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subzero temperatures. They ascribed all manner of beneficial properties to
freezing cold: it built stamina, it built strength, it built moral fiber. As
far as I could tell, all it built was an irrational disdain for those of us
who had the sense to be born in environments free of frostbite.
"Yarrun," I said, "check out the south lake. The southern shore."
He rubbed a dial. Far below us, one of the four probes sacrificed almost all
its airspeed as it arrowed into the water. The splash was big enough for the
other three probes to register: a pimple of red marked the splash point on the
viewmap, until the computer factored it out.
"The water is fresh," Yarrun reported as the sunken probe began to return
data. "The usual natural trace elements; no signs of industrial pollution.
Microorganism count measures a bit low."
"Does that mean anything?" Prope asked.
"Probably not," I told the captain. "Lots of simple factors could decrease
the micro count in a given area anything from a strong current, to a recent
rain, to a nearby school of filter-feeders."
"Still... it seems a littlesinister, don't you think?"
I ignored her.
The Bluffs
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"Let's concentrate on these bluffs," I said, pointing to a line of elevation
on the south side of our chosen lake.
"Why there?" asked Chee as Yarrun twisted dials to send the three remaining
probes on a close flyby.
I thumbed a dial myself to magnify that area of the map. "Along the top, we
have open fields... good visibility. If we're in for a long stay, we can get
fresh water from the lake, but in the short term, we'll be far enough away
that we don't have to deal with the complexities of shoreline ecologies."
"What if something unspeakable charges the party and knocks you off the
cliff?" Prope asked.
"If we see something unspeakable, I for one willjump off the cliff," I
answered. "Our tightsuits will protect us from the brunt of the impact, and
the long leap is a nice fast escape route."
Prope's expression showed what she thought of people who would jump off a
cliff rather than face something unspeakable; but she held her tongue.
Pictures
"Pictures," Yarrun said; and the map on the screen shimmered to show a sunny
meadow dotted with yellow wildflowers. Off to one side stood a deciduous tree,
something like a maple; a bird flitted into the leaves, too fast to see
clearly, but it had two wings, a small head, and a black or dark brown body. A
few dozen meters behind the tree, the land dropped off at the edge of the
bluffs, down to the sparkling blue lake.
The view slowly shifted as the transmitting probe moved along. We saw a gray
rock outcrop, more deciduous trees, a thicket of brambles. Something darted
into the brambles, and my mind said "rabbit" ...but an Explorer had to ignore
such snap judgments. The human brain is still hopelessly tied to Old Earth; it
always interprets a fleeting image as something terrestrial, no matter how
alien the creature might really look.
"Try it ten kilometers to the east," I said. Yarrun played with dials.
Prope sneered. "You think the meadow looks too dangerous?" she asked.
I tapped the screen. "Didn't you see that animal run into the briar patch?"
"You're afraid of a little beast like that?"
"I'mwary of a little beast like that," I told her. "I'm afraid of whatever
the little beast was running from."
Our Choice
The picture dissolved into a view from another probe, this one hovering over
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the lake and looking shoreward to the bluffs. The cliffside was tangled with
weeds and scrubby bushes. Here and there, swaths of bare sandy soil
interrupted the undergrowth gullies probably washed out by spring runoff.
Erosion was slowly undercutting the top edge of the ridge; at one point, the
rim had collapsed in an earth slide that dragged down a great strip of brush.
The probe moved toward the land, and slowly rose to give us a view of the
heights: another flowered meadow, with a few lichen-covered outcrops of rock.
A short distance inland, a deep ravine ran parallel to the bluffs probably the
bed of a stream on its way to the lake. Trees grew up the sides of the ravine,
but none were visible on the flat land.
"This an example of what we were talking about," I said, pointing at the
screen. "If you have trees growing in the ravine, you should have trees
growing in the field it has to be easier for them to root on level ground than
on a slope. But it looks like the flat has been cleared."
"Is that enough to scare you off again?" Prope asked.
"Not in the least," I answered, working to keep my temper. "Cleared terrain
is good for a Landing. You're less likely to hit something on the Drop, and
you have an unobstructed view of things coming to eat you." I turned to
Yarrun. "What about it?"
Instead of answering, he fiddled with dials, rotating the screen's view
through a slow 360 degrees. The meadow seemed very peaceful... no motion but
the gentle waving of grass in the wind. "The motion sensors are picking up a
lot of animal life," he reported, "but nothing big. Mostly on the order of
insects, with the occasional field mouse. Which is to say, something
warm-blooded the size of a field mouse."
It was easy to forget this wasn't some tame terraformed world, stocked with
all the species we knew, and loved, and could kill if necessary.
"Any thoughts?" I asked the room at large. Prope looked as if she wanted to
say something scathing, but knew it would only delay things. "Okay," I told
Yarrun. "Have the probe drop a Sperm anchor. Immortality awaits."
Part V
LANDING
Our Robing Chambers
TheJacaranda had four robing chambers for Explorers. This was a matter of
prestige. A frigate was equipped with only two robing chambers; a light
cruiser had to surpass a frigate in all possible ways, so it had three
chambers; and a heavy cruiser like theJacaranda was obliged to be better
still, so it had four.
All three types of ship carried only two Explorers. There was no prestige in
having extra Explorers.
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Suiting Up
Each of us suited up alone Yarrun and I in our usual places, Chee in one of
the dusty surplus chambers.
Suiting up was a simple procedure: I stood passively, wearing nothing but a
light chemise, while robot arms did all the work. Tightsuit fabric was
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