Sight of Proteus

by Charles Sheffield

  (Cut to image of Ceres, zoom in for high resolution shot of Ceres City and greenhouse system. Cut to diagram showing planetary distances, with multiple entry between Mars and Jupiter, then back to Ling)

  "There now seemed to be too many planets. As more and more asteroids were found, the theory grew that they were all fragments of a single planet. It was a speculation without hard evidence for a long time, until in 1972 the Canadian astronomer Ovenden provided the first solid proof. Using the rates of change in the orbits of the planets as his starting point, he was able to show they were all consistent with the disappearance from the Solar System of a body of planetary mass, roughly sixteen million years ago. He was also able to estimate the mass as about ninety times the mass of the Earth. Loge was beginning to take on a definite shape."

  (Cut to image of Ovenden, then to artist's impression of the size and appearance of Loge, next to an image of Earth at the same scale)

  "The next part of the story came just a few years later, in 1975. Van Flandern in the United States of America integrated the orbits of long-period comets backwards through time. He found that many of them had periods of about sixteen million years—and they had left from a particular region of the Solar System, between Mars and Jupiter. Parts of Loge were paying their first return visit, after a long absence."

  (Cut to animated view of cometary orbits, showing their intersection with a diagram of the System. Run animation backwards, to show all orbits coming together at a single point between Mars and Jupiter)

  "This led to the first modern ideas of Loge: a large planet, a gas-giant of ninety Earth masses, almost the same size as Saturn. It disintegrated about sixteen million years ago in a cataclysm beyond our imagining. The explosion blew most of Loge out of the System forever. A few parts of the planetary core remain as the asteroids. Other fragments, from the outer crust of Loge, drop back into the Solar System from time to time as long-period comets."

  (Move in to close-up of Ling, head and shoulders)

  "That looked like the full story, until we were able to go out and take a close look at the long-period cometary fragments. We found that some of them are packed with transuranic elements. The mystery of Loge had returned, bigger than ever. Why should parts of Loge's outer crust, alone of all the Solar System, contain transuranic elements? Their half-lives are less than twenty million years, in a System that is many billions of years old. They should have decayed long ago. Were they formed somehow in the explosion of Loge? If so, why are they found only in the outer crust, not in the asteroids that came from Loge's core? How were they formed? To all these questions, we still have no satisfactory answers."

  (Cut to image of Loge again, feed in beginning of fade-out music, at low volume)

  "One final and tantalizing fact. Sixteen million years is nothing, it is like yesterday on the cosmic scale. When Loge disintegrated there were already primates on the Earth. Did our early ancestors look into the sky one night, and behold the fearful sight of Loge's explosion? Is it conceivable that another planet might suffer a similar fate?"

  (Fade-out as image of Loge begins to swell, changes color, breaks asunder. Final music crescendoes for the ending)

  * * *

  "It still puzzles me why Ling should be appointed to this investigation. He writes his own ticket, of course. Maybe he knew one of the dead Grabbers—he seemed to know everything there was to know about the Belt and the Belters." Green shook his head unhappily. "I suppose I'll have to get in and meet the man, and find out what he wants me to do now that he's here. I hope he's not going to try and demote me to being a messenger boy."

  Together, Green and Wolf walked back to Bey's office. Karl Ling did not look up as they entered. He was oblivious to his surroundings, deeply engrossed in his review of the autopsy records on the three dead crew members of the Jason. Wolf's saturation techniques apparently didn't work on Ling. He became aware of them only when Wolf stepped in front of him and spoke.

  "As soon as you want it, Mr. Ling, we are ready to give you a briefing on our findings. This is Park Green, who is representing the USF here at Form Control."

  Ling looked up briefly, then returned his attention to the medical records. His glance had taken in the two other men for only a fraction of a second, but Bey had the feeling they had both been scanned and tucked away in memory.

  "Very good," said Ling, eyes still fixed on the output screen. "For a start, why don't you answer the most basic question for me. The three dead men had clearly been involved in a form-change process. Where are the bio-feedback machines located that were used on them?"

  Wolf grimaced at Park Green. "We don't have that answer for you yet, sir," he replied. "Though of course we recognize its importance, and we are working on it."

  Ling looked up again. This time, his gaze locked on to Wolf. For some reason, it seemed to have been the answer he was expecting, even hoping for.

  "No answer yet, Mr. Wolf? I thought that might be the case. Would you perhaps like me to enlighten you?"

  Bey stifled the sudden impulse to go over and choke Ling, and managed a cool reply. "If you can, certainly. I must say that it is hard for me to imagine that you could have reached a rational conclusion on such a brief inspection of our records."

  "I did not. I knew it before I left the Moon." Ling smiled for the first time and stood up from his seat. "You see, Mr. Wolf, I have no doubt that you and your fellow-workers here in Form Control are proficient in your work. In fact, I took pains to verify your excellent reputation before I left the Moon. That is not the issue. The particular situation we have here requires something that by definition you and Mr. Larsen do not have: the ability to think like a USF citizen. For example, if you were suddenly a millionaire, because you had struck it rich out in the Belt, where on Earth would you choose to go for your entertainment? Remember, you may choose freely without thought of cost."

  "Probably to the Great Barrier Reef, in a gilled form."

  "Very good." Karl Ling turned to Park Green. "Now let me ask you the same question. You are a Belter, and suddenly a millionaire. Where on all of Earth would you want to go? What is the Belter's dream of a place for all the most exotic delights?"

  Green rubbed thoughtfully at his chin. "Why, I guess it would be Pleasure Dome. I've never been there, and I don't know what it offers, but that's the place we all hear about."

  "Right. And of course you haven't been there—neither has anybody else who is not extremely rich. Just the same, it's the USF idea of Paradise, especially for people who live out in the Belt. Part of the reason you would want to go there would be to prove how rich you are."

  He went over to the large map display on the far wall and called out a South Polar projection.

  "Now let's take this a little further. Look at the geography. The crew of the Jason landed at the North Australian spaceport. That's within easy transport distance of the Australian Mattin Link entry point. One transfer gets them to New Zealand, a second one puts them at Cap City in Antarctica. Pleasure Dome, as I am sure that you know, Mr. Wolf, though Mr. Green may not, lies directly beneath Cap City in the Antarctic ice cap. Total travel time from the spaceport: an hour or less."

  Park Green was nodding slowly in agreement. "I guess so. I'm not used yet to the number of Link entry points that you have here on Earth. I don't see where your analysis gets us, though. We need to find a place that has sophisticated form-change equipment. I saw the list of labs that Mr. Wolf has, and I'm sure that Cap City and Pleasure Dome weren't anywhere on it."

  Karl Ling smiled ironically. "I feel sure they were not. You saw the legal list." He turned to Bey, who realized what was coming and felt a steadily rising excitement. "Pleasure Dome offers all pleasures, does it not, Mr. Wolf? Even the most exotic. Would it not be logical to assume that a number of those recreations involve the use of form-change equipment?"

  "It certainly would. That's rather a sore point with me, as a matter of fact. We know that there are illegal form-changes going on there, to cater
to some of the more debauched physical tastes. But we have orders to keep out of there. I must say, we usually have no trouble with them. They are very discreet, and since the last trouble, a few years ago, we've had a sort of informal truce with them. I would be surprised to find they have equipment complex enough to handle the Mariana changes, but I wouldn't rule it out. There's plenty of money there, and they could get the equipment if they wanted it. You can probably guess how much power the managers of Pleasure Dome have, when it comes to influence in high places. There are rumors about a number of Central Coordinators who go there fairly often."

  Ling touched the map controls, and a new image appeared on the display.

  "Then this must be our next stop: Cap City, and Pleasure Dome. We still do not have the answer to the basic question: how did those three men become three dead monsters?

  "Mr. Green, you should remain here and be available to answer inquiries from Earth and Moon authorities."

  Green could not resist a snort of disgust. His view of Ling's order showed clearly on his face.

  "Please make travel arrangements for Mr. Wolf and myself," went on Ling calmly. "Take the highest priority links, and the fastest interchanges. Don't worry about finance, Mr. Wolf," he said, seeing Bey's questioning look. "That is not an issue. I can call on the complete financial resources of the USF if necessary to pursue this inquiry."

  "That wasn't why I was frowning, Mr. Ling. I was wondering why the Mariana Trench was chosen to dispose of the bodies. Can you explain that also?"

  "I have a speculation," said Ling, "and I rather think it is the same one that you have. I even think I know what you are trying to gain by asking it, but that's another matter."

  There was a hint of humor, deep in his tawny eyes. "Let us indulge our imaginations. The crew of the Jason died in Pleasure Dome. The proprietors of that facility looked at their identifications and knew at once that they were all in trouble. They know that the USF looks after its own. They decided that they had to get the bodies off-Earth, and they took them to Australia through the Mattin Link. Unfortunately for their plans, they did not realize how tight the security regulations have become since the Purcell spores found their way in. There was no way to smuggle three bodies into space, so that plan was dropped and they were obliged to improvise another one. Deep water looked attractive. One further transfer through the Link took them to the Marianas. But hasty planning, and inadequate knowledge of the local geography, led to a botching of the disposal job. We know the rest."

  Ling looked questioningly at Bey. "Plausible? It is, I admit, no more than a deductive argument, but I think it has a high probability of being right.

  "Now, quickly, have preparations made and let us be on our way."

  Green hurried out, but Wolf lingered for a moment. During Ling's last exposition, he had been listening intently, studying the manner of the speaker. Ling raised his eyebrows as Wolf showed no sign of leaving.

  "You have further business, Mr. Wolf? There is still a great deal of work to be done on the records, and little time to do it."

  "I want to make one comment," said Bey. "I've spent my life studying form-change, and I believe that I understand it pretty well. One man is my master in the theory, but when it comes to seeing through exterior changes I will match myself against anyone. I am sure that we have met before, Mr. Ling, and it was under very different circumstances. The problem we have here is an urgent one, and I want to tell you that I do not propose to do anything about my ideas. But I want you to know that I can tell the lion by his paw."

  Karl Ling's acid look seemed to soften briefly. There was a hint of a smile again on his lips.

  "Mr. Wolf, I really have no idea what you are talking about, and I must get on with this biological work. Perhaps you would like to stay here and help me with it. I have a high regard for your insights. Let's get to work quickly. I want to be in Cap City four hours from now."

  * * *

  After Bey Wolf and Karl Ling had left, Park Green and John Larsen went off together for a stimulant and a sharing of their dissatisfaction. By the third round Larsen had become morose and militant.

  "Just our luck," he said. "Those two go off to sample Pleasure Dome, and they leave us here to handle the brainless bureaucrats. It's always the same, we get all the dog work, and those two get all the excitement."

  He had never met or even heard of Karl Ling until that day, but fine points of logic were beneath him.

  "I'd like to show those two," he went on, sniffing again at the dispenser. "I'd like to show them what we can do without them. Solve the whole thing while they're gone." He slid a little lower in his seat. "That would show them."

  Green and Larsen had been matching, round for round, but with twice the body mass Green was in much better shape. He watched Larsen sink lower yet, his chin almost down to the level of the table.

  "Come on," he said, "if we're going to do it at all, it had better be while you're still capable of it." He lifted Larsen's limp figure easily to a standing position and held him there one-handed while he paid their bill.

  "Just let's get a couple of shots of de-toxer in you and you'll be as good as new. Once we're all set, let's go over the full records again, and see if we can come up with something new. We've got Ling's comments to help us. We never had that when we were working before." He walked an unsteady Larsen from the room. "It would do me a lot of good to beat that smarmy supercilious midget to the answer."

  Fifteen minutes later they were both cold sober and deep into the case records. There was a long period of sifting before Larsen sat back, snapped his fingers and said, "Question: what is there about the crew of the Jason that made them different from everybody else who was undergoing form-change here on Earth?"

  Park Green looked at him and shrugged. "Grabbers? Belters? Super-rich?"

  Larsen shook his head. "No. Answer: they had recently been handling large quantities of transuranic elements, and probably experiencing high levels of radioactivity. So here's my second question. Did the autopsies look for Asfanium and Polkium in the bodies? Did they even test for a high radioactivity? My bet is that they didn't."

  "It shouldn't make any difference, John. We know that the crew didn't die from chemical poisoning, and they didn't die from radioactive dose."

  "Of course they didn't—but form-change depends on the condition of the central nervous system. So, final question: what do the transuranics do to that system? I doubt if anyone really knows. It might throw off the fine tuning, and that might make them behave strangely in form-change. What do you think?"

  Green shrugged. "It's certainly a long shot, but we should check out the transuranics content of the bodies. Do you know where they went after the post mortem?"

  "Sure. They're in the Form Control cold storage center in Manila."

  Green stood up. "Come on then. We'll need authorization for another post mortem, and we'd better find a pathologist to take along with us."

  Chapter 13

  The exit point from the Mattin Link system was in the upper levels of Cap City, almost at the polar surface. Bey Wolf and Karl Ling emerged from the final chamber and looked about them for the elevators that would take them down to Pleasure Dome, four thousand feet below in the polar ice. Above them, the howling winds of an Antarctic July tore at the surface, carrying the groan of protesting surface structures all the way down to the Link exit point. It was not a congenial spot, and they were keen to move downwards. As they stood there a soft voice spoke suddenly in their ears.

  "Come to Pleasure Dome, satisfy your heart's desires."

  Ling looked at Wolf and smiled ruefully. "An omni-projector. What an abuse of a technology. That system would be worth millions to us in Tycho, or out in the Halo."

  The soft voice continued. "In Pleasure Dome, you can shed the cares of the world and feel free again, free to fulfill your wildest imaginings. Visit the lustrous Caves of Ice, or swim in the Pool of Lethe. Win a world in the great Xanadu Casino, or spend an unforgettable da
y as a shuttle in the Coupling Loom. Be free, be with us in Pleasure Dome."

  "Free, at a price," said Bey.

  Ling smiled. "These aren't really advertisements, you know. Any message given here is only heard by people who are already on their way to the Dome, so it's preaching to the converted. People just want a reassurance that they are about to spend their money on something really exciting."

  The omni advertising went on, and finally they received a useful comment, "Follow the blue lights to the Temple of Earthly Delights."

  Moving along the chain of blue lights as directed, they were soon in an elevator, dropping steadily and swiftly down deep into the polar cap. The entrance to Pleasure Dome was a great sparkling chamber, lined with perfect mirrors, like the inside of a giant multi-faceted diamond. The effect was shattering, Walls, floors, ceilings, all were perfectly reflecting. Bey could see images of himself and Ling, marching off to infinity in every direction. He struggled to orient himself, to find a view that did not extend indefinitely away from him.

  "You'll get used to it in a few minutes," remarked Ling coolly. He seemed quite unaffected by his surroundings. "Pleasure Dome is all like this."

  "I didn't realize that you had been here before."

  "A couple of times, long ago. These reflecting walls are a necessity, not a luxury, you know—though of course the owners here do their best to turn the situation to a special feature of the place." He glanced around him with interest. "They've come a long way. When they first cut this city beneath the ice cap, thirty years ago, the big problem was the heat. People produce heat, all the time, from themselves and their equipment. There's nothing you can do about that, but without a special system the ice walls would have melted in no time. You can see the solution. All the walls have been coated with passivine, perfectly reflecting and with a very low coefficient of thermal conductivity."