Tau Ceti (an Ell Donsaii story #6)

by Laurence Dahners

  Dex’s wings lifted and hie could feel Syrdian’s doing the same, though even if both of them could have flown there was little free space to fly in inside the forest. Hie gripped hies staff with trembling hands and pointed it with a sinking feeling…

  Suddenly the lines outlining the predator coalesced down to two brilliant spots centered on its eyes…

  With a howling sound the predator turned its head and tore away into the forest…

  The fire rising up from Syrdian’s efforts showed Dex the meteorite standing there on its bottom end like it had been when it first landed in the meadow. Hie looked down, its little legs were out. The glowing redness that hie’d seen when hie’d first woken was gone now, but hie had no doubt that it had come from the clear spot from which the glowing red lines emanated.

  Syrdian’s arms crept tremblingly around Dex. Hie cast an arm back around Syrdian, then folded a wing around himr too. Syrdian whispered, “What happened?”

  Dex said, “I’m not sure. I think the meteorite hissed to warn us of the predator… Then it shone the little flame that makes the red lines into the predator’s eyes to drive it away. Maybe? But I’m not sure that’s what happened.”

  “When did you put it up on its little legs?”

  “I didn’t,” Dex said with an awed tone.

  “Do you think… that it put itself up on its legs?”

  “I think it’s very powerful. Who knows what it can and can’t do? But if it drove away that predator, I’m glad it seems to be on our side… Let’s not anger it.”

  “How do we… not… anger it?”

  “I don’t know.” Dex said quietly.

  ***

  Ell settled back, trembling slightly in reaction. When Allan had first drawn her attention to a large infrared object approaching the Teecees, she had thought that surely they would sense its approach somehow. As it came closer and closer and the Teecees continued sleeping, she became more and more concerned. At first she thought she had no way to sound the alarm but then she thought of the attitude jets and the loud hissing noise they made. Using them to right the rocket and set it on its legs had seemed inspired, not only waking the Teecees but positioning the cameras for a better view, especially when she thought to paint the approaching animal with the laser. But the better view showed her the size and long pointed teeth of what had to be a very large predator. It looked fully capable of taking on both Goldy and Silver. Despite the low light cameras she couldn’t see the Teecees well in the deep dark of the forest but the way they scrambled to her side of the fire didn’t give her the feel that they were confident about dealing with such a predator. When it started to rush toward them she’d had Allan turn the laser into the predator’s eyes.

  Only after the predator had bolted back away into the forest did she think that using the laser on high power might have provided the Teecees with some food. Perhaps not too. The laser was powerful enough to ablate tiny bits of rocks for spectroscopy, but it would take quite a while to burn through water laden flesh down to a vital organ, especially if you didn’t know where the organ in question was located. And if the flesh in question was moving.

  As the Teecees settled back down, crouching by their fire, Ell slowly relaxed. Eventually she continued the calculations she’d been doing for Roger’s steam engines that were to be powered by heat from the sun.

  ***

  Syrdian awakened with the brightening light in the morning to find the fire stoked up but Dex gone. Hie stood and looked about without seeing Dex. With hunger pangs gnawing and no prospect of food, Syrdian warily left the camp to go down to the stream they’d been paralleling. Water would quench hies thirst and fill hies stomach temporarily. A little ways out of camp hie encountered Dex returning with a full water skin and an odd looking animal with large eyes. Syrdian stared, “What’s that?”

  “Apparently some kind of forest animal of the night. It crept into the snare that the red lines said to build and put out at night. If you’ll notice it has big eyes like the taklor’s do. Hope it’s tasty.”

  Syrdian dipped hies head, “As hungry as I am, anything would be tasty this morning.”

  As they ate the, tasty as predicted, night animal. Syrdian said, “You were right about climbing the mountain. It isn’t as hot up here, but it’s getting harder to breath. The air just pours through me when we’re hiking these days.”

  Dex said, “Maybe we should start looking for some kind of shelter to live in and set up a camp for the summer.”

  “Do you think we can find a cave?”

  Dex shrugged hies wings. “I don’t know. They aren’t very common but maybe? Next time we reach a clearing, I could fly around and scout?”

  ***

  Kira Piscova’s AI said “Ms. Donsaii is returning your call.”

  Piscova said, “Hello, Ms. Donsaii?”

  “Yes, Dr. Piscova. Were you able to work out the issues regarding consulting fees and non-disclosure?”

  “Um, yes. I can sign the agreement at your convenience and the consulting fee you’ve offered is quite generous. Thank you.”

  “Do you have a PGR equipped AI yet?”

  “Sorry, no. I don’t really keep up with the latest tech. Even though everyone tells me it’s the greatest, what I have now works fine for my needs.”

  “Well we’d like to outfit you with a high end PGR connected AI, both to help you with analysis and to make sure none of the data we provide you goes astray. Could you drop by D5R and we could fit you up and install your AI’s personality on the new headband?”

  “Okaay.”

  “Then we could talk about exactly what it is that we need your help with?”

  “Sure.” Piscova signed off, wondering exactly what she would be doing for them…

  ***

  In Ell’s ear, Allan said, “Presidential science advisor Fladwami is returning your call.”

  Ell put up a finger asking Emma to wait a moment, “Put him on. Dr. Fladwami?”

  “Yes Ms. Donsaii?’

  “I was calling back as you requested regarding CO emissions. We, here at Quantum Tech, think we may have a partial solution.”

  “That’s great! We’re having a conference on greenhouse gas emission reduction next week with a lot of the big players in the auto and energy industries represented. Do you think you could come to D.C. and make a presentation regarding your ideas at the conference?”

  After a pause Ell said, “Sure… I’ll probably have Dr. Emmerit make the presentation though. It’s mostly his idea.”

  “You’ll be there too though, right?”

  “I can be.”

  “We’d really appreciate it.”

  Ell disconnected, bemused to realize that Fladwami had never asked what the tech actually was. For a moment she wondered if she should give him some warning, but eventually shrugged and turned back to Emma.

  ***

  Piscova looked askance at her new AI headband. Its high end design didn’t exactly fit her eclectic image. However, the actual computer they’d given her for the AI to reside in shocked her. It wasn’t high end, it was very high end. She couldn’t figure out why she would need such an AI for translation, but she wouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. The young man who’d been fitting her said, “Is it OK?”

  Kira shook herself, “Sure, what next?”

  “I’m to take you to see Ell.”

  Surprised by his casual reference to Ms. Donsaii by her first name, Piscova said, “OK.”

  When they arrived in a conference room Donsaii looked up saying, “Oh, Hi Dr. Piscova. Come in!”

  “Thank you.” She raised an eyebrow, “Do I finally get to find out what this is about?”

  “Yes Ma’am. First I’d like to introduce you to the team you’re joining.” She was introduced to an astronomer from UNC and a biologist from NC State as well as some employees of “Quantum Tech,” apparently a subsidiary of D5R. “As to what this is about, currently we’re observing some intelligent aliens on the third planet
of the star Tau Ceti. We can hear them communicating acoustically, but we aren’t having much luck understanding the sounds.”

  Piscova laughed, “Sure you are.” She looked around at them. “No, really, what’s this about?” She leaned back, expecting the others to be disappointed that she hadn’t fallen for their little joke. Instead, they all stared at her seriously.

  “Allan,” Donsaii said, “brighten the display so we can see the Teecees.”

  The screens on the wall of the conference room brightened up and Kira saw some very strange beings there. The images looked like low light photography, devoid of color information. The creatures looked somewhat like perched birds, wings up top, large clawed feet under, bizarre tiny heads turned back over one wing, and, front limbs that looked like a cross between birds’ feet and human hands. Her eyes narrowed, they didn’t seem to be breathing.

  Donsaii then said, “Now please play a recording of the Teecees communication with one another.”

  The screen jumped to a day lit picture of the creatures about a fire on which they were roasting something on a stick. Noise issued from the speakers, consisting of high pitched tweedling. Piscova stared for a moment then looked around at the group, “I’m not sure if this is some kind of joke, but these supposed aliens aren’t breathing. If you aren’t breathing, it’s pretty hard to stay alive, much less speak.”

  Wheat, the biologist from NC State said, “That’s a quick pick up.” He grinned, “Actually, the first time I saw video from TC3, I thought it was a trailer from a new movie, so I’m familiar with how you feel. However, I’ve watched a number of, well we call them dissections, but actually they were just the Teecees ‘cleaning’ their catch prior to cooking it. But, anyway, I think I’ve come to understand how their respiratory system works.”

  Glancing at Piscova again, he then looked around at the others, “This is new to the rest of the group too.” Addressing the group as a whole he said. “At first I was puzzled about the mechanics of their respiratory process. We pull air into our lungs with our diaphragms. The diaphragm is essentially a large muscular sheet that pulls downward, sucking air into the chest cavity and lungs. When it does so, it pushes the contents of the abdomen downward, thus when you take a deep breath, your stomach moves outward. But the Teecees seem to have ribs around their entire body cavity so their abdomen can’t expand to accept the displacement of volume from their chest.” He looked around to be sure everyone seemed to be tracking what he’d said. “I’ve told you that I thought they pull air in through that hole at the base of the neck and exhaust it through the vent on the lower chest. And, as Dr. Piscova notes, the way they talk makes it seem like that airflow is pretty continuous. From one of the dissections yesterday, I now believe that they have two lungs, like we do, but with a ‘diaphragm’ between them, rather than below both of them like ours is. Instead of pushing the abdominal contents down like our diaphragm does, theirs pulls air into the left lung while squeezing the right lung and pulls air into the right lung while squeezing the left lung. Thus airflow into the intake and out the vent is almost continuous. Something akin to vocal cords in the vent makes the continuous sound of their speech.” He looked around again, “I think it’s very elegant and efficient.”

  Kira looked around at the group. They all appeared to be taking this completely seriously. Stifling a hysterical laugh she turned back to look at the screens where the “Teecees” were gesticulating. She closed her eyes briefly, but when she opened them everything had stayed the same. “Really?!” she asked.

  They all nodded solemnly.

  ***

  Dex and Syrdian broke out of the forest into an enormous meadow. It sloped down on one side to the stream they’d been paralleling as they hiked these higher altitudes. Like the meadow they’d started their climb from, it had some large rocks protruding from it near the upper end. “This looks like a good place to hunt.” Syrdian said, then hies wings sagged remembering that hie couldn’t hunt a meadow since hie couldn’t fly. Hie lifted hies wing to look at the sutured lacerations. “Dex, I think the wounds in my wing are healing. Do you think I could try flying?”

  Dex looked at Syrdian with some surprise. Why would hie think that I’d know? Hie stepped over closer and peered at the wounds, then gently tugged on them. The sutures were a little loose but the wound edges did seem to be stuck to one another by themselves now. “Does it hurt when I pull on the wound?” Hie tugged again.

  “It aches a little.”

  Dex tilted hies head, “I think you should wait until it doesn’t hurt, you don’t want to rip them open again.”

  To Dex’s surprise, Syrdian dipped hies head in acceptance, “OK.”

  “I think I should look for a place for us to live near here. A permanent camp for the summer, I mean. Could you see if you can catch a swimmer from the stream? I’m starving.”

  “Great idea!” Syrdian said with enthusiasm because hie desperately wanted to contribute and so far catching swimmers had been the one thing hie knew more about than Dex.

  Dex beat into the air, surprised at how much harder it had gotten to fly as they climbed the mountain. No wonder the tribe preferred to fly a long distance to the south rather than a short distance up the mountain for the summer. Spending the summer flying in this thin air was going to be trying.

  Wistfully, Syrdian watched Dex fly away. Syrdian felt melancholy, both for hies lost ability to fly, though hie could see that it was a struggle at this altitude, but also for Dex. Dex, whom Syrdian had never given a second thought to in days gone by. Dex, who daily seemed to surprise Syrdian with new capabilities.

  Syrdian found himrself admiring Dex; not only for hies ability to adapt to a situation which would have led to Syrdian’s death if Dex hadn’t been there, but also because Dex was a handsome dalin. Why hadn’t Syrdian ever seen it before…? Just because his rank had been low?! Syrdian turned to the stream, happy to note that it had several large pools visible along the side of the meadow.

  Dex flew a large circle around the enormous clearing, hoping that hie might see a cave of some sort. The only rocks hie saw were the ones in the clearing and the ones bordering the stream. Hie thought about making another, even larger circle, but with breath whistling through himr, decided to stop and look more carefully at the rock outcropping in the meadow first. Hie circled it as hie came in to land. As hie looked at it hie got the impression that one huge rock had rolled down from the rocky areas that could be seen high on the mountain above. It had then broken into two huge cracked rocks that had settled into the dirt of the meadow. The larger split separating them was a little wider than Dex’s wingspan. Dex walked around the rocks hoping for an unseen recess that could act as a cave but nothing like that appeared. Maybe they could build a roof over the big split and make their own cave? Hie turned to walk down to the stream, hoping that Syrdian had a swimmer for dinner.

  Approaching the stream, hie saw Syrdian sitting on a large rock overhanging a pool with a fiberlin string in hies hand. “Any luck?”

  Syrdian’s head turned to put fore eyes on Dex. Hie whispered, “Yes, but speak quietly and I may have another. Dex curiously walked out onto the rock but Syrdian hissed, “Don’t show yourself over the edge, it’ll spook the swimmer.”

  Dex stopped, watching curiously. The fiberlin held loosely in Syrdian’s hand started to move, the kinks in it from being wound on a stick pulled slowly straight. Suddenly Syrdian straightened from hies crouch, raising an arm over hies head and jerking the fiberlin straight. A moderately large swimmer flew up out of the water and Syrdian kept rapidly pulling it up, hand over hand with the fiberlin. It flew up onto the rock and Syrdian pinned it with a foot, then reached down with hies knife to stab into the brain at the base of the neck.

  “Way to go!” Dex exclaimed, admiring the large swimmer. “That’ll make a good dinner!”

  Syrdian smiled happily at Dex. “Did you find us a cave?”

  “No. I’ve been trying to figure out how we might build a shelter among
st those big rocks up in the meadow.”

  Syrdian let hies wings sag sadly, waving hies head in disappointment, “I guess I just have to do everything,” hie sighed.

  Dex’s head rose indignantly up and back. After all I’ve done! Then hie realized that Syrdian’s wings were quivering with laughter.

  Syrdian said, “Behind you.”

  Dex’s back eyes picked up the large shadowed area before hie turned hies fore eyes to see the shallow cave cut back under the rocky bank hie’d just walked down. Grinning, hie turned and beat a wingful of air at Syrdian. “Way to go again. Dinner and a place to stay. A good day’s work I’d say.”

  Syrdian stretched, “Ah yes, and now I’m all tired out. Perhaps you’d fetch some firewood while I rest up?”

  Dex laughed and sent another wingful of air Syrdian’s way. “OK.” Hie beat back into the air and flew to the verge looking for deadfall.

  When Dex returned to the cave by the stream, Syrdian had broken down the swimmer Dex’d watched Syrdian catch, as well as two smaller ones that hie’d apparently caught before Dex had arrived. Dex looked around. “Looks like I should get some green sticks to cook with. Anything else?”

  “More firewood.”

  ***

  Dr. Fladwami felt quite proud of the conference he’d arranged at President Flood’s direction. The companies he’d invited had presented a number of strategies that they were proposing to use to further diminish greenhouse gas creation or to increase removal of the gasses from the atmosphere.

  One thing that had surprised him was how many of the new strategies presented depended to some extent on the new ports created by Donsaii’s company D5R. This included plans for the capture of methane, to burn it for energy instead of allowing its release. One company actually did believe that each cow could be fitted with a flatus catching port. Fladwami’s eyebrows had risen at this proposal and he still seriously doubted that cattle would tolerate the device they had proposed but, he wasn’t sure. The transportation industries all had plans to deliver electricity to motors in cars, trucks, boats, ships, airplanes and helicopters directly via wires passed through ports. Of course that only passed the CO problem to the power companies. Admittedly, the big power companies were more efficient and produced less CO than a hydrocarbon burning motor in each vehicle did, but there would still be a lot of COproduction going on.