“Hutch,” the AI continued, “I have contact with the McAdams.”
“Good. Give me a channel.”
“You have it.”
“Matt,” she said, “hello.”
“Hi, Hutch. You been listening?”
“Yes. I think we’ve struck gold.”
PHYL FOUND, ALTOGETHER, eleven planets, including the one that was doing the broadcasting. Understandably, nobody cared about the others. The radio world was a terrestrial, orbiting at 130 million klicks. “It’s green,” said Matt, who had emerged considerably closer. “We can see oceans and ice caps.”
The Preston jumped a third time, across 200 million kilometers, and emerged within rock-throwing distance of the new world. It floated peacefully ahead in a sea of clouds. She put the terrestrial on-screen and magnified it. Continents, broad oceans, island chains, mountain ranges. Save for the shape of the continents, it could have been Earth.
It even had a single, oversized crater-ridden moon.
Magnificent.
“McAdams dead ahead,” said Phyllis.
“Anything artificial in orbit?” Rudy asked.
“Negative,” said Phyl. “If I locate anything I will let you know, but there seems to be nothing.”
“How about on the moon? Any sign they’ve been there?”
The lunar surface appeared on the auxiliary screen. Gray, cratered, a few peaks. Bleak, unbroken landscapes. “No indication visible.”
“That doesn’t make much sense,” said Antonio. “We know they had space travel in an earlier era.”
“That was a long time ago,” said Rudy. “Anything could have happened.”
The lunar images vanished and were replaced by telescopic views of the planet. Cities glittered in the sunlight. Hutch climbed out of her seat, raised both fists over her head, and embraced Rudy. Antonio lined up, and she hugged him, too. “At last,” she said. “I’d given up believing it would ever happen.”
They were majestic structures, with towers and bridges and wide highways. “Got aircraft,” said Phyl. An airship appeared. A propeller-driven dirigible, it might have come directly out of the early twentieth century. And a jet. “Big one,” said Phyl. “Probably carrying two hundred passengers.”
She switched back to one of the cities. It was enormous, straddling two rivers. Lots of traffic moving in its streets. Cars. Vehicles that might have been trains or buses.
“Can we get a look at them?” asked Rudy. “The inhabitants?”
Yes. Phyllis focused on a street corner.
They were thick-waisted bipedal creatures, not unlike barrels with limbs. Vehicles moved past in a steady stream. Then there must have been a signal because they stopped and the creatures swarmed into the street. Most wore loose-fitting trousers and shirts. There was no distinguishing between sexes, nor could anyone figure out how big the creatures were. Their skin was slick, vaguely repulsive, in the way a reptile’s might be. They had faces: two eyes on the sides of the skull, rather than in front. “They started out as somebody’s prey,” said Antonio.
There was a nose and a mouth, but no sign of ears. The eyes were relatively large.
They watched a jet aircraft take off from a runway well outside the city. Moments later, another one followed.
“What are we going to do?” asked Antonio. “Go down and say hello?”
“In Academy days,” said Rudy, “that would have been prohibited.”
Hutch nodded. “The pilot would have been required to notify us, and we’d have sent a team.”
She was dazzling in that moment. Her eyes were filled with light. “And did anyone ever notify you?” asked Antonio.
“We never really found anybody. Not while I was there.”
“Except a few savages,” said Rudy.
The sheer joy that had swept through Antonio suddenly drained off at the prospect they might make a few notes and move on, leaving the contact to someone else. “So what do we do?” he asked.
Rudy was awestruck. Antonio could hear him breathing, watch him shaking his head as if he’d arrived in Paradise. “Not sure,” he said. They were outrunning the sun, leaving it behind. Ahead, more cities glittered in an approaching dawn.
WHEN THINGS CALMED down, Hutch realized she almost wished they’d found nobody home. Maybe that was what she was used to. Maybe in the end she was too cautious for this line of work. Or maybe she’d simply gotten old. “Last time we tried dropping by to say hello,” she said, “we lost some people.”
Rudy nodded and said something, but he wasn’t listening. His mind was down on the city streets.
“Phyl,” she said, “can you read any of the radio signals yet? What they’re saying?”
“Negative, Hutch. It’s going to take a while. For one thing, there seem to be quite a few different languages.”
“How long?”
“How long will it take? I’ll need a few days.”
“We can’t wait that long,” said Rudy. He was already looking aft, down the passageway that led past their compartments to the zero-gee tube and the access to the launch bay.
“Why not, Rudy? What’s your hurry?”
My God, wasn’t it obvious? “Come on, Hutch, we’re not going to play that better-safe-than-sorry game, are we?”
“Glad you see it my way, Rudy,” she said, in a tone that made it clear who was in charge. “We will not go plunging in. And anyhow, even if you went down this afternoon and shook somebody’s hand, you’d have a hard time saying hello.”
“I know. But goddam it—”
“Let’s just keep cool. Okay?” Then, to Phyl: “Let us know when we’re able to talk to them.”
“Okay.”
“Also, we’ll want to find someone we can have a conversation with. Try to find somebody like”—she smiled—“Rudy. Or Antonio. A physicist or a journalist. When you do, look for a way we can connect with him.”
THE AIS NEEDED almost four days to break through the language barrier. “Mostly it’s just entertainment,” Phyl said. “Drama. Adventure. Comedy. A lot like what we’d have. There’s probably also a fair amount of station-to-station traffic that we’re not getting. The broadcast stuff is likely to have a stronger signal.”
“Drama, adventure, and comedy. Can you let us take a look?”
“I’ll make them available. Do you have a preference?”
“Whatever you have,” said Rudy. “Maybe show us their quality stuff.”
“I have no way to make that judgment.”
Rudy tried not to look foolish. Of course. Kidding. “Just pick something at random. Can you provide a reading copy? It’ll be faster.”
“Of course.”
“Me, too,” said Antonio.
“And you, Hutch?”
“I’ll take as close as you can get to the broadcast version. Good show, Phyl. One more thing: If we’re able to set up a conversation with somebody, will you be able to do on-the-spot translation?”
“Not at the moment. I’m not yet proficient. And there will necessarily be some limitations.”
“Okay. That’s your next task. Pick one of the more widely used languages.”
A series of mode lamps began blinking. “I’ll be ready tomorrow at about this time.”
THE COMEDIES WERE slapstick. The creatures ran con games against each other, inevitably got caught, and fell down a lot. They pretended to skills they didn’t have, chased each other around the set, pursued hopeless get-rich-quick schemes, failed consistently in their efforts to score with members of the opposite sex.
Even up close, Hutch had trouble distinguishing the sexes. The females were smaller, but otherwise possessed no obviously different features. No breasts, no flaring hips, no sense of softness.
The shows contrasted to the relatively sophisticated comedy to which she was accustomed. When she commented along that line to Rudy, he smiled condescendingly. “You have to open your mind, Hutch. Don’t assume just because it’s different that it’s not at our level.”
&nb
sp; “Rudy,” she replied, “it’s dumb. Falling over your feet constantly is dumb.”
The dramas were, for the most part, shows with villainous characters. Good guys and bad guys. White hats and black. The villain makes off with someone’s fiancée for reasons that often weren’t clear. A series of chases ensued. Inevitably there were shoot-outs with projectile weapons, and the female was recovered.
“What I don’t understand,” she told Antonio, “is that we know this civilization has been around a long time. How come the entertainment is at such a childish level?”
“I thought they were pretty good,” said Antonio.
There were news shows. And commentaries, although the latter seemed to be limited to scandal and discussions about celebrities. She heard no politics.
In the morning, all the males agreed that the shows were very much like Earth’s own. And that therefore it seemed inevitable that the inhabitants of Makai were remarkably human. “Not anatomically, obviously,” said Rudy. “But in all the ways that matter.”
“You don’t think anatomy matters?” asked Matt.
“I still think it’s dumb,” said Hutch. “I mean, these people, hundreds of thousands of years ago, were out looking around the galaxy. And now they’re watching Briggs and Comatose?”
“Briggs and who?”
“I made it up,” she said. “But you know what I’m trying to say. Whatever happened to evolution? Did they go backward?”
“You’re overreacting, Hutch,” Matt told her from the McAdams. “Give these people a break. It’s entertainment. So it’s not Bernard Shaw. What do you want?”
Jon couldn’t resist a chuckle. “You think modern entertainment is sophisticated?” he asked.
That put her on the defensive. “It’s okay,” she said.
“How does it rank with Sophocles?”
“Well, hell, Jon, be reasonable—”
“I’m doing that. Ask yourself what Euripides’ audience would have thought of the Night Show.”
She let it go. There’d be no winning that argument.
THAT AFTERNOON, PHYL announced she was prepared to act as an interpreter. “And I may have found somebody.”
“Who?” asked Rudy.
“Name’s not pronounceable. At least not by somebody with your basic equipment. He’s a physicist. Appeared on a health show yesterday. They even posted his code so we can contact him.”
“You know how to translate the code so we can input the right signal?”
“I think so. But there’s a problem.”
“Which is?”
“They use radio communication, but only as a public medium, or for point-to-point commercial purposes. It’s not used for personal links. It’s ships at sea, planes to airports, that sort of thing.”
“And personal communication?”
“I’d guess by landline. They have wires strung along many of their highways. That’s probably what we’re looking for.”
“Do we know where this person with the unpronounceable name lives?”
“I pinpointed the area where the broadcast originated.”
“You said the code refers to a landline. We’d have to go down and tap in.”
“That’s correct.”
“And you say you can’t pronounce the name of the place he’s from?”
“I said you can’t.”
“It should be doable,” said Rudy.
Hutch shook her head. “Phyl, show me what the landlines look like.”
A stretch of highway appeared on-screen. It was night, with a cloudless sky and a big moon. The lines were strung on a series of posts off to one side of the road.
Rudy sighed. “It doesn’t look much like an elder civilization.”
As they watched, a pair of lights appeared in the distance. Vehicle approaching.
“Are they communication lines?” Hutch asked. “Or power lines?”
“Probably both. You’ll have to go down and find out.”
“That sounds dangerous,” said Antonio.
That was exactly what Hutch was thinking. But the opportunity to sit down with aliens from an advanced civilization, something humans had been trying to do her entire lifetime, to sit down with one of these guys and ask a few questions… It was just too much to pass up. “How do we go about doing it?” she asked.
“I’ll design a link for you to use.”
“Okay.”
MATT WANTED TO make the flight down. But there was no way Hutch was going to pass on this one. “I’ve got it,” she said. “You stay with the ships.”
“I’ll go with you,” Antonio said.
“Me, too,” said Rudy.
She needed a backup, just in case. And if she got in trouble, she was reasonably sure Antonio would be more help than Rudy. “I have to take Antonio,” she said. “He’s the media. But, Rudy, we’re just going down to tie a link into the landlines. We aren’t going to talk to anyone.”
His jaw set. “Hutch, I want to go.”
“Rudy.” She adopted her most reasonable tone. “I’m going to need you to help conduct the conversation when we establish contact with these creatures. Meantime, I want you out of harm’s way.”
He sighed. Grumbled. Sat down.
She led Antonio below to the cargo area, which also served as the launch bay for the lander. Ordinarily, she wouldn’t have used grip shoes for a surface operation, but they were rubber and would ground her against electrical shock. She pulled on rubber gloves, made sure Antonio was similarly fitted, collected two e-suits, and asked belatedly whether he’d ever used one before.
“Ummm,” he said.
“Okay.” It was beginning to feel like old times. “It’s simple enough.”
The equipment generated a virtual pressure suit, a force field that would protect him from the void or from a hostile atmosphere. She showed him how and helped him get the harness on. They tested the unit until he was sure he could manage it. Then she helped him strap on his air tanks.
When he was ready, she picked up a knife from the equipment locker, and they climbed into the lander.
An hour later, they descended into a clearing alongside a lonely road with electrical lines.
HAD IT NOT been for the poles lining the side of the highway, she might almost have been in Virginia. The road was two lanes. Its shoulder was cleared for about three meters on either side, then the forest closed in. It was late, the stars were bright overhead, the moon in the middle of the sky. A brisk wind moved through the trees, and insects buzzed contentedly. She’d been in forests on a dozen or so worlds, and they all sounded alike.
Dead ahead, the road went over a hill and dropped out of sight. Behind them, it disappeared around a curve.
She walked over to one of the poles and looked up. The pole itself had, in an earlier life, been a tree. The lines were high. Phyllis had thought there’d be footholds, but she didn’t see any.
“How are you going to get up there?” Antonio asked.
“Not sure yet.” A car was coming. From behind them. As headlights came around the curve, they sank back out of sight.
It was a small, teardrop vehicle. Three wheels. It was quiet. Probably electrically powered.
Then it was past, over the hill, and gone. She didn’t get a good look at the driver. The only thing she could be sure of was that it was smaller than she was.
She looked again at the pole. “How the hell do they get up these things?”
“Probably use machinery of some sort.”
Crosspieces supported two sets of wires. They were fastened to the top, one above the other. Phyl had told her that the higher wires would probably be the power lines.
“Wait here,” Hutch told him. “Stay out of sight.” She went back to the lander, climbed in, and got some cable out of the storage locker. Then she started the engine and took it up.
“What are you going to do?” Antonio asked.
She’d have preferred to work directly out of the vehicle, but she didn’t think she could g
et close enough without running into the power lines. Moreover, she’d have to lean pretty far out to make the connection, and it was a long way down.
Funny how perspectives changed when gravity became an issue.
She got above the trees and eased the lander over until she was immediately above the pole. Then she opened the door. Antonio looked up at her. He waved. “Be careful,” he said.
She leaned out and dropped one end of the cable to him. Then she looped the line around the pole so that it was supported by the crosspiece, and dropped the rest. Both ends now lay on the ground.
“It looks like a long climb up,” said Antonio. “I think I should do it.”
“You’re too heavy,” she said. “I wouldn’t be able to lift you.”
“Hutch, I’m not excited about this.”
“Me neither, Antonio. I’m open to suggestions.”
“Car coming,” he said.
She saw the lights. Damn. The lander was hanging in midair, silhouetted against the moon. She grabbed the yoke and, with the hatch still open, arced away.
“Hutch, he’s stopping.”
There was no place to hide. She took the vehicle as low as she could and simply kept going.
“It sees you. Getting out of the car.”
“Keep down, Antonio.”
“It’s trying to get a better look. I think you’re out of sight now. The trees are in the way.”
“Let’s hope so.” She was looking for a place to set down, but there was no clearing.
“Uh-oh.”
“What uh-oh?”
“It sees the line.”
“Okay. Just sit tight. We’ve got more cable if we need it.”
“Good.”
“What’s it doing?”
“Just standing there, looking around. That’s a nice-looking car, by the way.”
Hutch finally saw an opening in the foliage and took the lander down. Gently. No noise. “What’s he doing now?”
“Staring at the cable. They’re ugly critters. Wait, there’s another one in the car. They’re talking… Okay, now it’s getting back in. There’s another car coming. From the opposite direction. No, a truck rather. A flatbed.”
“Let me know as soon as they’re clear.”
“Okay.”
She listened to the wind and the insects. Then Antonio was back: “The flatbed’s gone. They’re both gone.”
Cauldron Page 23
