Since most of the colonists were busy with their urgent tasks, only Nim, Lif, Arfina, and Kam met the newcomers physically. Going to the refectory, Omis told them and the other settlers on the radio: “Bame and Em were planning to kill Ama and me to get rid of the extra men. But when the opportunity arose, Bame allowed an animal to kill Em.”
In response to this stunning announcement all the screens just remained silent, although everyone had heard these words through their UD’s. Meanwhile Omis added the details: “While he was swimming in the ocean, a large predator attacked Em. It dragged him into the water and killed him. But, since we are not edible for local animals, the beast simply bit off his head and left him. Then Em’s headless body drowned.”
Following this, an absolute hush lasted a long time, and then Arfina broke it.
“Why did he enter the ocean, how did it happen? Did you see it all?” she addressed to Omis.
“I do not know why he ended up in the ocean,” Omis replied, and looked at Bame.
After a short pause, he shook his head and said, “He wanted to freshen up.”
Hearing this, Arfina nodded and said, “We all need to understand what happened and how we should react, but now we do not have time for that. We will deal with that after the session.”
Chapter 93
For the past two days, Memi and Dme had been training continuously using the three large fragments of the broken lens. At first, with a beam of the neodymium laser, on a universal lathe, they’d melted the edges of the pieces and given them a more or less ellipsoidal shape. Then a grinding wheel made of a mixture of synthetic diamond and aluminum oxide, wrapped in a piece of rough cow leather, entered into the action. Rotating, it had been polishing the desired surfaces.
Now the time had come to apply their new experience. Four hours previously, a laser beam had melted the last irregularity on the surface of the piece of crystal, and the young engineers proceeded to the next stage. They fixed the billet in a lathe so that the grinding wheel had free access to its convex surfaces. Henceforth, they simply changed the sides of the future magnifier from time to time.
The rotating grinding wheel, with its axis inserted into the socket of the electric holder, was brought into contact with the surface of the natural glass by Memi. Simultaneously, Dme watered the contact spot with a clay solution. At first they used almost untreated leather and rough clay slurry. Gradually, in the course of the work, this suspension became more and more refined, and the leather softer.
After grinding, it was time for a velvety skin, which gave this tool the needed transparency. In this, the last step, instead of clay slurry, Dme watered the work area with clean water.
There remained fifteen minutes before the deadline, when the craftsmen decided that they had brought the quality of the item to an acceptable level. Anyway, they didn’t have time to improve further. Now the glass had to be placed over the optical matrix and checked hastily before the session.
After the breakage of the old magnifier, they’d returned the cover of the optical unit to its place. It kept any dust from getting inside the equipment, especially on the matrix, which recognized the image of the sky taken from the telescope.
Dme lifted this cover with one hand and held it vertically, resting it on its fasteners. Then he put his UD, previously removed from his wrist, on the top edge of this lid and turned on the flashlight. Meanwhile, Memi turned off the room lighting.
The flashlight’s radiation fell on the matrix, and it measured the strength and distribution of its luminosity. It sent this data not only to the SOC-5, as usual, but also to the GPC-5.
After that, the young people installed the new loupe in its designated place.
“We had to move the brackets a bit apart,” Dme remarked. "It turns out that this lens has a radius about a millimeter larger.”
“That is not our main concern,” Memi replied.
“You mean the surface is not smooth enough?”
“Yes. The optical receiver could perceive these scratches as celestial bodies. The presence of unknown objects would interfere with the identification of the corresponding part of the sky,” Memi explained the reason for his worry.
“The targeting program takes into account interference,” Dme reminded himself and his comrade.
“Yes, but its ability to exclude them has its limits. We will soon find out how it really is,” Memi replied thoughtfully.
With the lens in place, they performed the same test using the flashlight and the cover. Both the SOC-5 and the GPC-5, supporting each other, informed the young men that the curvature and dimensions of the new magnifier were correct for the required diopter. Refractive and reflectance values were within acceptable limits. The machines only indicated that they couldn’t unambiguously determine the amount of impurities in the glass. In this way they perceived scratches that weren’t visible to the eye. Therefore, the computers simply reported that this figure was on the verge of acceptability.
Since they had no time to improve this characteristic, the engineers began the final tuning of the interstellar radio channel.
Meanwhile, most of the colonists were mounting another instrument that would supposedly allow their telescope to see the star Sol in the daylight of the star Rho. They’d found a way to overcome this problem the same night that Ama, Mafkona and Omis had gone to get the crystal.
The young people had recalled a phenomenon that they’d studied in school, namely one that allows you to see the stars in the middle of a sunny day from the bottom of a deep well. In essence, this phenomenon works like a palm resting against the forehead as a visor.
Of course, they didn’t dig a deep well for this. Instead, the group of colonists spent two days sewing a leather hose about ten meters long and seventy centimeters in radius. And now, with the help of ropes and poles, they were finishing the mounting of this pipe coaxially to the telescope, essentially engulfing it.
Since the GPC-5 had memorized the last antenna position, it performed a rough aiming based on this data. After that, the part of the sky visible from the leather well included the area where the star Sol was located. Now the computer had to carry out the accurate aiming, already based on the image received from the telescope.
A little more than three minutes was left before the end of the term. At this point, the Neians had gathered again at the entrance to the lander. Only Mafkona sat on a stool that Nim had brought there from the refectory. They all looked at their own or others’ screens in the hope of seeing the starry sky.
Meanwhile, Memi ordered the GPC-5 to show the image the telescope was currently seeing. In response, the machine faltered and didn’t follow the order. Next second an inscription appeared on colonist’s screens, “Data is being processed, please wait.”
Seconds passed, then a minute, then another one… the young people looked intently at the changes in the digits of the countdown; the rest of the universe just vanished. Finally, in the windows occupying three quarters of their screens, an image of the starry sky appeared.
This meant that the pipe and the magnifying glass had coped with their job. The residents of Neia transiently glanced at each other with a glimpse of relief. The next moment, in the silence of the hot day, they clearly heard the couple of clicks which indicated that the drive had moved the antenna at some angle.
When the last twenty-five seconds remained until the moment after which there would be no point in starting the transmission, the GPC-5 informed them that all the efforts and adventures of the founders of other humanity were not in vain.
“Targeting is completed. To send a signal? Y/N?” the machine asked.
As soon as this question popped up on the screens, Memi instantly stretched out his index finger to press “Y,” but he had no time to be able to do that. The window first blinked and then it went out!
The colonists looked at their stretched screens and couldn’t understand it. Then they began questioningly to look at each other.
“What happened?” Gimi asked.
Fom, as if this question had helped him to come to his senses, raised his head, looked at the antenna in surprise and said loudly, “I get it! What an incredible coincidence!”
“What? What is a coincidence?” Fof, with distrust in her eyes, turned to him.
“Had we not been warned that the power output could drop below the level needed for interstellar broadcasting at any moment?” Fom said. “So, it has happened.”
He hadn’t even told half of his short explanation when everyone already knew what he was going to say. And several seconds later, to the time when he’d finished his speech, the colonists managed to outline the most obvious solution: the colony’s feeding should be switched from the radio isotopic source to the HPP. Having grasped this, the colonists also, with no lesser speed, understood that it would take a few minutes.
First the system had to be completely shut down. Then the contact-breaker must be manually switched to power from the HPP. Next the current would start the computers and after them the radio line. They had less than ten seconds to complete all these actions!
The young people almost simultaneously cast their glances at the countdown that counted the last pieces of time: 8, 7, 6...
Daf said hastily, “There is energy in the masers and we can connect them both to the GPC-5 and to the line with adapters. In such a way we can restore power to the system much faster.”
The colonists turned their gazes at her, understanding the idea: inside the butt ends of their guns, under the cover, there were adapters with which they could connect the masers to each other. This made it possible to share energy if someone ran out of it in the field.
“It does not give us anything, it will take even longer,” Memi’s cheerless voice came from the screens.
Since she was practically unable to move and, thus, even theoretically couldn’t help with anything, Mafkona just looked at the countdown, so that later, just in case, she would know how late they were. Suddenly, at first her face changed, and then she said aloud and calmly, “Wait, it is working again.”
The colonists, who already were looking around, thinking about where to go and what to do, having heard her words, returned their gazes to their screens. It turned out that the GPC-5’s window had come to life. It blinked several times, and then a message appeared in it, “This is the last warning about a decrease in power, next time the line will finally shut down.”
Memi, meanwhile clutching his chin with his left palm pondering on the sudden problem, removed his hand from his face and brought his index finger back to the button of the physical keyboard of the GPC-5.
Another endless second passed, and the computer repeated its previous question, “Targeting is complete. Send a signal? Y/N?”
Memi immediately pressed the button and simultaneously glanced at the countdown in the lower corner of the large monitor. He saw the moment when the number “one” turned to “zero”.
“Were we in time?” Ama asked almost simultaneously, through his screen.
“Yes, we even had one spare second,” Memi replied.
These words elicited restrained smiles of relief on the faces of his comrades. Although these smiles quickly broadened when the Neians heard further evidence that their signal was really leaving the system of the star Rho. The two UDs, which they’d re-tuned to receive an interstellar transmission, immediately began to whistle.
Four minutes passed by, the session ended, and the UDs went silent. The report had gone to Earth. It contained a thirty-five year history of the colony, starting from the moment the planetary apparatus touched the surface of Neia. The young people, realizing what was happening now, mentally felt themselves soaring into space and chasing radio waves.
In spite that imaginations were competing with the fastest phenomenon in the universe—electromagnetic waves—it easily outran them. Their fantasy, without spending any time, reached planet Earth and showed them what would happen in the future.
They saw that, fifty-six years later, one fine day, mankind would find out that it had penetrated the galaxy and changed its habitat, thereby pushing itself to the next evolutionary step. This tremendous thought vividly highlighted the great deed committed by earthlings—and Neians.
Chapter 94
The euphoria left the young people pretty soon, because one thing hindered them from fully feeling their joy. Now they had to analyze the case of their two comrades and decide what to do with Bame.
“Let us go to the refectory,” Arfina suggested to her comrades, including Memi and Dme, who heard her words through their screens.
The colonists moved there in silence. Fom and Nim helped Mafkona do this. She put her hands on their shoulders and they, holding the girl by her waist, carried her to the spot.
The colonists sat down on stools and prepared to hear out and understand what had happened. Since they were all yet silent, Arfina spoke again and asked Omis to tell everything that he’d seen with his own eyes and explain why he didn’t intervene in this incident.
The guy nodded and told his story. First and most importantly, what the youngsters understood from it was that Em no longer existed. He would never make it back, never say anything, never do anything, they would never see him again.
That was the first phenomenon they’d encountered in their life that they didn’t know how to deal with. On the one hand they were experiencing pity for him and it was very hard for them to believe that one of their comrades had perished. On the other hand it was necessary to learn what had put Em in such a lethal situation. Was it the result of his erroneous decision, dangerous to the colony and its development?
That was why, after Omis’s narration, the silence under the apple trees lasted unusually long. Then Arfina said to Bame, “Now you must describe to us in detail the motive and purpose of the actions that you and Em had in mind.”
Bame informed his comrades about what he and Em had agreed upon, and described their journey in detail. He ended his narration with question, “Did not we agree that we were unable to figure out why the number of males and females was not the same?”
Nim responded first, “At least, we have two of our own explanations, connected with the gene diversification and death rate caused by wild nature. Of course, these were just speculations, but what we knew for certain was that we had to wait for the files that will open after the LAI-5 composes our breeding pairs.”
Nim paused as if awaiting Bame’s consent but as he’d heard nothing he continued, “Instead, you and Em thought that you did not need the information contained in those files. You just decided that excess males should be destroyed before the computer announces its decision.”
“Yes, as I said, this is what I and Em thought was the real solution of our situation.” Bame agreed without hesitation.
Bef clarified, “So in your opinion you were smarter than the rest of us, and thus you were the most suitable to produce offspring?”
The girl looked at her comrades. The young people waited patiently for Bame’s answer. The unusual heat and the absence of wafts of even the slightest breeze couldn’t distract them. Because of such stillness the apple trees surrounding the refectory didn’t seem to be real trees, but sculptures made out of stone. The young people sat as though in a pergola with a roof adorned with a crocket.
This time Bame thought for a moment, and then spoke with a nod, “If we had not accidentally gotten lost in the forest, we could have carried out our plan, and thus our considerations would have been absolutely accurate.”
Lif said on hearing this, “In reality your plan appeared completely inaccurate. You did not take into account that you could go astray, that Mafkona and Ama could return by the river, or that you would meet Omis on the ocean shore.”
“Did you return along the river?" Surprised, Bame looked at Mafkona and Ama, who sat side by side.
“Yes,” the girl nodded, “I broke my leg and could not walk. Because of this, we came up with the idea of sailing on the raft and letting the rivers transfer us to the co
lony.”
Bame thought deeply. The colonists saw that his bewilderment was increasing every second. Meanwhile, the breeze finally deigned to wake up. Stretching itself, it made the apple trees’ leaves rustle vigorously.
Lif looked into Bame’s face and said, “Since your plan turned out to be wrong in every aspect, it means that among all of us, you are the one least adapted to conditions on Neia. Your offspring is least needed here.”
“Besides,” Omis added, “I saw with my own eyes how indifferently he treated Em. Thus he violated the basic law of our existence, which said that taking care of each other is our highest priority.”
Bame looked at him, frowning, but Omis didn’t notice it because he was talking to Lif.
“I think,” Memi, who had already joined his comrades together with Dme, entered the trial, “from today on, Bame is a source of constant jeopardy to other males. This must be taken into account.”
Omis immediately replied to these words, “Then what are we going to do with him? To kill him? This is what he planned to do to me and Ama, and what he did to Em.”
Hearing these words, Bame looked at him with his eyes widened, and he turned pale.
Lif bit her lower lip and then asked Omis: “Maybe we should not rush? Would not it be better to think again?”
“While we were on our way to the colony,” Omis replied firmly, “I thought about many things. For example, how a predator pulled me into the depths of the ocean and almost killed me there.”
“The beast dragged you into the depths?” Mafkona shuddered. “When?”
Omis nodded and continued, “Last night. I will talk about that later. And as I see it, you and Ama also risked your lives for a common goal. Instead, these two acted exclusively for themselves,” and he scowled at Bame. “They wanted to destroy the extra males, and one of them has already done it to himself. Why should the other avoid the same fate?”
“So what?” Fof asked, voice uncertain. “Are we really going to kill Bame? As for me, I think that killing him is not entirely correct, but now I am unable to explain why I think so.”
Space for Evolution Page 45
