The traveler had approached the brink of wakefulness when his mind, almost turned off, demanded he comprehend the change that his half-closed eyes had noticed at the last second. Near the surf, two dark ants appeared, similar to those he’d seen in films about Earth’s biology.
Do you see? It turns out they exist on Neia, too. The astonished scout mentally commented on what he was seeing and had already begun to forget these tiny insects, but his brain resisted coming to terms with such strangeness so easily. It turned on the alarm and pushed the youth to a real awakening.
Stop, what kind of ants? What are they doing in the sand and how can I see them at such a distance… or at all…? These questions immediately reinforced his sense of anxiety. Since his nervous system had apprehended the external information in such a way, the internal functioning of his body had also changed. The glands and hypothalamus increased the amount of oxytocin and adrenaline in his blood; soporific endorphins began to decompose rapidly. These “injections” finally sobered up the brain of the young man.
Omis rubbed his eyes. Another second and he already doubted not only his sight, but also his ability to think at all! From his place, he clearly saw two men walking along the surf.
Rather, they just stood still. Gradually, the scout’s increasingly clear mind allowed him to understand what he was really seeing. It turned out that one of the figures stood on the shore, while the other lay in the water, on the sandy bottom at the edge of the wash, and bathed. And yet another part of this frame made his heart beat wildly. Next to the bather, among the waves, Omis’s already trained eyes caught a large, dark, motionless silhouette.
Chapter 84
Memi’s appeal reminded the youth of their daily activities, and thereby distracted them from their unexpected doubts. Today’s attendants, Kuf, Jef and Fom, went straight to the kitchen. The rest returned to their homes to restore order there. About half an hour later, the young people sat at the refectory tables and ate a breakfast of goose egg omelet, warmed corn bread with honey, and hot milk.
While they ate, Arfina suggested, “Let us, after breakfast, continue our usual activities. Switching the colony to a new energy source is especially urgent. After all, a sharp decrease in power during a session is unacceptable, is that not so?”
Daf, in a sign of consent to that offer, recalled, “Yesterday, Kam and I discovered that the fruit seedlings near the forest looked somewhat stunted,” she began. “Maybe they suffer from a lack of water? Or is there meager soil? We even thought that animals might have damaged them.”
“Animals? Really?” Nim was surprised.
“Yes,” the girl nodded. “Last morning, examining the seedlings, we seemed to hear some voices. Together with Ider, I entered the forest, but did not see anything suspicious. The dog behaved strangely; it listened to something and barked, although without anger.”
“Then why did he bark?”Jum contributed to the conversation.
“We did not understand it, either. When the dog barked for the second time, Kam and I again led him into the forest, although Ider behaved even more strangely.”
“What do you mean?”Pamo also showed his interest.
Daf explained, “He sniffed the soil, but again barked differently than at a wild animal. It seemed that he knew this smell.”
“It is really weird,” Dme agreed.
“It would take us about an hour to go there and inspect that place,” Daf continued. “We will check if additional watering has helped these seedlings, or maybe something else has happened near the forest. We will also take Ider with us.”
“Good. Meanwhile, I will clarify the plan of salvation once again, and anyone who wishes can join me,” said Arfina in response.
After breakfast, the young people placed the dirty dishes on a table by the stove so that the orderlies could wash them. Around Arfina, Gimi, Jum and Ifi gathered. Another group, Memi, Dme, Fom and Efe, had tested the HPP the previous day. According to preliminary estimates, it generated seven kilojoules per second, a more than sufficient amount of energy for interstellar transmission and, of course, for the daily needs of the colony.
Now these four specialists intended to switch the colony to the new energy source for final testing. After that, the settlement would be returned to the radio isotopic source until its power output dropped lower than was necessary for interstellar communication.
The colonists had another, really urgent task that they had to complete before the radio line would be ready to broadcast the report. Most of them now participated in this particular work.
Fof, a girl with a round face, thick brown hair and surprised eyes, was going to clean the biological compartment. She glanced at the screen on her wrist. The clock showed her that the crystal needed to be delivered to the colony in twenty minutes if they didn’t want to be late. In fact, this indicated that no one would bring anything; they’d failed to establish a connection with Earth. For the earthlings, the fifth expedition no longer existed, although they would only know about it fifty-six years later.
Together with a final and irrevocable understanding of this, the unpleasant feeling that she was experiencing because of the loss of her five comrades had intensified even more. She sunk into thought, analyzing the situation. Of course, the colonists were behaving as usual, because they knew that sadness, frustration, and pity were products of useless chemical reactions, which hinder the overcoming of difficulties. Listening to common sense is correct behavior, but the subduing of feelings sometimes demands an effort…
Fof had almost begun to climb the stairs when she changed her mind at the last moment. Suddenly, she felt an urge to stop pretending that nothing was happening. She looked around the yard, wondering if she should tell anyone about her desire. With the exception of her four comrades in the refectory, composing the plan of salvation, she saw no one nearby. Another second later, she wanted to be completely alone.
Fom stood still for a while, and then she turned and went to the Quiet. Having reached the edge of the tableland, she hesitated a bit, uncertain whether she should descend to the river, but finally she headed to the right.
Soon, across the bridge made of logs, she passed the rivulet Electro. From here she followed the road to the quarry that the robots had first trod, then the people, and finally some oxen, which were dragging a cart full of clay. About four hundred meters from the bridge, this path hid behind a part of the forest, and from there it stretched parallel to the river, to a low hill called the Southern. Fof continued to walk, lost in thought.
What were they going to do? Of course, they must find their comrades, but what about contact with Earth? How would their life go on? If the earthlings never found out that their habitat had changed, their brains would never change, either. What about the Neians…? The girl thought intensely, as if she needed to immediately answer all the questions.
Would their or rather the brains of their descendants, change? When? Earthly humanity had enormous technological and scientific potential, there were many of them; they’d mastered their planet completely and were ready to expand their habitat, but the Neians? How many centuries would pass before their descendants mastered Neia at the same level?
Fof felt as if she had noticed some movement. She instantly put away her thoughts and looked around. The next second, the girl was surprised to realize that she had already approached the clay quarry. Usually they considered this place as safe because of its proximity to the colony, but still the youth never came here without weapons. How long had it taken to get so far from the settlement? She looked at her screen.
Before she left the settlement, the clock on her screen had showed twenty minutes to one. It turned out that from that moment twenty-four minutes had passed. Yes, that had been enough to walk this distance without haste. As soon as the girl understood this, the next thought pierced her heart—the delivery time had expired!
The disappointment forced her to stop on the spot, but not for long. She immediately regained her ability to think
rationally, and decided that she should immediately return to the settlement. Being here without weapons was wrong. At the very moment when Fof had almost pivoted, she again noticed movement. This time she even saw which plant swayed.
Chapter 85
Omis had already recognized Em and simultaneously understood that the BOC-1 was ready to attack his comrade. He identified the other guy—Bame—too, even though he could see only his back.
At that very moment, the predator rushed at Em. At first, Omis wanted to shout, to warn his comrade, but in the next instant he realized that it wouldn’t work. For Bame and Em, his scream would have come as a complete surprise, because they couldn’t know that there was someone else here, besides them. Therefore, first they would have begun to search their vicinity to see who had screamed and where he was. And meanwhile, the predator would have enough time to seize Em.
First he should leave his shelter and only after that raise the alarm. He immediately realized that this also wouldn’t work. To get out of his den, he must first remove the branches, and then crawl out from under the log. The predator definitely wouldn’t wait for him, and while leaving his shelter Omis would not even see what had happened to his pal, in his hazardous situation.
Now he could only hope that Bame would easily notice the huge beast, warn Em and, if necessary, use the maser. They were, of course, armed; at least an electromagnetic rifle hung on Bame’s shoulder. Thus, Omis’s intervention could only bring harm to Em and nothing else.
Meanwhile, the event developed in its own way. Suddenly Em, until then carelessly splashing in the water, turned his head to the ocean. Presumably, Bame saw the animal at last and his eyes were seemingly chained to it, maybe in bewilderment. Em noticed this gaze and that warned him.
After that, through the limpid water, illuminated by the bright rays of Ro, Em clearly saw the danger. The guy was first petrified for an instant, then turned back to the shore and rushed to run out of the ocean. In spite of helping his lower limbs with his hands, as he was in the water already waist-deep, he truly couldn’t move fast.
Apparently because of this the next moment Omis heard his shrill shout, “Shoot, Bame, shoot!”
Bame had a lot of time to take the weapon from off his shoulder and bring down a volley of impulses on the BOC-1. Just a few steps separated him from both the predator and Em. Besides, the creature’s body half protruded out of the water, making its enormous glossy gray back an easy target.
Bame took the maser off his shoulder, but after that his behavior became increasingly obscure to Omis. If at first Bame moved with the right swiftness, afterward he inexplicably slowed down. And when he got the rifle already in his hands Bame stiffened completely. He just stood, looking at the ocean and at his companion, whom the predator had already almost grabbed.
Meanwhile, Em, with a petrified face and bulging eyes, had already reached the line where the low waves, crowned with froth, were falling on the sand. Two or three more steps and he would have ended up on the shore, next to his comrade. The predator pounced on him at that very moment.
At first, the powerful blow on his legs made the young man lean back; next he collapsed to his knees and at the end he fell face down into the water. He immediately rested his hands on the wet sand, lifted himself and tried to crawl forward. At the same time, the predator with its huge jaws grabbed his legs and tugged him back into the ocean.
Now Omis could manage to better see the BOC-1, which had pursued him the last night, even on the shore. It really did have a body of at least five meters in length, although the scout from his place couldn’t see the length and shape of its tail. It also turned out that he’d correctly discerned the contour of the animal’s body, even in the dim light of the stars. It really was arched above and flat below. At the top of a wide, wedge-shaped head, this beast had an oblong elevation, inside of which its eye oscillated. The creature had four fins on the lower part of its body, and these almost-legs were now completely under the still-transparent water.
Em cried out, threw both his hands forward and stuck his fingers into the dense sand, like ten hooks. The young man, of course, was making superhuman efforts to free himself from the captivity of the predator. At this moment, another wave covered him and hid him under itself. When the next second it crumbled on the sand, Omis saw that its foam had turned red.
That is his blood, the terrible guess pierced the youth’s mind.
When the wave recoiled again, Omis saw that Em had now turned to the beast and tried to punch him in the eye with his fist. In response, the predator violently jerked from side to side and at the same time didn’t stop dragging its prey to the depths. Soon, the beast had pulled Em into the ocean so that he could hardly breathe air, even after the wave rolled further to land. Nevertheless, he continued to beat the animal with one hand, and with his other hand he clung to the bottom, but in deep water this no longer helped him.
Bame still stood rooted to the spot. The next time he emerged from the muddy water, Em turned his head to the shore, and Omis saw that a mixed expression of amazement and horror had frozen on his face. As if Em had realized that his comrade wouldn’t help him.
He screamed again, this time with the last hope in his voice, “This is not adaptability, this is not a wisely drawn plan and you must underst…”
He didn’t have time to finish the sentence. The BOC-1 pressed him to the bottom of the ocean and no longer allowed him to appear on the surface. The beast had finally pulled him into the depths.
Omis, with his breath stopped, waited for Em’s next appearance from the water. Seconds were passing by, maybe minutes, too. The ocean’s surface remained deserted, and its water gradually restored its limpidity. Bit by bit Omis realized that the predator had defeated Em and killed him. Em was dead. He wouldn’t come out of the water, and wouldn’t go with them to the colony.
After a short while more, still not fully aware of what had happened, Omis saw evidence that Em indeed no longer existed. His body surfaced, but not completely—without his head! The corpse swam and painted the yellowish water of the ocean red with the blood flowing from the remains of its neck. Omis realized that the predator had abandoned it after tasting it and realizing that the meat wasn’t edible. Next the body tilted left side down and soon drowned again.
It was if something had snapped in Omis’s heart, and an indescribable torment gripped him—a feeling with which he hadn’t yet been acquainted. Despite this event having already occurred, for some reason he couldn’t accept it. He just wanted to constantly shout the word No. His mind went out; it stopped functioning.
Who knows how long he would have been in shock, if his own vision had not pulled him out of that state. His gaze detected movement: Bame made one step, squatted down and took a few items from the sand.
Omis, who had already come to himself, distinguished a backpack and a maser, apparently belonging to Em. Bame stepped back from the ocean and knelt on the sand. He put Em’s backpack in his own and placed it on his back. He hung the maser picked up from the sand on his shoulder, while his own remained in his hands.
Bame left the clothes of his dead companion where they were. He acted slowly, without fuss, not forgetting to inspect the ocean and his surroundings from time to time. There was nothing on the surface of the ocean; even the stain of blood had completely dissipated. Their comrade had disappeared forever, leaving no trace.
Here, finally, Omis realized another, absolutely unimaginable thing—Bame had helped Em’s death! He could have shot the predator even before it touched Em. It turned out that no matter how incredible it looked, Bame had killed him with the help of the animal!
This understanding nearly overwhelmed Omis again, but this time his nerves, initially strong and in addition further trained over the past two days, endured this new shock. They forbade emotions to penetrate his brain and drive out his common sense. They ordered his body to increase the production of serotonin and reduce the production of melatonin. Omis calmly weighed the situation
. It clearly looked pointless to even think about getting out of hiding and meeting Bame, because he was able to kill a human.
All the more, now Omis saw that Bame was already headed for him, or rather, for the familiar hillock, and was intently scanning the forest, holding his maser ready for shooting.
Omis realized that now he was in a situation where he should think quickly. What could he do? To wait until Bame approached the aisle in the thorny bush? Where else could he go? For a moment, Omis even doubted that perhaps they hadn’t come here from this corridor, but he immediately rejected these doubts; otherwise it would have turned out that they’d walked behind him, and that was nonsense. Another question was: why had they come here on the day when the crystal needed to be delivered to the colony? Omis decided that he didn’t have time to think about the last question; he needed to solve a more pressing problem.
First of all, he had to decide what to do with Bame. Kill him with an arrow, or sneak up and disarm him? After a short weighing, he discarded death as an immature decision. He didn’t know what had made Bame become a killer, or what had brought him and Em to this place. No, it was wrong to commit such an irreparable action without having answers to these questions. Instead he would just disarm Bame.
The scout began to think about how to achieve this. He hadn’t much time for thought—Bame had already reached the middle of the beach. He, as Omis had seen, was headed toward the corridor and, besides, he was looking out for something on the sand.
Omis couldn’t understand what Bame was looking for here, or what he’d lost. Finally he stopped and nodded a couple of times. Omis realized that his planet-mate had found what he wanted.
For the most part, Bame walked with his head down, but still he held the area within the limits of his sight, and bore his maser at the ready. Omis concluded that Bame was following his trail. After all, there was no one else here. Only he’d left footprints in the sand. Realizing this, he became even more suspicious.
Space for Evolution Page 41
