coming in from the trees. We didn't realize at first that we were under attack. Damn things don't make any noise." He winced as the medic did something, then his face cleared as the wound was sprayed with an anesthetic. "That's better. Anyway, I knew something was wrong when I got shot in my heroic backside. One hit Timoshenko's backpack and we knew we were in the middle of an Old West holo. I gave the order to evacuate and we hightailed it. Try running with an arrow in your butt sometime. They just keep on cutting. There were further casualties, but none serious. McIntyre's arm was the worst. We have ceased explorations until protective suits can be brought down."

The voiceover cut back in. "Other expeditions reported sporadic attacks in subsequent days, but there were no further casualties after armored suits were distributed. Only primitive weapons were encountered. Strict orders were given that there was to be no return fire and no pursuit. This is, after all, their planet. Holos failed to record anything but flitting shadows in the brush. No villages or campsites were located."

The scene shifted to a rolling plain in a zone less lushly vegetated than the previous ones. "On the twenty-third day," the voiceover continued, "the Mao Zedong Plain Exploration Unit made contact with non-hostile natives."

Six people in black protective coveralls and light helmets sat cross-legged on the ground. Before them was spread a blanket on which rested an assortment of items: mirrors, ornaments of metal and glass, paints. Point of view was from behind the explorers, who faced a treeline. Above one of them flashed a label: "Mustafa Lin, team leader."

A voice, apparently Lin's, took up the narration. "We'd seen their campfires the day before. The trade goods came down on the same shuttle as the protective gear, in hopes that the locals might be interested in the same sort of items that Earth pre-techs valued. It was a long wait, but they finally put in an appearance at 1635."

Abruptly, a group of figures appeared at the treeline. One detached from the group and strode forward without hesitation. In the holo pit, there was a collective gasp, then shouting. A single word predominated amid the babble: "human!"

The native walked up to the explorers, a long spear sloped over one shoulder. A few paces from them he stuck the spear into the ground by its pointed butt, then stepped up to the blanket of trade goods and stood staring at the explorers. His attitude was assured, almost arrogant, but he displayed no overt hostility.

The scene froze, and all elements aside from the native were eliminated. The image grew until it was three times life-size and began to rotate slowly, giving them all a detailed view. It was all the more detailed in that he wore no clothing whatever. The skin was yellowish, with an olive tinge, and much of it was covered with intricate designs, either tattooed or painted.

"Don't jump to conclusions," Pflug said. "He certainly looks human, but he belongs to no race ever seen by us, and it could be a case of parallel evolution."

"Oh, come on," said a voice Dierdre recognized as belonging to a lab technician named Greenberg, "he's circumcised! That's too damn parallel!"

"Nonetheless," Pflug said patiently, "we'll draw no conclusions before we have genetic material to examine. As of this transmission, they had not taken any. Friendly relations have to be established before you can properly ask for samples of bodily fluids and such. Might violate taboos, and there's no rush."

Eagerly, Dierdre examined the—she didn't know what word to use—Alien? He seemed too human for that. The nose was short and down-pointed, with wide, teardrop-shaped nostrils. The eyes were narrow but very long, the irises bright yellow. The lips were so thin as to be nearly nonexistent. The ears were large but lay almost flat against the skull. The hair was coarse and fiery red in color. It was dense on the top of the head, but the temples were either shaven or naturally hairless. The shoulders and the backs of the arms were also covered with hair. His build was sturdy and muscular, with little body fat. He wore ornaments of nonmetallic materials.

The holo brought in others from the group, expanded and rotated them in the same fashion. The women were similar to the men facially, but had far more everted lips. Their small, conical breasts were covered with short, silky hair except for the nipples, but they lacked the shoulder and arm hair of the men. The pubic delta was identical with that of the human female.

There were two children, one of each sex, who resembled their elders except for having hair only on their scalps.

Within the group the main individual differences were in hair color, which ranged from bright red to almost yellow, with only a slight reddish tinge. Size, build and facial features varied slightly, an oddity to the Island Worlders, accustomed to their own wildly diverse gene pool.

"If they are human," Pflug said, "the extraordinary homogeneity they display is consistent with the pre-technological societies on Earth, at the times when they had little infusion of new blood. Such people take on an inbred look."

The holo continued for several more minutes. The native examined the offered goods, but he made no show of eagerness. After a few minutes the holo stopped and the lights came up. Pflug resumed his lecture.

"Isn't he pretty?" Hannie said, none too quietly. Chuckles erupted from the nearby seats.

Either Pflug hadn't heard or was determined not to show it. "There is more, but you can study that at leisure. Other groups were recorded from a distance, some identical to the first group, others seeming to differ in minor details, probably racial. Keep in mind that only a small part of a single continent has been even slightly explored. Planetary population may run to multiple-millions. There is, however, no sign of industry, artificial illumination beyond fire, or even intensive agriculture. If any of these people are agricultural, it is only at subsistence level. Whether or not it was their ancestors who built the cities we don't yet know. The scene now shifts to the exploration on the twin planet, Atlantis, where the discoveries were rather more alarming."

The new holo's point of view was that from a low-flying scoutcraft. The gasp of surprise from the spectators was far more intense than that which had greeted the appearance of the "human." The scout-craft was flying over the ruins of a city, and this time there was no doubt of the builder's tech level. Some of the ruins were hundreds of meters high.

"The whole planet's covered with them," said a voiceover. "You can't go down anywhere without finding these ruins. No signs of life at all, so far. Look at this." The scoutcraft slowly circled the stump of a high building, its topmost levels melted into slag. "The temperatures that caused this must have been extremely high."

The scene shifted to the ruins of a smaller city. In the center of a circle of flattened rubble stood the skeletal remains of a few small buildings. A different voice reported. "Damage here consistent with the toroid shock pattern of an airburst, probably nuclear in nature."

Another city, this one largely intact except for the ravages of time. "If this one was wiped out at the same time as the others," said another voiceover, "it must have been by chemical or biological agents. We can see no blast or heat damage."

The holo stopped and the lights came back up.

Pflug stepped back into the center of the pit. There was no chuckling now and he addressed a very subdued crowd. "There can of course be no surface exploration by humans until it is determined that no dangerous elements remain. Robot probes have taken carbon-14 readings and it seems that all the destruction occurred at once, approximately one thousand Earth years ago. Flora and fauna on the planet are present but sparse, apparently still recovering from the catastrophe."