All The Weyrs of Pern

by Anne McCaffrey

  Master Fandarel made full use of the Yokohama as a schoolroom, getting Aivas to explain the designs and the safety aspects of the compartmentalization. He was truly amazed at the rationale behind the odd design of the spacegoing ship and had many questions to put to Aivas about the apparent anomalies.

  The main section of the Yokohama was a huge sphere of many levels, each of which could be closed off, as could sections of each level-to sustain life, Aivas told them, should the main hull be breached. Thus heat and oxygen could be maintained only where necessary, as was being done now, to conserve supplies. The bridge area, the environmental section and the lift accessing it, a small infirmary, and Airlock A were the most heavily shielded. According to Aivas, escape pods had once been attached to Airlock A, until the Yokohama had been recommissioned as a colony ship and those pod positions had been altered to access supply drones.

  The huge matter-antimatter engines were housed on a long shaft, attached to the midsection of the main sphere but separated by the heaviest shielding on the Yokohama. Two great wheels on either end of the engine shaft had held the fuel and cargo pods that had been wrapped around the engines. Those had, of course, been emptied during the journey and launched to splash down in the seas off Monaco Bay. Retrieved, the basic metal had been smelted down and reworked. The ceramic fuel tanks had been put to different uses. Very little of the superstructure of the Yokohama and the other two colony ships remained. The narrower stern wheel on the end of the engine shaft still held its band of maneuvering jets which, powered by the solar panels and in conjunction with those around the main sphere, were what kept the Yokohama's orbit stable. One of the first checks Aivas had commissioned was to ascertain how much fuel remained in the Yokohama's main tank.

  Fandarel, thinking about that fuel, wondered why the settlers had dared to leave the colony ships in an orbit that was ultimately destined to decay. Aivas replied curtly that that was not an immediate concern: So far, the orbits had not decayed, and the surface of Pern was not at risk-not, at least, from ship debris.

  It was while Jancis was busy patching the main engineering board into Aivas while the others were examining the "readiness" run of the great propulsion units that one of the green riders activated the red alert from the bridge. Jancis's bronze fire-lizard, Trig, became so agitated that she had a hard time calming him down enough to make sense of his response. She could raise neither S'len nor L'zan on the com. And the red alert signal continued to blink in the engineering facility.

  "Thread attacking the Yokohama?" Jancis got that much from Trigs chaotic thoughts. "It can't, Trig. It can't. We're safe here! No, don't you dare breathe fire in here!"

  Jancis then bellowed directions through the speaker to the bridge until S'len hit the right sequence of buttons to make voice contact.

  "It's Thread, Jancis, I'm sure of it," S'len replied. "Not space debris. There's this flood of egglike things of varying sizes streaming toward us. Looks just like the stuff Aivas described to us in his lecture. Space debris wouldn't come in a steady flow, would it? This stuff goes back as far as we can see from the window. Only none of them ever hits the window, and the pilot's board is all lit up and the engineer's station is beeping at us." His words came tumbling out in his haste to describe the situation. Then his voice became agitated. "Bigath and Beerth are demanding that we go outside. They say it's Thread. I never should have even thought what I thought it is!" Then in an explosive aside: "No, Bigath, we can't fly this sort of a Fall. It's not Thread yet, -if that's what it is! We haven't any firestone, and there's no air out there, and you wouldn't fly outside anyway you'd float, just like in here. Shards! Jancis, I can't make her understand!"

  S'len didn't panic easily, and Bigath was not as erratic as some greens. In the background, Jancis could also hear Aivas's loud reassurances. If Bigath was not obeying her rider, she certainly could not be disciplined by the Aivas. Her bugling challenge at Thread took on a frantic edge.

  "Tell them Ruth says they're not to go! They obey him!" she said, latching on to an authority the greens respected. She didn't know a green dragon who wasn't partial to the white dragon.

  "When is Ruth coming, Bigath wants to know!" S'len's tone had altered from dismay to desperation. Aivas's calm voice continued to exhort the green dragons to listen to reason, but he was using reason that the dragons were not in a state to hear.

  Jancis was scribbling a note to Jaxom to come at once when S'len, with a cry of relief, said, "Ruth's here and everything's under control!"

  Jancis looked at the note and then at her fire-lizard, who cocked his head at her quizzically. She considered the matter for a moment longer and then made a decision. There was absolutely no way in which Jaxom and Ruth would have known to come to the bridge. He was in Ruatha today, and Aivas had no way of communicating with him there. She checked the exact time on her watch and wrote it down on the note. She added a final phrase in big letters: "TIME IT!" Then she sent Trig off to Ruatha and Jaxom.

  "But if Ruth and Jaxom are here, why send the note now?" Fandarel asked.

  Jancis smiled at her grandfather. "Trig needs the practice, Granddad."

  Trig was back almost immediately, looking inordinately pleased with himself.

  "He needs more than practice," Fandarel said, dismayed at the apparent disobedience.

  "I don't know about you," Jancis said as a diversion, striding over to the lift, "but I want to see this 'attack.' I've never been allowed out of Hall or Hold during a Fall, so now may be my only chance. Aren't any of you interested?"

  The reaction to her challenge was immediate, and when Jancis found herself crammed into the lift with three big smiths she was sorry that she had issued it.

  Then the lift door opened to a curious bedlam: two green dragons, wings plastered to the window, were so fiercely hissing and spraying saliva that the view was largely obscured, while Ruth, his wing fingers on those of the two greens, putting him at full stretch, overlapped their bodies. He was loudly emitting some sort of croon that was only just audible through their angry sputters.

  Jancis managed to grab Trig before he took off to join the dragons in their futile posturing. She pinned him firmly under one arm while she hung on to the railing lest his violent attempts to free himself send her into a spin. Ruth turned his redshot eyes in their direction and barked peremptorily. The bronze fire-lizard immediately subsided.

  The view-or the part of it that was not blocked by green and white dragon bodies-was awesome: the objects blanketed the entire panorama. Jancis had to exert a firm control over an urge to recoil as the shapes, zooming straight at Yokohama, were deflected at seemingly the last moment before impact by the ship's shields. But gradually, she and the smiths became accustomed to the spectacle and could appreciate it with detachment. Not that any of them found it as amusing as Jaxom did. He was clutching the pilot's chair in one hand to prevent himself from floating off, but he was nearly doubled up with laughter. S'len and L'zan, hovering circumspectly out of reach of furiously swishing dragon tails, looked on in chagrin and embarrassment.

  Being the tallest man there, Fandarel had a reasonably unobstructed view. "An amazing spectacle. Aivas, is this one of those meteor showers you've told us about?"

  "What you are seeing is not a meteor shower," Aivas replied. "Comparing the present onslaught with reports made by Pilot Kenjo Fusaiyuki during his reconnaissance flights and pending examination of a sample, it is reasonable to assume that Thread, in its space-traveling form, is flowing past the Yokohama on its way to your planet."

  "But where will it fall?" Jaxom asked, unable to remember which Weyr was scheduled to fly Fall next.

  "On Nerat, in precisely forty-six hours," Aivas replied.

  Jaxom let out a long whistle.

  "This swarm has a long way to go yet to reach the atmospheric envelope of the planet," Aivas continued.

  "Hmmm," Fandarel said, moving closer to peer out the window. "Fascinating! To be amid Thread and unharmed by it. Truly astounding. It's a gre
at pity we can't do something to stem the tide here, before it reaches the surface."

  S'len groaned. "Please don't even think that," he said, flicking his hand at the willing creatures whom Ruth was visibly restraining at the window.

  "Thread doesn't look so dangerous right now," Jancis said thoughtfully as she watched the ovoids sweep in and abruptly disappear.

  "In its frozen state, it is unlikely to be life-threatening," Aivas said.

  "But you don't know for sure?"

  "Attempts were made by Nabhi Nabol and Bart Lemos to secure specimens, but their ship disintegrated before they were able to return with them."

  "We could get some now," Jaxom suggested. "There're plenty out there."

  There was a significant pause, and Jaxom winked at Jancis. It wasn't often that Aivas was caught speechless.

  "You fail to recognize the hazards of such a venture," the Aivas replied at last.

  "Why? We could stash the thing in Airlock A, for instance, and it would stay frozen. As you keep telling us, it takes the friction of the atmosphere for Thread to metamorphose into its dangerous state."

  Jancis was mouthing words at Jaxom, shaking her head violently. Under her arm, Trig struggled with renewed vigor to free himself from restraint.

  "The Yokohama is moving at approximately 38,765 nautical miles per hour or about twenty thousand miles per hour relative to the Thread ovoids. To attempt to capture one would be an impossible maneuver even for persons trained in extra vehicular activities. It would also be essential to have non heat-conducting tongs."

  Trig squawked.

  I would capture a Thread egg for you, Ruth said, turning his head at an impossible angle over his shoulder to his rider.

  Jaxom looked in alarm at his white dragon and regretted his spontaneous suggestion. "Oh, no, you don't." At Ruth's crestfallen expression, he added, "No one else can keep those greens under control."

  "Did Ruth just offer to go get a Thread?" Jancis asked, holding more tightly to the writhing Trig. "Let Trig go."

  "You heard what Aivas said about the velocities and non heat conducting tongs."

  "It doesn't look as if we're traveling anywhere near that speed," she replied. Then she sighed. "Even if I know we must be. Anyway, fire-lizard talons aren't exactly heat-conductive, are they? Trig seems to think he can."

  "What!" Belterac demanded, his eyes bulging with horror. "Bring one of those-those things in here with us?"

  "Not in here," Jancis told him. "Into the airlock, where we can examine it closely. In its frozen state, it poses no danger."

  "Do you really think Trig would be able to manage?" Fandarel asked, his insatiable curiosity getting the better of an ingrained revulsion to Thread.

  "If he thinks he can," Jancis said. She looked down at the struggling fire-lizard. "Letting him do something about Thread may calm him down." She looked out at the barrage.

  "It has been noted," Aivas said, "that fire-lizards are particularly courageous in the presence of Thread. It has also been noted that, in both fire-lizards and dragons, the thought becomes the deed by some method which does not bear investigation. If Trig should think he can retrieve a specimen, despite the obvious difficulties, it would greatly facilitate a useful examination of the organism. Placing it in Airlock A would, of course, keep the specimen frozen, dormant, and impotent. Then it could be examined at leisure, a procedure your ancestors scheduled but did not implement. It would complete their biological investigations of this organism."

  Jaxom looked warily at Jancis. All in all, he wasn't sure they should ask this of Trig. Didn't they know as much as they needed to know about Thread? And yet, to have a Thread impotent, at their disposal, locked in a primal form, would be subtly gratifying.

  It wouldn't be at all hard to do, Ruth told Jaxom.

  "Ruth!" Jaxom vetoed that with a sharp chop of his hands. "You stay out of this fire-lizard assignment. Show-off!"

  To his surprise, Jancis laughed. "Does Ruth think he'd fit in Airlock A?" she asked, grinning at Ruth's reproachful expression. "First, let's see if Trig is certain he can manage. Now, dear..." She lifted Trig up level with her eyes, took his triangular head, and pointed it toward the window. "We want you to get one of those big eggs and put it in Airlock A. You remember where that is. It'd be like catching a wherry midair."

  I'm telling him, too, in case he doesn't understand, Ruth said, turning a reproving eye on his rider. I'd be perfectly safe. I'm much bigger than the Thread eggs. I wouldn't be thrown off balance as a little fire-lizard would be. And it's no more than a jump between.

  Trig gave a cheep, turned his head toward Ruth, and cheeped again, the whirling of his eyes speeding up with anticipation and resolve.

  He understands. He says he can easily do that.

  "Ruth has now briefed Trig thoroughly," Jaxom told Jancis.

  "You're sure you can do this, Trig? You don't have to, you know," she said, but Trigs eyes were orange-red with challenge and confidence. With a sigh, she bounced him off her arm. He disappeared. A moment later they all saw him through the bridge window, catching an ovoid nearly as large as himself. Briefly, the force of the capture sent him spinning backward, but before he hit the window, he abruptly flipped out of sight again. Three heartbeats later, he reappeared on the bridge, chittering with satisfaction.

  "His hide is so cold," Jancis said as she stroked him. "He's got stuff on his talons! Freezing! Ugh!" But, for all of that, she didn't dislodge him from her shoulder.

  Everyone made much of him, including Ruth, with the notable exception of the two greens, who were sullenly rumbling their discontent at being kept inside the Yokohama.

  "Apparently the extra vehicular activity was successful?" Aivas asked.

  Jaxom activated the optics in Airlock A and saw the ovoid floating gently above the lock floor.

  Eyes widening in surprise, Jancis jiggled her finger at the screen showing the airlock. "Look!" she exclaimed. It took a moment for the others to realize that the ovoid was gliding across the lock. It hovered briefly by the wall and returned to approximately the same position in the center of the facility.

  "Excellent demonstration of an incident of magnetic levitation," Aivas remarked.

  "And congratulations from Master Robinton and D'ram. Warder Lytol is already mobilizing a team to examine the specimen."

  "Is he indeed?" Jaxom asked flippantly, wondering who Lytol would tag with the unenviable task.

  "The extent and density of this stream would be useful knowledge," Aivas went on. "Jancis, such readings can be taken from the navigator's console by activating the exterior optics, using title EXAM.EXE code."

  "It occurs to me, Aivas," Jaxom began, winking at Jancis, "that this phenomenon was not on your agenda for today in space?" He was amused to see Fandarel regard him with astonishment for such an impudent question.

  There was so profound a silence from Aivas that everyone on the bridge exchanged amused glances. Twice in one day they had confounded Aivas? Fandarel began to chuckle, a deep rolling sound, when an answer finally came.

  "Regrettably, this facility did not compute that possibility, though calculations now indicate that the Yokohama and her sister ships have been in the line of Thread showers every fourth Fall."

  "Well, imagine that!" Jaxom remarked, his eyes glinting with mischief. He had never thought to catch Aivas unprepared.

  With what Jaxom decided was considerable aplomb, Aivas asked, "Is the shield destroying the ovoids, or is it deflecting them?"

  "Deflecting," Jaxom replied. Then he absorbed the nub of that remark. "The shield has a destructive mode? We could destroy what's raining down on us? What an ingenious concept! There'd be just that much fewer to fall on Nerat. And that might persuade old Begamon that all this"-he gestured about the bridge-"is worth the effort."

  "Jaxom, the destruct capability can be activated from either the captain's chair or the pilot's console. Call up the shield function program and alter DEFL to DEST."

  "I hear and obey,
" Jaxom said eagerly, his breath quickening as he slid into the pilot's seat and activated the console. "Program altered." For a moment, he let his finger hover above the ENTER tab. "Engaged!"

  In the next instant, the pellets streaking toward them dissolved in puffs, clearing a path so that the width and depth of the stream became all too visible.

  "If you will activate the rearview screen, Jaxom, " Aivas went on, "you will see how effective the destruct mode is."

  Plainly a wide swath of Thread had been eliminated.

  "That's beautiful! Just beautiful! Charring Thread in the air is one thing! This is much better. Much better!" Jaxom muttered. He turned the forward view back on and continued to watch the visible destruction of Thread with intense satisfaction. The green dragons had stopped spitting and were rumbling in delight.

  "Is there any way to extend this destruction beyond the Yokohama?" Master Fandarel asked.

  "No," Aivas replied. "The shield's main function is to defect ordinary space debris. Considering the width, breadth, and depth of the stream, it would be analogous to trying to destroy a snow shower with a candle."

  "Then how, Aivas, do you propose that we shall destroy this menace-as you promised we would?" Jaxom demanded.

  "By removing the vector that brings Thread to Pern. That should have been obvious to you all by now," Aivas chided them. "The path of the eccentric planet must be altered sufficiently so that it does not come close enough to spin Thread into Pern's orbit."

  "And how can we possibly do that?" Master Fandarel demanded.

  "That will become apparent as you continue with the Plan. Everything you have learned, every seemingly simple exercise either here or on the ground is directed toward preparing you for that end."

  No amount of wheedling or blustering could move Aivas to elaborate. "You cannot run before you walk," he repeated to almost every rephrasing of that question from Fandarel, Jaxom, Jancis, and Belterac.