by Alan Mattox
his machinery unloaded and ready to run. Among other things,there was a land vehicle on light caterpillar treads capable of runningwhere there were no roads and carrying a load of several tons. And therewas an out-and-out tractor with multiple attachments.
Beeson was busy in his laboratory working on samples from the soil.
David brought in the one new point that was of interest. He had been outhunting among the boulders again, and it was almost dark when hereturned. He told Renner about it at the supper table, with the otherslistening in.
"I think the natives eat the lichen," he said.
"I haven't seen much else they could eat," Beeson muttered.
"There's more of the lichen than you might think," David said, "if youknow where to look for it. But, even at that, there isn't very much. Thething is, it looks like it's been cropped. It's never touched if theplants are small, or half grown, or very nearly ready. But just as soonas a patch is fully mature, it is stripped bare, and there never seemsto be any of it dropped, or left behind, or wasted."
"If that's all they have to live on," Thorne said, "they have it prettythin!"
The natives began to be seen nearer to the camp. At first there werejust glimpses of them, a hairy face or head seen at the edge of a rock,or the sight of a stocky figure dashing from boulder to boulder. As theygrew braver, they came out more into the open. They kept their distance,and would disappear into the rocks if anyone made a move toward them,but, if no attention was paid them, they moved about freely.
In particular, they would come, each evening, to stand in a ragged linenear one of the nests of boulders. From there, they would watch thecrewmen eat. There were never more than twelve or fifteen of them, abandy-legged lot, with thick, heavy torsos, and hairy heads.
It was on one of these occasions that Dr. Thorne happened to look up.
"Oh, oh!" he said. "Here it comes!"
Renner turned his head, and rose to his feet. The other men rose withhim.
Three of the natives were coming toward the camp. They came along at aswinging trot, a sense of desperation and dedicated purpose in theirmanner. One ran slightly ahead. The other two followed behind him,shoulder to shoulder.
Farrow reached for a ray gun in a pile of equipment near him, and raisedit.
"No weapons!" Captain Renner ordered sharply.
Farrow lowered his arm, but kept the gun in his hand.
The natives drew near enough for their faces to be seen. The leader wascasting frightened glances from side to side and ahead of him as hecame. The other two stared straight ahead, their faces rigid, their eyesblank with fear.
They came straight to the table. There they reached out suddenly, andcaught up all the food that they could carry in their hands, and turnedand fled with it in terror into the night.
Somebody sighed in relief.
"Poor devils!" Renner said. "They're hungry!"
* * * * *
There was a conference the following morning around one of the tables.
"We've been here long enough to settle in," Renner said. "It's time westarted in to do something for this planet." He looked toward Beeson."How far have you gotten?" he asked.
* * * * *
Beeson was, as usual, brisk and direct.
"I can give you the essentials," he said. "I can't tell you the wholestory. I don't know it. To be brief, the soil is highly nitrogendeficient, and completely lacking in humus. In a way, the two points tiein together." He looked about him sharply, and then went on. "Thenitrates are easily leached from the soil. Without the bacteria thatgrow around certain roots to fix nitrogen and form new nitrates, thesoil was soon depleted.
"As to the complete lack of organic material, I can hazard only a guess.Time, of course. But, back of that, probably the usual history of anoverpopulation, and a depleted soil. At the end, perhaps they ateeverything, leaves, stems and roots, and returned nothing to the earth."
"The nitrates are replaceable?" Renner asked.
Beeson nodded.
"The nitrates will have formed deposits," he said, "probably nearancient lakes or shallow seas. It shouldn't be too hard to find some."
Renner turned to Farrow.
"How about your department?" he asked.
"I take it we're thinking of farming," Farrow said. "I've got equipmentthat will break up the soil for you. And I can throw a dam across thestream for water."
"There are seeds in the ship," Renner said, his eyes lighting withenthusiasm. "We'll start this planet all over again!"
"There's still one thing," Beeson reminded him drily. "Humus! Leaves,roots, organic material! Something to loosen up the soil, aerate it.Nothing will grow in a brick."
Renner stood up. He took a few slow paces, and then stood looking out atthe groups of boulders studding the ancient plain.
"I see," he said. "And there's only one place to get it. We'll have touse the lichens and the mosses."
"There'll be trouble with the natives if you do," Thorne said.
Renner looked at him. He frowned thoughtfully.
"You'll be taking their only food," the doctor pointed out.
"We can feed them from the synthetizer," Renner answered. "We know thatthey will eat it."
"Why bother?" Farrow asked sourly.
Renner turned on him.
"Will the synthetizer handle it?" he asked.
"I guess so," Farrow grumbled. "For a while, at least. But I don't seewhat good the natives are to us."
"If we take their food," Renner said, "we're going to feed them. Atleast until such time as the crops come in, and they are able to feedthemselves!"
"Are you building this planet for us, or for them?" Farrow demanded.
Renner turned away.
* * * * *
They put out cannisters of food for the natives that night. In themorning it was gone. Each evening, someone left food for them near theirfavorite nest of rocks. The natives took it in the dark, unseen.
Gradually, Captain Renner himself took over the feeding. He seemed toderive a personal satisfaction from it. Gradually, too, the nativesbegan coming out into the open to receive it. Before long, they werewaiting for him every evening as he brought them food.
The gathering of the lichen began. They picked it by hand, workingsingly or in pairs, searching out the rocks and hidden places where itgrew. From time to time they would catch glimpses of the nativeswatching them from a distance. They were careful not to get close.
On one of these occasions, Captain Renner and David were workingtogether.
"Do they have a language?" Captain Renner asked.
"Yes, sir," David answered. "I have heard them talking amongthemselves."
"Do you suppose you can learn it?" Renner asked. "Do you think you couldget near enough to them to listen in?"
"I could try," David offered.
"Then do so," Renner said. "That's an assignment."
Thereafter David went out alone. He found that getting close to thenatives was not too difficult. He tried to keep out of their sight,while still getting near enough to them to hear their voices. They wereundoubtedly aware of his presence, but, with the feeding, they had losttheir fear of the men, and did not seem to care.
Bit by bit he learned their language, starting from a few key roots andsounds. It was a job for which he had been trained.
Time passed rapidly, and the work went on. Captain Renner let his beardgrow. It came out white and thick, and he did not bother to trim it. Theothers, too, became more careless in their dress, each man following hisown particular whim. There was no longer need for a taut ship.
Farrow threw a dam across the little stream, and, while the water grewbehind it, went on to breaking up the soil with his machines. Beesonsearched for nitrate, and found it. He brought a load of it back, andthis, together with the moss and lichen, was chopped into the soil. Inthe end, it was the lichen that was the limiting factor. There was onlyso much of it, s
o the size of the plot that they could prepare wassmall.
"But it's a start," Renner said. "That's all we can hope for this firstyear. This crop will furnish more material to be chopped back into thesoil. Year by year it will grow until the inhabitants here will have anew world to live in!"
"What do you expect to get out of it?" Farrow asked bitingly.
Renner's eyes glowed with an inner light.
* * * * *
Renner's beard grew with the passing months until it became a luxuriantthing. He let his hair go untrimmed too, so that, with his tall, sparefigure, he took on a patriarchal look. And, with the passing months,there
