Exiled to the Stars (66 page)

"Yes, sir," Denis replied. "I was thinking about it on the way out here. I think you should send us a flitter or two. That would give us a quick overview of the place, and give the eggheads some idea of the size and layout."

Ron frowned. "I dunno. You'd miss a lot of detail from the air, and even if you hugged the ground, your speed would make you miss a lot." He grinned. "Not to mention trying to see something through the dust cloud it would raise."

Denis nodded. "Yes, sir. A flitter would only be good for a quick once-over from ten meters or so. But if we flew a grid, we could be pretty sure there aren't any traps or defenses to deal with."

He took a deep breath. "As for detailed investigation, the streets are pretty wide. Some horses or riding mules would let us explore more thoroughly, and spot places of interest quicker than foot patrol. Of course, since the spider people are carnivores, maybe wheeled vehicles would be better. The Tepes brothers have been building those alky-powered light cars for a couple of years, now. Give me three or four of those, and this place will be ready for eggheads in a week. With horses, two weeks. But I'd need to be able to feed them."

Ron snorted. "The Tepes brothers charge an arm and a leg for those things. I doubt the Council will go for it. All right," he continued more briskly. "I'm sure I can get the Administrator to loan you a flitter for a week or so. And I've already mentioned vehicles to the Administrator, but I'll give it another try. Don't get your hopes up, though." He paused. "Maybe I can arrange to borrow one of the smallest light trucks. I
think
a heli could haul one, since we can't use airships in those mountains. Horses might be harder. They'd probably have to be sent up in slings underneath the heli. We could only send one at a time, and you're 2000 klicks from here."

Another pause. "Just how big
is
this place, anyway?"

Denis shrugged. "Beats me. Jazzy just keeps saying 'indeterminate'. But there are at least a couple dozen of those monster pillars, and I couldn't see the end of them. At a guess, at least several hectares, and probably a lot more. Send me a flitter, and I'll find out."

Ron nodded. "I'll see what I can do." He frowned, and then continued, "Tell me, Denis, what is your opinion about these creatures?"

Denis shrugged. "I think Kerry Jenson is right. These things are extinct, and have been for a
long
time. But they might have left some good stuff behind for us. I figure there's probably a couple of centuries of research for a hundred eggheads waiting up here.

"But I also agree that we can't take any chances, since any risk is a life-or-death gamble for the whole colony." He shrugged. "We put a flitter in the air over that city, and I guarantee that if there's anyone home, we'll get their attention."

Ron smiled and shrugged. "I dunno," he said, "A crashing starship didn't do it, and neither did an exploding Cobb drive."

Denis grinned. "If they can ignore a flitter overhead, they
are
dead."

"All right," Ron said with a sigh. "You might as well bring your people out while I try to see what I can get you. I'll get back to you."

"This place covers more than several
hectares
?" Ken asked, shocked.

Ron nodded. "Yes, sire. I think this is what you've been looking for. Proof that the spider people are gone, and there's no risk to the colony. I'm not Earthborn, but I suspect it would be a major city, even on Earth. And people don't just abandon entire cities."

Ken was frowning. "
Human
people don't. We can't make assumptions about sentient spiders." He straightened. "By the way, several hectares would be a small city on Earth, but still a city. I agree with the Major. It would be impractical to explore it on foot. By all means, send him a flitter. We'll talk about additional animals or vehicles after he's completed a survey of the site and sent back some vid footage. Tell him to get
lots
of footage; that's what it will take to convince the Council. Meanwhile, I'll have Lee feel out the Tepes brothers to get an idea what their starting offer would be."

The flitter arrived the next day, slung beneath the belly of an obviously laboring heli. "Get that thing off my ship quick," demanded Mark Caruso, the pilot. "The other heli is behind me, with a tank of fuel and, unless they were able to stop her, Kerry Jenson."

Denis groaned. He generally liked Kerry, especially in her normal "introvert" mode, when she spent most of her time huddled over her vocoder. But when she went into full 'reporter' mode, she became a real irritation and general pain in the backside, especially for those in authority.
For instance,
he thought,
Major Denis Chu
.

They hadn't been able to stop her. Kerry arrived with the fuel for the flitter, and as soon as the heli touched down, she made a beeline for Denis.

She stopped a meter away, hands on hips. "Well, well," she said in theatrical tones. "Denis Chu, and in his new Major suit, too."

Denis rolled his eyes. "No, Kerry, I'm not going to tell you what you want to hear. This is
not
the capital city of the spider people, and they did
not
leave us a note saying, 'Dear Earth people, we're going extinct now, and bequeathing you our planet'."

"Ha!" she said, with a wide grin. "How do you
know
this isn't their capital city, and how do
I
know you didn't find the note and send it to Ken Terhoe?" she stepped forward, pulled Denis into a fierce hug. "It's
good
to see you again, Denis." She stepped back, waving airily. "I didn't come to cause you trouble," she said, "But this city is big news. You'll be flying over it, getting 'official' footage. I just want to ride along, and maybe get some for myself."

Denis rolled his eyes. "There is never a 'just' with you, Kerry. First, you'll 'just' want to ride along. Then you'll 'just' want advance copies of my raw footage, before I edit it into something usable. And I'm sure you'll think of several other 'justs'.

Kerry put on a wounded expression. "Why, Denis! I'm hurt! Surely you know that I
really
came up here to see you! But now that you mention that raw footage…"

Denis shook his head, scowling. "Forget it. You'll get what I submit to the Council. And you'll get it when I submit it. I know I can't keep you from riding along, but I notice you didn't even bring a camera."

She pinked. "Well, I was…I'm going to use my tablet's camera."

Denis snorted. "Nonsense. It doesn't have the resolution or the memory for this kind of job. You just figured you'd con dumb old Denis out of the footage you need.

Her grin was back. "Why Denis," she said, "You're not old."

Denis rolled his eyes and shook his head. "They're fueling and preflighting the flitter now. First flight will be in the morning. I hope you brought a tent."

She smiled prettily. "Why Denis! You
know
I've had Explorer training. Of
course
I brought a tent." She looked around ostentatiously. "Do you know where I could find a big, strong, handsome man to set it up for me?"

Denis turned his face to the heavens in a "why me?" gesture, and stomped off, shaking his head.

Teasing aside, Kerry was standing beside the flitter after breakfast the next morning when Denis arrived, and she was dressed for exploration.

"We have two cameras," he said, "and two cameramen. I will sit in the front passenger seat, and Sergeant Ives, here, will sit behind the driver. That way, we can get footage from both sides of the vehicle. You,
Mistress
Jenson, will sit behind me. You're welcome to get whatever you can with your tablet."

Kerry was all sweetness and smiles. "Thank you,
Messer
Chu. I'll try not to get in the way."

Denis grimaced. "You certainly will. Cause me any problems, and I'll put you in your tent, under guard, until I can get a heli back up here to take you back."

Kerry shook her head sadly. "And I thought we were friends." She turned to the bystanders. "See what happens when someone gets a little military authority? They become a bully!"

"Get in the flitter," Denis grated.

Head high, with massive dignity, Kerry moved to the flitter and climbed into her assigned seat.

Ducted fan flitters are designed for comfortable urban transportation, but the fact that their fans direct air downward and aft can make takeoffs and low flight messy in rural locations.

Such as their present location. Bystanders ducked, flinched and fled as the flitter's fans threw dirt and pebbles at them with enough force to bruise, though the passengers, protected by the clear canopy, were unbothered.

Denis didn't show it, but he was worried. In the tunnel and the city, they would be passing over a carpet of dust over a cem thick; fine dust, drifting out of the air over millenia. He'd already ordered the tunnel cleared. He'd known that the flitter's passage down the low tunnel would coat everything and everyone in the tunnel with a thick coat of dust.

The cavern had much more headroom than the tunnel, but still, the dust was powder-fine, and they would have to raise the canopy to get their vid footage. He was keeping fingers crossed that their passage wouldn't stir up too much dust to permit filming.

The trip down the tunnel confirmed his worst fears. Within seconds of entering the tunnel, its entrance was invisible in the swirling cloud trailing the flitter. The pilot did not dare slow, for fear the cloud would reach and overwhelm his engines and even his canopy. As they emerged into the cavern, the pilot lifted the flitter so quickly he had difficulty stopping its rise before it hit the ceiling. For a few moments, swirling clouds of dust from the tunnel made it impossible to judge whether the dust in the main chamber was also rising.

Finally, though, it became apparent that as long as the flitter maintained an altitude near the ceiling, the dust of the cavern would only stir occasionally, and not billow into obscuring clouds. With a sigh of relief, the pilot began to pursue their assigned course, while dodging the massive pillars.

It took less than half an hour for the flight to become dull routine. The city did, indeed, cover nearly five hectares, and flying a systematic grid pattern soon became a monotonous view of identical octagonal buildings in a honeycomb of identical octagonal blocks.

It wasn't until they reached the center of the city that variations began to appear, culminating in an amazing structure. It shared the octagonal shape of the rest of the city's buildings, but this one towered over the others, and became a spire that was a definite attention-getter in the expanse of identical, low buildings.

"
Finally!
" Denis shouted over the noise of the open canopy, "Something worth looking at!"

******

"But it will take over a day to walk there," Denis said, in his report to Ron after completing the long, boring overflight. "The place is definitely deserted. As you can see from our footage, the dust is deep and undisturbed."

"Can you get to it in the flitter?" Ron asked.

Denis shook his head. "We barely made it back out through the tunnel before dust choked the air inlets. Marco says it'll have to be carried back to the colony and the engines completely gone over before we try to fly it again. And from the looks of it, we're going to have to wait a full day before the dust settles enough for us to go back in. The stuff's as fine as flour. We should have sprayed stabilizer in the tunnel. I just never thought of it."

Ron shook his head. "You can't think of everything. But we
are
going to have to think of something, if you're going to use
any
kind of vehicle in there. Wheels might not kick up as much, but they'll certainly kick up enough to be a problem."

Denis's frown cleared. "You can get us vehicles?"

Ron shook his head again. "Lee and I have been talking to the Tepes brothers, and Ken has begun talking to the Council about announcing something called a 'bid'. He says it's something governments on Earth used to buy things. The Tepes brothers are working on the design of a special exploration vehicle, just for this purpose. But they haven't given us a price yet, and Ken says we'll probably have to wait for others to 'bid', so don't get your hopes up. You might just end up on bicycles."

Denis' frown reappeared. "You know, bicycles might work. Cheap, no air pollution to build up in the cavern, and easy on kicking up the dust, if we don't try to hurry." He grinned. "And if we get some three-wheelers, we can even haul stuff."

Ron's eyebrows rose. "And to think, that idea came from a man whose IQ is lower than his age. I'll look into it."

"A lot of the kids on campus rode bikes," Susan said, at dinner with the Credings that evening. "I'd say it's a good idea. It'll even help some of the scientists with their growing problems of weight control." She looked significantly at Vlad.

"Hey," he protested, "I'm in shape. Round is a shape!"

Susan rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Anyway,
if
I may continue, the city is flat, so there are no hills to climb, and the kids had all kinds of baskets and bags to carry things. Even lightweight trailers. And they'd be cheap and quick to manufacture, and easy to transport. I'd say you've got a win-win situation there."

Ken and Lee agreed, and they began talking to some of the myriad small manufacturing companies that had sprung up since Ken's 'revolution'. Meanwhile, the Tepes brothers came up with an electric powered exploration vehicle. It was mounted on four large, wide, metal-mesh wheels, to permit it to maneuver over rough terrain, and seated four on two bench seats. The seats could be easily removed to haul cargo, with a small single seat for the driver. A flat, removable canopy over the top protected the passengers from the sun, and embedded solar cells would extend its range. Provided it wasn't in a cavern, of course.

"It's overkill for this mission," Ron said when it was shown to him, Ken and Lee. "And I imagine those metal mesh wheels would kick up a lot of dust."

"True," Ken said. "But not all of your missions will be in dust-filled caverns." He paused, looked thoughtful. "You know, I think I'll talk to Jack Brooks. A vehicle like that would be just about perfect for things like the Seaport Project. Maybe I can con him into paying to have a sample built, that we could offer to test for him."