2120-2126

by Russell Fine

  “I didn’t know you could do a fetal brain scan.”

  “I’m not sure I can either. It has never been done on a squirrel, but I’d like to try. I also want to do a DNA analysis. It might tell me if there’s a difference between the parents and the children. I suppose it might tell me which gene is responsible for this new ability.”

  There was another brief lull in the conversation. During that time Debbie noticed that Frank was holding a plastic case that looked like a small tool box. She asked, “Is that your new radiation detector?”

  “Yes, I got it from NASA just before we left Earth.”

  When the shuttle landed, S1 was waiting for them. As Frank stepped off the shuttle, S1 said, “Dr. Weber, it’s very nice to see you again. Would you like to see our new children?”

  “Yes, I would like that very much.”

  “Please follow me.”

  They walked to the shelter and in the living room were two squirrel children, they looked like the adult squirrels, but they were only about twenty-inches tall. They were taking turns reading a children’s book aloud to Cathy and Sheila.

  They listened as S74 and S75 took turns reading the story, each of them reading for about a minute. Their voices were high-pitched and soft, but the enunciation was almost perfect. Frank wondered if they really comprehended what they were reading. Apparently so did Cathy, because when S74 and S75 finished reading the story she asked them questions about the story they would not have been able to answer without understanding what they read. They answered each question correctly and it soon became obvious they were able to both read the story and grasp what they read.

  Jeffery, Frank, and Debbie were amazed at the intelligence the young squirrels displayed. But that was only the beginning. When the reading lesson was finished Sheila took over, and on a large monitor she displayed some simple addition and subtraction problems. S74 and S75 solved each problem almost instantly when it was displayed.

  Frank said, “Do you realize these squirrels are less than five months old, but they have the abilities of seven- or eight-year-old human children? They’re still immature physically, but their minds appear to be fully developed.”

  Cathy stood next to Frank and asked, “Dr. Weber, is it possible to actually transfer learned knowledge to your offspring?”

  “I didn’t think so, but obviously that happened.” He was silent for a few moments before adding, “I’d like you to teach them how to multiply and divide. Then start some simple algebra. I want to know if they can apply logic to solve math problems.”

  “Okay, I can do that. What will that tell you?”

  “Reading and simple math can be learned, but the ability to use logic to solve a problem requires a much greater level of intelligence. I also think it would be interesting to include a few of the adults in your class. I suspect the adults won’t display the same level of intelligence.”

  Cathy smiled broadly and said, “We’ll start on that tomorrow.”

  Frank decided to stay on the planet overnight. The following morning, after the rain, he planned to begin his search for the radiation source. Jeffery and Debbie returned to the Star Rover.

  That evening Frank, Cathy, and Sheila had dinner together in the shelter. While they were eating, Cathy said, “I don’t know if this is the right time to bring this up, but I noticed something the squirrels were doing they never did before. They started using the toilets in the shelter. I asked why and S1 told me it was more convenient than going outside. There was no indication of modesty; it was just a matter of convenience.”

  “I think that proves they’re no longer animals. I wonder if they’ll start wearing clothes.” Frank replied, smiling.

  Cathy continued, “I also asked S1 about the garden. He said they’re now growing more food than they can eat. They’re growing carrots, green beans, and lettuce. I’d like someone to bring some peanuts down from the Star Rover. I’m sure they’ll love them. To answer your question Dr. Weber, I don’t think they’ll ever feel a need to wear clothing. I’m certain they believe their fur would take the place of wearing clothes.”

  The following day Frank got up early. While he was drinking a cup of coffee, S1 walked into the dining room. Frank said, “Good morning. I have a question for you, if you don’t mind, are any of the females in your group pregnant?”

  “No, I don’t think any of them are pregnant now. Why are you asking?’

  “I’m curious about the increase in intelligence of the children in your group. I’d like to measure the difference in brain activity between a pregnant female and her fetus.”

  “Can you do that without hurting them?”

  “Yes, it’s absolutely painless. All I have to do is attach some wires to the female’s head and abdomen.”

  “Then I’ll ask if any of the females are pregnant.”

  “I’d also like to do a DNA test on one of the children and their mother. I only have to swab the inside of their mouths with soft cotton swabs.”

  “That wouldn’t be a problem. We can do that anytime,” S1 replied.

  “I’m going out to search for the source of the radiation here. I’d like to do the tests when I get back.”

  “Would it be okay if I bring them here just before dinner?”

  “Yes, that would be perfect.”

  Frank began his search as soon as the morning rain stopped. When he was outside the shelter, he turned on his detection equipment. It was a handheld device that was shaped like a pistol. It had a bright metal barrel about six inches long and about two inches in diameter. There was a trigger to turn the device on. On the top of the barrel was a small dual-purpose video display. It was used specify the scan parameters and to display the results of the scan. It detected an unknown form of radiation, but it didn’t indicate any particular direction in which the field appeared to be stronger. He decided to walk south of the shelter and stop every few hundred feet to check the radiation levels. As he walked, he found no change in the level of radiation or any indication of a potential source. After he had walked for an hour, he realized he needed a faster mode of transportation. There was a small electric car aboard the Star Rover. He called Jeffery and asked him to have it brought down on the next shuttle.

  When he returned to the shelter, he found Sheila holding a class for four squirrels. In addition to S74 and S75, there were two adult squirrels in the class. He watched as Sheila showed her students how to solve some simple algebra problems. They all appeared to be learning very quickly. He didn’t want to be a distraction, so he returned to his room.

  At dinner time, S1 appeared with another adult squirrel and one of the children. Frank took two sterile cotton swabs out of a package in his pocket. He swabbed both the mother and her child and thanked them for helping him with his tests.

  The following morning the shuttle arrived. Jeffery drove the little electric car to the door of the shelter. He went inside looking for Frank and found him sitting in the dining room drinking a cup of coffee.

  “I brought the car for you. I didn’t think you’d need the protective shell so I didn’t bring it.”

  “Thanks. I agree the shell is unnecessary here since I won’t go out until after the rain stops. The car will make my search a lot easier.” Then he handed Jeffery two plastic bags containing the cotton swabs from the mother and child. “Please give these to Linda and tell her to run a complete DNA comparison.”

  “Certainly. I’ll give them to her as soon as I get back aboard. Do you think it’s possible the source of the radiation is the planet itself?”

  “I thought about that. It’s a possibility of course, but I think it’s more likely to be some object from space that fell on the planet.”

  “I have nothing to do right now, so if you like, I’ll help you with your search.”

  “Great! Let me finish my coffee and we can go.”

  A few minutes later they, were sitting in the car. The body was small, four feet wide and seven feet long with two seats in front and a large
storage area. The axles were placed as far apart as possible to increase stability. The tires were very large; twenty-four inches in diameter and nine inches wide. Each wheel had its own independent drive mechanism meaning the vehicle could be propelled with whatever number of drive wheels best suited the conditions. The seats were well-padded to make the ride more comfortable and minimize the risk of injury to the people riding in the car.

  Frank sat in the driver’s seat and both men fastened their seat belts. Frank decided to go a different direction this time. The car smoothed out most of the bumps in the rough terrain and they were both fairly comfortable. It had a top speed of thirty miles per hour, but Frank was driving only ten. Every mile they stopped and took radiation readings. The area they were exploring was mostly large meadows. There were a few dense forest areas they had to drive around, but they continued travelling in one direction. After two hours of driving, they decided to end their search for the day. Every reading was exactly the same. The detector said the radiation type was unknown, and the strength measured ten on the display that went from zero to one hundred.

  For the next week, Frank continued his search for the true source of the radiation. The terrain west of the shelter appeared to be all meadow land, so he was able to drive much farther. He drove at top speed for three hours and then stopped to test the radiation. He was hoping for a different reading, but it was still the same. After two more disappointing days, he gave up. He decided the search must be done from the air.

  By this time, Cathy and Sheila had managed to teach the squirrels basic algebra. They also discovered S74 and S75 were able to learn faster than the adults in the class, although ultimately, they all learned the material. So far, they had only given the students numerical problems to solve. Now they decided to start giving them more complex problems dealing with logic so Cathy gave each student a set of word problems.

  By the time she passed out the problem to the four students, S74, who received the problem first, said, “The answer is 5.08.”

  Then S75 said, “If you want to be more precise 5.07690.

  The two adults in the class also reached the correct answer, but it took them a little over a minute and they used the paper the problem was written on to find the answer.

  Obviously, the problem was too simple, so Cathy and Sheila spent a few hours that evening writing more complex problems.

  There were four problems this time. Before Cathy passed out the problems she said, “This test is made up of four problems. Please write the equation you used to solve the problem and your answer.”

  This time it took S74 and S75 ten minutes to solve the problems. The last of the two adults finished in fifteen minutes. All of the answers were correct.

  Cathy told her students class was over for the day. Then she used her communicator to contact Jeffery and asked to see him as soon as possible.

  “Is there a problem?”

  “Yes. It isn’t serious now, but it will be soon. It concerns the education plan for the squirrels.”

  “Debbie and I’ll come down on the next shuttle. We should be there in two hours.”

  “Thank you, sir. We’ll be waiting for you.”

  When the shuttle arrived, Cathy and Sheila were waiting for them as promised. As soon as Jeffery and Debbie stepped off the shuttle Cathy said, “Thank you for coming, sir.”

  “Actually, Debbie and I were already planning to meet with Frank today. How can I help you?”

  “We gave the squirrels a more complex algebra test. All four of our students got every answer correct. S74 and S75 completed the test in ten minutes. The adults took an additional five minutes.”

  “Wow! That’s very impressive,” Jeffery responded.

  “Yes sir. Obviously, the squirrels are very intelligent. I’m sorry to tell you we really don’t have the right material to continue their education for much longer. We need more advanced books. And, Sheila and I aren’t qualified to continue their education for much longer because they may already be more knowledgeable than we are.”

  “I doubt that. What subjects would you like books for?”

  “We need books for advanced math, physics, and chemistry at a minimum.”

  “When I get back to the ship, I’ll ask our engineers if they have any books you can use. Will the squirrels be able to read the books?”

  “I don’t know, but the books are for us, not the squirrels. We wanted to use the books to develop lesson plans.”

  “If anyone aboard still has copies of their textbooks, I’ll ask them to send the files to you.”

  “Thanks, that will help. When you leave here, you’re going to Coplent, right?”

  “Yes, and then we’ll continue to Torblit before returning to Earth.”

  “When you get to Coplent please let Garlut know about this situation. Perhaps they can send somebody to help.”

  “Okay, but very few of the people on Coplent speak English. I think it would be better to ask Garlut to discuss this with Max when he goes back to Earth. I’m sure he’ll return before us.”

  “You’re probably right. I’m sure the squirrels could learn a new language, but that would probably slow down their education.”

  Jeffery and Debbie walked into the shelter and found Frank in the dining room. They sat down across from him. Jeffery said, “The radiation detector has been attached to the shuttle. Toby looked at the design and thinks as long as we keep our altitude less than three thousand feet it should work correctly. The output has been routed to the display at the co-pilot’s position.

  “Did Toby give you any indication regarding speed?”

  “Yes, he said during scanning we shouldn’t exceed six hundred miles per hour.”

  “So, if we fly a grid pattern at three thousand feet, how much of the surface will we be able to cover before we leave for Coplent?”

  “I would guess maybe twenty-five percent, but I don’t think we should attempt to cover the planet’s entire surface. I think we should go in two hundred-mile increments. So, we fly at top speed for two hundred miles, slow down, take our measurements, and repeat the process until we reach a pole. Then we come back here and do it again, but in the opposite direction. If we do that we should know within a few days if the radiation is equal over the entire surface. If it appears to be stronger in one area, we can cover that area more thoroughly.”

  “That sounds reasonable. Let’s get started.”

  Debbie stood up and said, “I’ll do the flying this afternoon.”

  Debbie and Frank left the dining room while Jeffery got a cup of coffee. While he was sitting there, one of the squirrels wandered in. He walked over to Jeffery and said, “Hello sir. How are you today?”

  “Very well thank you, but I was just thinking we have to leave here in ten days. I really don’t want to go.”

  “Do you have to go?”

  “Yes, my job has a lot of responsibilities, and I have an obligation to complete each of my assigned tasks to the best of my ability. Do you understand?”

  “Yes, I do understand, but do you have to keep doing your job?”

  “Yes, I have to keep doing my job until I return to Earth. Then I could resign, I suppose, but if I resign, I would have no way of returning here.”

  “I think Garlut would bring you back.”

  “Yes, I’m sure he would, but I have plans for my return here. Do you know what a resort is?”

  “It’s like a hotel, but it’s bigger and offers food and recreation.”

  “That’s right! Debbie and I want to build a resort here, and when it’s finished, we’ll come here to live. Dr. Weber wants to do that too.”

  “Would that bring a lot of other humanoids here?”

  “Yes, I’m sure it would. Is that a problem?”

  “No, we like humans.”

  “Good, we don’t want to do anything that would upset you. We like you also, and it’s important to us that all of the squirrels are happy. I don’t know if you realize it, but you’re the only non-human
oid intelligent species that has ever been found.”

  “Yes, I do realize we’re unique.”

  Jeffery intended to continue the conversation, but the squirrel left the dining room and he was alone again. The conversation with the squirrel had increased his desire to live on Procolt 2 and he decided he was going to do everything he could to make sure that happened.

  For the next several hours, he wandered around the area near the shelter. He watched Cathy and Sheila teaching the squirrels algebra for a while. He went to the lake and walked along the shore. When he heard the shuttle returning, he walked back to the shelter. By the time he got there the shuttle had landed, so he went inside the shelter and found Debbie and Frank in the dining room.

  When Frank saw Jeffery he said, “We went north for four thousand miles and south for about the same distance. We never detected any change in the radiation levels or any indication of a source. I’m beginning to think the planet itself is the source, and that means it would be the same everywhere. Tomorrow we’re going to go two thousand miles east and then go north and south again.”

  “I suspect your results will be identical to the results of today’s trip.”

  “You’re probably right. But if we have identical results for the next few days, we’ll have to do additional tests to determine if long term exposure to the radiation is dangerous.”

  “Is there any way to do that in a relatively short period of time?”

  “I think that depends on your definition of ‘a short period of time.’ If we bring animals here that have very short life spans, we can watch several generations over a period of a year or so. If we don’t detect any serious abnormalities, we can be somewhat certain it’s safe.”

  “I’ll ask Garlut about that when we get to Coplent. I’d like to go back to the Star Rover. Are you ready to leave?”

  “I’d like to stay here again. Is that okay with you, sir?” Frank said.

  “Sure, we’ll be back in the morning. See you then.”

  Jeffery and Debbie left the shelter and went back to the Star Rover. As soon as Jeffery was back aboard, he called Toby and asked him if any of his engineers still had copies of their textbooks. Toby told him he was fairly certain Peter White did because he was teaching classes at a local college before he received his assignment to the Star Rover. Jeffery told him to have Peter send the copies he had to Cathy.