Giant Series 01 - Inherit the Stars

by Inherit the Stars [lit]

  pairs of appendages, not two. That in itself is enough to

  immediately rule out any kinship with every vertebrate of this

  planet."

  Caldwell stooped to examine the pelvis, which comprised just an

  arrangement of thick bars and struts to contain the thigh sockets.

  There was no suggestion of the splayed dish form of the lower human

  torso.

  "Must've had peculiar guts, too," he offered.

  "It could be that the internal organs were carried more by

  suspension from the hoop above than by support from underneath,"

  Danchekker suggested. He stepped back and indicated the arms and

  legs. "And last, observe the limbs. Both lower limbs have two bones

  as do ours, but the upper arm and thigh are different-they have a

  double-bone arrangement as well. This would have resulted in vastly

  improved flexibility and the ability to perform a whole range of

  movements that could never be duplicated by a human being. And the

  hand has six digits, two of them opposing; thus its owner

  effectively enjoyed the advantages of having two thumbs. He would

  have been able to tie his shoes easily with one hand."

  Danchekker waited until Caldwell and Hunt had fully studied every

  detail of the skeleton to their satisfaction. When they looked

  toward him again, he resumed: "Ever since the age of the Ganymeans

  was verified, there has been a tendency for everybody to discount

  them as merely a coincidental discovery and having no direct

  bearing on the Lunarian question. I believe, gentlemen, that I am

  now in a position to demonstrate that they had a very real bearing

  indeed on the question."

  Hunt and Caldwell looked at him expectantly. Danchekker

  walked over to a display console by the wall of the lab, tapped in

  a code, and watched as the screen came to life to reveal a picture

  of the skeleton of a fish. Satisfied, he turned to face them.

  "What do you notice about that?" he asked.

  Caldwell stared obediently at the screen for a few seconds while

  Hunt watched in silence.

  "It's a funny fish," Caldwell said at last. "Okay-you tell me."

  "It is not obvious at first sight," Danchekker replied, "but by

  detailed comparison it is possible to relate the structure of that

  fish, bone for bone, to that of the Ganymean skeleton. They're both

  from the same evolutionary line."

  "That fish is one of those that were found on the Lunarian base on

  Farside," Hunt said suddenly.

  "Precisely, Dr. Hunt. The fish dates from some fifty thousand years

  ago, and the Ganymean skeleton from twenty-five million or so. It

  is evident from anatomical considerations that they are related and

  come from lines that branched apart from a common ancestral life

  form somewhere in the very remote past. It follows that they share

  a place of origin. We already know that the fish evolved in the

  oceans of Minerva; therefore, the Ganymeans also came from Minerva.

  We thus have proof of something that has been merely speculation

  for some time. All that was wrong with the earlier assumption was

  our failure to appreciate the gap in time between the presence of

  the Ganymeans on Minerva, and that of the Lunarians."

  "Okay," Caidwell accepted. "The Ganymeans came from Minerva, but a

  lot earlier than we thought. What's the big message and why did you

  call us over here?"

  "In itself, this conclusion is interesting but no more," Danchekker

  answered. "But it looks pale by comparison with what comes next. In

  fact"-he shot a glance at Hunt-"the rest tells us all we need to

  know to resolve the whole question once and for all."

  The two regarded him intently.

  The professor moistened his lips, then went on: "The Ganymean ship

  has been opened up fully, and we now have an extremely

  comprehensive inventory of practically everything it contamed. The

  ship was constructed for large freight-carrying capacity and was

  loaded when it met with whatever fate befell it on Ganymede. The

  cargo that it was carrying, in my opinion, con-

  stitutes the most sensational discovery ever to be made in the

  history of paleontology and biology. You see, that ship was

  carrying, among other things, a large consignment of botthtical and

  zoological specimens, some alive and in cages, the rest preserved

  in canisters. Presumably the stock was part of an ambitious

  scientific expedition or something of that nature, but that really

  doesn't matter for now. What does matter is that we now have in our

  possession a collection of animal and plant trophies the like of

  which has never before been seen by human eyes: a comprehensive

  cross section of many forms of life that existed on Earth around

  the late Oligocene and early Miocene periods, twenty-five million

  years ago!"

  Hunt and Caidwell stared at him incredulously. Danchekker folded

  his arms and waited.

  "Earth!" Caldwell managed, with difficulty, to form the word. "Are

  you telling me that the ship had been to Earth?"

  "I can see no alternative explanation," Danchekker returned.

  "Without doubt, the ship was carrying a variety of animal forms

  that have every appearance of being identical to species that have

  been well-known for centuries as a result of the terrestrial fossil

  record. The biologists on the Jupiter Four Mission are quite

  positive of their conclusions, and from the information they have

  sent back, I see no reason to doubt their opinions." Danchekker

  moved his hand back to the keyboard. "I will show you some examples

  of the kind of thing I mean," he said.

  The picture of the fish skeleton vanished and was replaced by one

  of a massive, hornless, rhinoceroslike creature. In the background

  stood an enormous opened canister from which the animal had

  presumably been removed. The canister was lying in front of what

  looked like a wall of ice, surrounded by cables, chains, and parts

  of a latticework built of metal struts.

  "The Baluchitherium, gentlemen," Danchekker informed them, "or

  something so like it that the difference escapes me. This animal

  stood eighteen feet high at the shoulder and attained a bulk in

  excess of that of the elephant. It is a good example of the

  titanotheres, or titanic beasts, that were abundant in the Americas

  during the Oligocene but which died out fairly rapidly soon

  afterward."

  "Are you saying that baby was alive when the ship ditched?"

  Caldwell asked in a tone of disbelief.

  Danchekker shook his head. "Not this particular one. As you can

  see, it has come to us in practically as good a condition as when

  it was alive. It was taken from that container in the background,

  in which it had been packed and preserved to keep for a long time.

  Fortunately, whoever packed it was an expert. However, as I said

  earlier, there were cages and pens in the ship that originally held

  live specimens, but by the time they were discovered they had

  deteriorated to skeleton condition, as had the crew. There were six

  of this particular species in the pens."

  The professor chang
ed the picture to show a small quadruped with

  spindly legs.

  "Mesohippus-ancestor of the modern horse. About the size of a

  collie dog and walking on a three-toed foot with the center toe

  highly elongated, clearly foreshadowing the single-toed horse of

  today. There is a long list of other examples such as these, every

  one immediately recognizable to any student of early terrestrial

  life forms."

  Speechless, Hunt and Caldwell continued to watch as the view

  changed once more. This time it showed something that at first

  sight suggested a medium-sized ape from the gibbon or chimpanzee

  family. Closer examination, however, revealed differences that set

  it apart from the general category of ape. The skull construction

  was lighter, especially in the area of the lower jaw, where the

  chin had receded back to fall almost below the tip of the nose. The

  arms were proportionately somewhat on the short side for an ape,

  the chest broader and flatter, and the legs longer and straighter.

  Also, the opposability of the big toe had gone.

  Dancbekker allowed plenty of time for these points to register

  before continuing with his commentary.

  "Clearly, the creature you now see before you belongs to the

  general anthropoid line that includes both man and the great apes.

  Now, remember, this specimen dates from around the early Mbcene

  period. The most advanced anthropoid fossil from around that time

  so far found on Earth was discovered during the last century in

  East Africa and is known as Proconsul. Proconsul is generally

  accepted as representing a step forward from anything that had gone

  before, but he is definitely an ape. Here, on the other hand, we

  have a creature from the same period in time, but with distinctly

  more pronounced humanlike characteristics than Proconsul. In my

  opinion, this is an example of something that oc

  cupies a position corresponding to that of Proconsul, but on the

  other side of the split that occurred when man and ape went their

  own separate ways-in other words, a direct ancestor to the human

  line!" Danchekker concluded with a verbal flourish and gazed at the

  other two men expectantly. Caldwell stared back with widening eyes,

  and his jaw dropped as impossible thoughts raced through his mind.

  "Are you telling . . . that the Charlie guys could have . from

  that?"

  "Yes!" Danchekker snapped off the screen and swung back to face

  them triumphantly. "Established evolutionary theory is as sound as

  I've insisted all along. The notion that the Lunarians might have

  been colonists from Earth turns out indeed to be true, but not in

  the sense that was intended. There are no traces of their

  civilization to be found on Earth, because it never existed on

  Earth-but neither was it the product of any parallel process of

  evolution. The Lunarian civilization developed independently on

  Minerva from the same ancestral stock as we did and all other

  terrestrial vertebrates-from ancestors that were transported to

  Minerva, twenty-five million years ago, by the Ganymeans!"

  Danchekker thrust out his jaw defiantly and clasped the lapels of

  his jacket. "And that, Dr. Hunt, would seem to be the solution to

  your problem!"

  chapter sixteen

  The trail behind this rapid succession of new developments was by

  this time littered with the abandoned carcases of dead ideas. It

  reminded the scientists forcibly of the pitfalls that await the

  tin-wary when speculation is given too free a rein and imagination

  is allowed to float further and further aloft from the firm grounds

  of demonstrable proof and scientific rigor. The reaction against

  this tendency took the form of a generally cooler reception to

  Danchekker's attempted abrupt wrapping up of the whole issue than

  might have been expected. So many blind alleys had been exhausted

  by now, that any new suggestion met with instinctive skepticism and

  demands for corroboration.

  The discovery of early terrestrial animals on the Ganymean

  spaceship proved only one thing conclusively: that there were early

  terrestrial animals on the Ganymean spaceship. It didn't prove

  beyond doubt that other consignments had reached Minerva safely, or

  indeed, that this particular consignment was ever intended for

  Minerva. For one thing, Jupiter seemed a strange place to find a

  ship that had been bound for Minerva from Earth. All it proved,

  therefore, was that this consignment hadn't got to wherever it was

  supposed to go.

  Danchekker's conclusions regarding the origins of the Ganymeans,

  however, were fully endorsed by a committee of experts on

  comparative anatomy in London, who confirmed the affinity between

  the Ganymean skeleton and the Minervan fish. The corollary to this

  deduction-that the Lunarians too had evolved on Minerva from

  displaced terrestrial stock-although neatly accounting for the

  absence of Lunarian traces on Earth and for the evident lack of

  advanced Lunarian space technology, required a lot more in the way

  of substantiating evidence.

  In the meantime, Linguistics had been busy applying their newfound

  knowledge from the microdot library to the last unsolved riddle

  among Charlie's papers, the notebook containing the handwritten

  entries. The story that emerged provided vivid

  confirmation of the broad picture already deduced in cold and

  objective terms by Hunt and Steinfield; it was an account of the

  last days of Charlie's life. The revelations from the book lobbed

  yet another intellectual grenade in among the already disarrayed

  ranks of the investigators. But it was Hunt who finally pulled the

  pin.

  Qasping a folder of loose papers beneath his arm, Hunt strolled

  along the main corridor of the thirteenth floor of the Naycomms

  Headquarters building, toward the Linguistics section. Outside Don

  Maddson's office he stopped to examine with curiosity a sign

  bearing a string of two-inch-high Lunarian characters that had been

  pinned to the door. Shrugging and shaking his head, he entered the

  room. Inside, Maddson and one of his assistants were sitting in

  front of the perpetual pile of litter on the large side table away

  from the desk. Hunt pulled up a chair and joined them.

  "You've been through the translations," Maddson observed, noting

  the contents of the folder as Hunt began arranging them on the

  table.

  Hunt nodded. "Very interesting, this. There are a few points I'd

  like to go over just to make sure I've got it straight. Some parts

  just don't make sense."

  "We should've guessed," Maddson sighed resignedly. "Okay, shoot."

  "Let's work through the entries in sequence," Hunt suggested. "I'll

  stop when we get to the odd bits. By the way. . ." He inclined his

  head in the direction of the door. "What's the funny sign outside?"

  Maddson grinned proudly. "It's my name in Lunarian. Literally it

  means Scholar Crazy-Boy. Get it? Don Mad-Son. See?"

  "Oh, Christ," Hunt groaned. He returned his attention to the

  papers.
<
br />   "You've expressed the Lunarian-dated entries simply as consecutive

  numbers starting at Day One, but subdivisions of their day are

  converted into our hours."

  "Check," Maddson confirmed. "Also, where there's doubt about the

  accuracy of the translation, the phrase is put in parentheses with

  a question mark. That helps keep things simple."

  Hunt selected his first sheet. "Okay," he said. "Let's start at the

  beginning." He read aloud:

  "Day One. As expected, today we received full (mobilization alert?)

  orders. Probably means a posting somewhere. Koriel.

  This is Charlie's pal who turns up later, isn't it?"

  "Correct."

  thinks it could be to one of the (ice nests far-intercept?).

  What's that?"

  "That's an awkward one," Maddson replied. "It's a composite word;

  that's the literal translation. We think it could refer to a

  missile battery forming part of an outer defense perimeter, located

  out on the ice sheets."

  "Mmm-sounds reasonable. Anyhow, Hope so. It would be a change to

  get away from the monotony of this place. Bigger food ration in

  (ice-field combat zones?). Now . . ." Hunt looked up. "He says,

  'the monotony of this place.' How sure are we that we know where

  'this place' is?"

  "Pretty sure," Maddson replied with a firm nod. "The name of a town

  is written above the date at the top of the entry. It checks with

  the name of a coastal town on Cerios and also with the place given

  in his pay book for his last posting but one."

  "So you're sure he was on Minerva when he wrote this?"

  "Sure, we're sure."

  "Okay. I'll skip the next bit that talks about personal thoughts.

  "Day Two. Koriel's hunches have proved wrong for once. We're going

  to Luna."

  Hunt looked up again, evidently considering this part important.

  "How do you know he means Earth's Moon there?"

  "Well, one reason is that the word he uses there is the same as the

  last place the pay book says he was posted to. We guess it means

  Luna because that's where we found him. Another reason is that

  later on, as you'll have read, he talks about being sent

  specifically to a base called Seltar. Now, we've found a reference

  among some of the things turned up on Farside to a list of bases on

  place 'X,' and the name Seltar appears on the list. X is the same