The Pet Plague

by Darrell Bain

  “He sleeps now. We must wait until he awakens. Until then, I ask you to bring your followers. You and they will be cared for while we wait."

  That remark suited Jamie. He was already getting tired of the stilted formalities. “Lead on, we'll follow,” he said.

  Masters, who had been standing within hearing distance, closed up to walk with Jamie as they followed Cortman. “It looks as if I've been replaced as leader of this little party,” he said, an amused expression brightening his weathered face.

  “Don't blame me. Conan is your culprit,” Jamie said, somewhat shortly.

  “I'm not. Hey, looks like we're about here.” They passed behind the huge pier, where Jamie could see crude canoes anchored below, and around to the entrance of the adjoining building. The dogs all trotted ahead while the rest of the group trailed behind, the rangers nervous and scanning the area continuously. The rows of rectangular buildings lined the river for several hundred yards, well up from the banks, but it was apparent that only a few of them were occupied.

  Cortman led the way inside one of them. There was a long narrow open space lined with glass fronted shops, some still displaying useless dusty goods; others apparently being used as rodent proof food storage areas. They trailed him along the gloomy walkway to a gazebo area where light shone through an opening from above and an exit led back outside. The shops were interrupted on either side, creating a large area dividing the building roughly into half. Cortman stopped there, waving his hand at weather-streaked chairs and benches. A small fire burned in the center of the arbor, smoke trailing upward in a thin plume.

  Masters directed several rangers to the exit to stand guard, then spoke to Jamie. “I hate to do it, but I'm going to have to call the Enclave. They'll never find us here otherwise. Tell the bossman there that some floaters will be arriving tomorrow."

  Jamie turned to Cortman, who was standing patiently by, wondering how he was to put over the concept of floaters to this primitive. It was surprisingly easy. The man seemed to have more knowledge of the Enclave technology than his leather clad image would indicate.

  “The Great Being will be pleased when it awakes. It desires to disk-talk with men from the great cities. Tell them to come,” Cortman said. He seemed unable to speak other than in polite, formal tones.

  “When will the Great Being wake up?” Jamie asked.

  Cortman looked up at the waning light falling into the arbor. “Soon after the light goes, I should think. We will eat and have a ceremony before then. I will go now, and bring my people. Your followers and their companions may stay here."

  “I'll go and get the antenna set up,” Masters said. I really hate to call, but I suppose if the space folks intend to bother us, they've probably been following the floaters back and forth by satellite anyway.” He left, taking two men with him outside.

  Jamie sat down on one of the low benches with Kristi. “I wonder what sort of ceremony that guy is talking about?” He asked.

  “Why wonder? We'll know soon enough. Did you spot the landing site?"

  “No. You mean you did? Is it really a spaceship?"

  “Troy thinks it must be. He pointed to where he thinks it must have landed as we came in. The third building down. It looks as if something rather large plowed into it recently and is buried inside. The tears show fresh metal and there is a gouged out furrow upslope from the river leading to it. Actually, it looks as if it were more of a crash than a planned landing."

  Jamie decided that he must not be very observant if he had missed seeing such an obvious phenomena, then that thought was lost as another struck him. “That might explain a lot of things."

  “Uh huh. Like why the thing didn't come down directly at an Enclave in the first place. If it crashed, that would explain why it needed to use feral humans and dogs to get a message out."

  “Well, I'm ready to see what sort of creature it is and get this thing over with. When I get back, I don't want to leave the Enclave again for the rest of my life."

  “Not even for a short patrol with me?"

  “How about just killing the proverbial fatted calf and have it ready when you come in?"

  “What would Jeannie think of that?"

  “Ask Fuzz and Wog. They're my social directors. Look, here comes Masters."

  The ranger captain came over and sat down beside them. “John will be sending some floaters out to locate us in the morning, along with some more scientists.” He smiled at Jamie. “You may be having company."

  “So I've heard, but maybe I won't be here that long. As soon as my part is finished, I want a ride back on the first floater out."

  The conversation broke off as Cortman returned, leading a small contingent of humans, dressed in leather as he was. There were two other men, three women, and several children, ranging in age from adolescence to a babe in arms. They were trailed by a larger number of dogs of well mixed breeds and several cats. He proceeded to introduce the humans one at a time, not excluding even the infant, as ‘companion of', then naming a dog. The cats were not mentioned, and Jamie never did learn what role they played in the strange society.

  Masters introduced the rangers and scientists, not failing to mention each ranger's dog. The lack of a named companion for the scientists seemed to puzzle the feral humans’ leader, but he accepted with the grace of a chieftain deferring to the ways of strangers.

  “Is this all of your people?” Jamie asked. It didn't seem to him that so few humans could maintain a viable society, although he admitted to himself that he was no expert in the matter.

  “When the pack splits, we also must divide. It is the way."

  “Makes sense,” Masters commented in an aside. “It's typical of dog or wolf packs to split up when the population gets too high to support them in one area. The humans must maintain contact, though. These we see are too few to maintain a viable gene pool otherwise."

  “It is so,” Cortman said, looking at Masters but still deferring to Jamie. Masters was surprised. The man's hearing must be acute. While he didn't think Cortman's tribe could possibly have maintained the theoretical knowledge of such terms as ‘gene pool', apparently their leader had discerned the gist of his comment.

  “Food has been brought,” Cortman continued. “We will eat, then perform the ceremony of bonding with our companions. Perhaps the Great Being will awaken by then.” He motioned to the three women, who began depositing and opening small bundles each had been carrying. They contained dried meat and unidentified dried vegetables. Masters whispered to the ranger next to him and word was passed among them to share out their food bars.

  Jamie found the dried meat to be palatable, but he considered the vegetables inedible, although he noticed that some of the rangers managed to consume most of theirs, albeit with no great appetite. He noted with amusement that the feral humans seemed to be having the same trouble with the ranger field rations. Fuzzy Britches, hanging close to his side in the presence of so many strange dogs, accepted a little of the hard jerky, but made his main meal from his own rations. Woggly and Conan gnawed at the hard meat and seemed to enjoy it, while the feral dogs sampled the food bars and apparently were glad of the exchange. There was little talk during the meal, and Jamie had yet to hear any of the three adult females speak. He supposed that in the wilds, the physical inequality of the sexes had again placed women in a subordinant role.

  Cortman rose to make an announcement, speaking to his own people, but including the expedition members as well. “Our ceremony of bonding will begin. With it, we reaffirm the companionship of dog and man, each dependent on the other. Where dog is, there is man. Where man is, there is dog. He clapped his hands lightly. One of the females stood up and began to remove her garments, as did one of the men. Naked, they walked from the shadows into the flickering light cast by the small central fire. Two dogs, also of opposite sex, appeared from the other side of the flame and joined them. Jamie began to get an inkling of what was happening, but even so, he was taken aback as the two humans dr
opped to hands and knees. The dogs moved to them, one mounting the woman, the other backing up to the man.

  A muttering of shocked disapproval came from the circle of rangers and scientists, but was stopped quickly by Masters low, commanding voice. “Easy,” he said. “Don't make a scene. These people don't think the same as we do."

  The muttering died, though not the disapproval. Sex between animal and human was not unheard of in the Enclave; many permitted and even encouraged their pets to participate, but only as an adjunct to the couplings of humans, where the pets could show their approval and affection while humans consummated the act. Direct coupling with an animal was considered a perversion, although for the act to be considered so, it must by definition take place occasionally, as Jamie knew it did. It was seldom admitted, though. He was embarrassed, as if he were watching his parents have sex, and felt certain that the other expedition members were as well. He noticed that their own animals were looking on curiously, as if they were watching an interesting Holo, but one beyond their understanding. Fortunately, the ceremony did not take up much time or it might have led to altercations despite Masters’ admonition.

  When it was over, the two humans casually donned their garments again, as if they had only taken them off for a quick swim or some other innocuous activity. Masters was still trying to think of some unobtrusive comment to break the tension he felt all around him when he was saved the trouble. A young man came running in from the outside, breathing heavily. “The Great Being awakes!” He shouted loudly, obviously pleased to be the bearer of such good news.

  Cortman stood up and beckoned to Jamie. “Come. The Great Being will see you now."

  * * *

  CHAPTER 20

  As Masters had suspected, there had indeed been a crash of some sort of craft into one of the buildings lining the riverfront. Jamie, Masters and the other three scientists were led through moon-lit darkness to the ragged hole, and on past torn masonry and twisted metal into the interior of the structure. The craft, apparently not overly large, had plowed on across the inside walkway and buried itself in the interior of a one time shop.

  A faint glow came from within, barely giving them light to see. Cortman halted the group there and beckoned to Jamie. He led him between the crumpled edges of the craft and wall to where an opening irised out. A brighter orange light shone from within. Cortman stepped over the edge of the circular opening, motioning for Jamie to follow.

  The interior was not large, and most of it was taken up by the alien. What he presumed to be the head and torso of the thing faced him over a cabinet-like structure vaguely resembling a computer work station. It's body was colored a pale pink over the visible area, fading into ivory where three protuberances like short, fat radishes sprang from the bulbous head. It had a single compound eye, oval shaped, which reflected back tiny images from many facets. There was a slash of a mouth, lipless, which opened and closed regularly as if it were breathing. From the central torso, four appendages played over the cabinet like writhing snakes. A harsh acrid odor saturated the air.

  Jamie stood speechless, wondering what to do next. Cortman demonstrated. He placed his hands on the edge of the cabinet and from within, the being drew out one of the small familiar disks and slid it across to him. Cortman grasped it for a few seconds then turned it loose. The alien curled three worm-like appendages around it and returned it to the hidden area beneath the cabinet, then slid another disk into sight. “Take it,” Cortman told Jamie. “Think of what you would say and the Great Being will understand. I have told him you are from one of the cities."

  Feeling somewhat foolish, Jamie picked up the disk, fumbling momentarily as his gaze strayed to the apparition before him. As soon as he had the disk firmly in his grasp, his body stiffened, not from pain, but surprise. It was as if thoughts were being pulled from his mind, one after the other, as soon as they entered his surface consciousness. He tried to give his thoughts some order, a sensible pattern for the alien to follow, but it was difficult at first. He was just beginning to get the feel of letting his thoughts flow in sequence when the experiment ended. Shaken, he stood motionless and speechless, still holding the now inert disk in his hand.

  “Give it back to the Great Being. He will then know your thoughts and return his own. I will leave you now, until he sleeps again.” Cortman retreated from the cramped quarters.

  Jamie hardly noticed his departure, or anything else for the next two hours while data was exchanged with the alien being. There seemed to be only so much information that could be contained on a disk, but as time passed he found that with intense concentration he was able to convey a large amount of information in a very short period of time.

  The disks passed to him from the alien were far more ordered. Jamie became fascinated as it's story emerged. He learned that the alien had been a crew member of a huge generation ship that had left it's planet decades ago, intending to transfer a remnant of their race from a system which was slowly becoming uninhabitable. Their sun, in it's normal revolution about the center of the galaxy, had fallen into the path of an interstellar dust cloud which was slowly obscuring the light from their sun. Ultimately, the race would perish from that lack, even if the dust did not strip the atmosphere from their planet.

  During the long voyage their thinkers had conceived a theory which they felt would result in a method of faster than light travel, but the resources of a planetary technology would be needed for the construction of such a ship. As they neared the solar system, hope grew, for earth appeared to be a planet suitable for colonization, where there might still be time to construct a faster than light ship and return to their own planet before the final blackout and save more of their race. At that point, disaster struck. An unknown disease appeared and spread through the confines of the ship, resisting all efforts at quarantine. Most of them perished, just as their hopes had risen the highest. Before their death, the navigation crew managed to get the ship into orbit around Saturn; there was no time to try for earth, nor means to signal to the inhabitants they had deduced to be living there even had they possessed compatible communications, which they did not.

  As the healthiest remaining member of the crew, the alien was selected to pilot a landing craft to one of the night-lit cities of earth which they had observed through powerful telescopes, and ask the inhabitants there for help. Unfortunately, as the pilot neared earth, it's sickness deepened. A miscalculation occurred, causing it to crash land far from any Enclave. Fortunately, though, it did crash almost into the center of Cortman's dog/human community and fortunately again, Cortman was more interested than frightened. He managed to begin communications. Desperate and now clearly dying, the alien managed to process a number of thought-disks with a message designed to attract technologically oriented humans to where he lay immobile. Dogs were chosen over humans to deliver the messages, but of all the ones sent out, only Conan had returned.

  With the exchange of information, the being now proposed to bestow on Jamie a larger thought-disk, of a different type, containing detailed engineering information for construction of a faster than light spaceship. In return, it asked that the first trip be made back to it's home system in hopes that it's race might yet be saved. The accompanying technology would be freely given, as well as the parameters of the mother ship orbiting about Saturn. For reasons that Jamie never fully understood, the larger thought disk would be attuned to his mind alone. He could share the information, but only his mind would be able to unlock it. He got the notion finally that the difference was somewhat akin to casual conversation and intense teaching; the small disks were used only to convey general ideas and were used by the aliens to instruct domestic animals on their own world; the larger ones must be used for detailed information and were a common teaching method on the home world. The alien slid the large disk across the surface of the cabinet. It had the same blue-green color but was the size of a kitchen saucer. Jamie took it in hand and all surface thought disappeared in a bewildering kaleidoscopic r
ush of data. He put it down, then picked it up again, ready this time. The information came slower on the second try, entering his mind as he willed it. So long as he held the disk he understood most of what was being conveyed (or at least felt he could pass the concepts on to other scientists), but once turned loose, most of the data was lost to him, incomprehensible. He thought though, after repeated tries, that the more times he accessed the disk, the more information he would retain and the more able he would be to interpret the concepts to others, particularly engineers and physicists. He was astounded at the wealth of information contained in the innocuous little saucer of blue-green metal, and sobered at the thought that he was the sole recipient of it.

  Following that thought, he used a small disk to ask if some of the other scientists could be brought in to have similar information disks constructed for them as well; he thought it would be a good idea to have some spares, people as well as disks. The answer came back negative. The large disk had been crafted while the alien was still in relatively good health. It was dying now, unable to convey more than surface thoughts, barely able to get Jamie attuned to them. There would be no more. It only expected to live another day or two. Not only would there be no more information of a technical nature passed on, but when it died, the disk manufacturing device and all the intricate workings of the landing craft would die as well; they were all attuned to the alien mind alone.

  Jamie was becoming very tired by this time. It was late and the alien was reaching the limits of it's fading strength as well. It's eye facets were beginning to glaze over and it's tentacles drooped noticeably. Before he could even say good-night or good-by or whatever farewell he could think of, it was too late. The alien slumped into a stupor. He wondered if it would ever wake up again. During the last few exchanges he had caught nuances of unutterable weariness, a wish to sleep and not wake up again now that it's last mission had been accomplished. He felt a sorrow for the strange being, and for it's race, trapped in a blighted solar system, resources for only one great ship now spent, and all hope of racial survival now residing in the mind of a single human being.