Part 4
"Since our arrival there have passed about two hundred of the days of this planet. We are not sure just how long they are, but we believe they are about thirty of your hours. We have no idea of the length of time that elapsed between our capture and our arrival at this place, however. We were driving a small private ship on a sightseeing trip to a world which had recently been reported near the galactic center by one of our official exploring vessels, and were near its reported position when we were taken. They simply engulfed us--moved up and dragged our ship into a cargo lock with magnets. We were on their ship a long time before they put us off here and left again, and we were not allowed to obtain any of our belongings except food and ultraviolet lamps until we arrived; so we don't know how long the trip lasted. One of us"--the Vegan indicated the individual--"got up courage enough to venture onto the roof one night and saw what he thinks was the Galaxy; so we believe this world lies in the Cloud. You will be able to tell better for yourselves--you can stand the dark longer than we, and your eyes are better at locating faint details."
"You may be right. We were heading toward the Cloud when we were taken," answered Little. "How freely have you been permitted to move about this fort?"
"We may go almost anywhere above ground level," was the answer. "Some of these watchers"--a supple antenna gestured toward the ever-present guards--"are always with us, and they prevent us from taking the elevators any lower. Then there are a few rooms on the upper levels which are always sealed, and two or three which are open but whose thresholds we are not permitted to cross."
"How do they prevent your entering?"
"They simply get in front of us, and push us back if we persist. They have never used violence on us. They never need to; we are in no position to dispute their wishes. There is no comparison between them and us physically, and we are very much out of our natural environment."
"Have you been able to deduce the nature or purpose of the rooms from which you are barred?"
"We assume that they are control rooms, communication offices, or chart rooms. One of them contains several devices which look like ordinary television screens. Whether they are for long-range use or are merely part of a local system, of course we cannot tell." Little pondered for several moments before speaking again.
"You mentioned constructing several devices to aid in escape, only to have them taken away from you just before they were completed. Could you give me more details on just what happened? What were you doing, and at what stage were you interrupted? How did you expect to get away from the planet?"
"We did not expect to get away. We just wanted to make them go, so we could take over the fort. When we disconnected their tube lights to put in our own, he"--indicating the creature beside him--"managed to retain a sample of the tube. On its walls were absorbed layers of several gases, but neon was the chief component. We had smuggled in the neutrino converters and stabilizers from our ship"--and Keys said these fellows were helpless, thought Little--"and it occurred to us that we might set up a neon-oxygen reaction which would flood the place with ultraviolet. We had already noticed that they could not stand it any better than you. The half life of the process would have been of the order of twelve hours, which should have driven them out for a period of time ample for our purpose. A neutrino jet of very moderate power, correctly tuned, could easily have catalyzed such a reaction in every light tube in the place. We had built the projector, disguising it as another ultraviolet lamp, and were connecting the converter when about fifty of the guards dived in, took the whole thing away, and ran out before the lamps we already had going could hurt them."
* * * * *
Little heroically forbore to ask the creatures why they had not smuggled in their ship while they were about it and flown away. The Vegans wouldn't have appreciated the humor.
"I believe I understand the purpose of the actions of these creatures," he said. "But some of their characteristics still puzzle me. Their teamwork is perfect, better than that of well-trained human fighters, but if my idea is correct their technical knowledge is inferior to ours. I have already mentioned to my captain their apparent lack of conceit--that is also based on my guess as to their motives in capturing us. One thing, however, I do not understand at all. How do they communicate? I have always been reluctant to fall back on the 'explanation' of telepathy; there are reasons which make me doubt that it can ever be a satisfactory substitute for a language."
The Vegans looked at him for a moment, astonishment reflected in the tenseness of their antennae.
"You do not see how they talk?" signaled one at length. "That is the first and only thing we have been able to appreciate in their entire make-up."
Little leaned forward. "Explain, please," he waved tensely. "That may be the most important thing any of us has yet ascertained."
The Vegans explained at length. Great length. The recital was stretched out by Little's frequent questions, and once or twice delayed by his imperfect comprehension of the Vegan language. The sun was low in the west when the conversation ended, but the doctor had at last what he believed to be a complete mental picture of the habits, thoughts, and nature of the pentapods, and he had more than the glimmerings of a plan which might set the human and Vegan prisoners free once more. He hoped.
He left his nonhuman allies, and sought out Magill. He found him at the western corner of the roof, examining the landscape visible beyond the tail of the spaceship. A couple of pentapods were on hand, as usual. Leo Dennis was making himself useful, sketching the western skyline on a pad he carried, with the apparent intention of marking the sunset point. Magill had evidently decided that an assistant navigator should be able to get his own location on a planet's surface as well as in space. Dennis was slightly handicapped by a total lack of instruments, but was doing his best. Little approached the quartermaster.
"Has anything new turned up, Keys?"
The officer shook his head without turning. "The men are all over the roof, to see if there are any ventilator intakes or anything else. One of them pointed out that the lack of superstructure suggested that the roof might be used as a landing place for atmosphere craft, and found some blast marks to back up the idea. No one else has made any worth-while reports. If there are any aircraft, though, I'd like to know where they stow them."
"It might help, though I hope we won't be driven to using them. I suppose the boys have their eyes open for large, probably level-set trapdoors in the roof. But what I wanted to find out was: with whom am I sharing a room?"
"Don't recall, offhand," replied Magill. "It doesn't matter greatly. If there is any one in particular you want--or don't want--to be with, you're at liberty to trade with someone. I told the boys that."
"Thanks. I want to spend some time with the Dennis boys, without making it too obvious. I suppose they're already together. By the way, seeing I'm still a medical officer, has anyone reported sick? The air is just a shade on the thin side, and we've been breathing it long enough for effects to show, if there are going to be any."
Magill shook his head negatively, and Little strolled over to Leo, who had completed his sketch and was trying to mark the position of the sun at five-minute intervals. He was wearing one of the few watches possessed by the party. He was perfectly willing to have his erstwhile roommate replaced by the doctor, especially when Little promised work to be done. He agreed to speak to his brother and to Cauley, who had originally been assigned to their room.
"Tell Arthur to bring his pack, with the kit he sneaked along," added the doctor. "We will probably have use for it." Leo nodded, grinning, and resumed his attempts to fix the position of an object, much too bright to view directly, which had an angular breadth on the order of half a degree. He didn't appear discouraged yet.
* * * * *
Little wandered off across the roof, occasionally meeting and speaking to one of the men. Morale seemed to be good, he noted with relief. He had always considered that to be part of the business of a medical officer, since it was, after all, directly reflected in the health of the men.
A motion in the direction of the setting sun caught his eye. He turned to face it and saw a narrow, dazzling crescent low in the western sky, a crescent that rose and grew broader as he watched. The planet had a satellite, like Mars, so close that its period of revolution was less than one of its own days. Little wondered if a body so close to the planet might not prove useful. He filed the thought away for future reference.
The sun set as he watched, and he realized he had been right about the thinness of the air. Darkness shut down almost at once. The moon sprang into brilliance--brilliance that was deceptive, for details on the landscape were almost impossible to make out. Stars, scattered at random over the sky, began to appear; and as the last traces of daylight faded away, there became visible, at first hazily and then clear and definite, the ghostly shape of the Galaxy. Its sprawling spiral arms stretched across a quarter of the sky, the bulk of the system inclined some thirty degrees from the edge-on position--just enough to show off the tracing of the great lanes of dust that divided the arms.
The men began to drift toward the orange glow that shone through the entrance panels and windows of the "penthouse!" They were greeted by the whistle of Denham, who had just completed preparation of another meal. It was eaten as the first had been, in the corridor with a silent audience of guards. The men had grown used to the creatures, and were no longer bothered by their presence. The conversation was desultory, except when Arthur Dennis offered to take the place of Denham's helper for the evening. It was the most plausible excuse for entering the kitchen-storeroom, where the packs had been stowed. No one commented, though everybody guessed the reason.
Windows and doors of all rooms were left open, the first because of Little's advice, the second because the pentapods had removed all means of closing the entrances--privacy was impossible, which did not in the least surprise Little. At the conclusion of the meal, he accompanied Leo Dennis to the latter's room, which was near the end of the corridor farthest from the elevator, and waited for the arrival of Arthur. A little investigation solved the secret of turning out the room's tube lights, which darkened the place somewhat, but the light from the corridor was sufficient to move around by.
* * * * *
Arthur entered after about fifteen minutes, carrying three packs under his arms. Two of these he tossed to his brother and the doctor, remarking, "Pillows in one suite, anyway!" The other he retained. The three men rolled up the packs and placed them under the canvas at the heads of their sleeping bags, conscious meanwhile of the never-ending scrutiny from the door; then they leaned back against the wall and relaxed.
The twins had tobacco, and all three smoked as they talked. A remark of Leo's, which opened the conversation, eased Little's mind of one problem which had been bothering him.
"Before we do or say anything else, doc," said the navigator, "please think carefully before you tell us anything. I suppose you found out a good deal from the Vegans, and I wouldn't be surprised to know you have a campaign all mapped out; but I don't want to know more than necessary. I have developed, from what the Vegans said and from what I've seen myself, a very healthy respect for the intuition, or guessing powers, or whatever it is, of our silent watchers. It makes me uncomfortable. And the less I know the more natural I can let myself act. All right?"
"All right; that was my own idea, too," answered the doctor. "I will tell you no more than necessary. In the first place I should, like Magill, like to know our location on this planet and the planet's location in space. That, unquestionably, is your job, Leo. Then I want to get the information to the handiest United base or ship. That's all. I don't believe we could break out of here, though probably Keys will try. I pin my hope on our broadcasting a message from inside and letting people already outside do the rest."
The brothers nodded. "That's clear enough," said Leo, "and I can probably locate us fairly well if.... Art, did you say you had a grating in that kit of yours?"
"Yes," was the answer. "Do you need it?"
"Uncertain, but probably. I'll have to identify the local navigation beacon somehow, and its spectrum will be the most outstanding hallmark. Why don't doc and I go outside now and do some star-gazing, while you curl up in your sleeping bag and see if the shadows don't follow us? If they do, you can rummage in the kit without being seen, and come out in a few minutes with the grating and a couple of the lenses you mentioned. If they don't, we'll do what we can with the naked eye and come back. Sound?"
"Solid. Be seeing you."
Arthur extinguished the stub of his cigarette, loosened his belt and shirt, and began removing his boots, while Leo and Little rose and went out into the hallway. Pentapods, scattered along the corridor, eyed them as they emerged, but made no move to intercept them. The door opening outside had been left ajar by the Earthmen in their policy of avoiding the use of the building's ventilation system, and the guards were evidently following a policy of noninterference with regard to everything but weapons. The panel was still partly open.
Little pushed it wide, and the two human beings went out onto the roof. To their surprise they were not followed; but both realized that there might already be guards on the roof. They moved out of the path of the light from the door and approached the nearest wall.
* * * * *
The mountains to the northeast were silhouetted against the almost equally dark sky; the forest at their feet was indistinguishable. No glow or spark of light suggested the presence, anywhere in the scene, of the men who had escaped nine hours before, though Little and Dennis strained their eyes looking. Not even a reflection from the river the doctor believed must be present broke the dark expanse.
The sky offered more material for comment. The Galaxy was lower in the west and the moon higher. Dennis, looking at the latter, did some rapid mental arithmetic. It had risen about an hour and a half ago, and would probably reach the zenith in a little more than another hour. Its siderial period, then, must be about eight hours, and its distance, if this world had the same size and mass as Earth, a little over eight thousand miles from the surface. It was now nearly at "first quarter," but its dark side was faintly visible, presumably illuminated by the reflected light of the planet. Somewhat less than four hours after sunset, the satellite should enter the planet's shadow and be eclipsed for about forty minutes, unless its orbit were more highly inclined to that of the planet than appeared to be the case.
Little was looking at the stars, spread over the sky in unfamiliar constellations. "Which of these is the local navigation beacon, and how do you identify it?" he asked. "And why do you pick out one star to call a beacon?"
"It would be possible to obtain our position from any three stars whose location is on the charts," answered Dennis, "but it is much easier, as a rule, to use certain individuals, because tables have been computed for use with them, and they are easier to identify. I don't have the tables with me, of course, but the beacon for this neighborhood and the Galaxy, together, would give me a fairly good idea. We use the brightest available stars for beacons, naturally--Rigel and Deneb in the Solar sector, for example. For navigation in the Larger Cloud we use a slightly different system, which employs two super-giant stars back in the Galaxy and the one local beacon which covers the whole Cloud--S Doradus. It shouldn't be hard to find, even without instruments, since it's a first-magnitude star at a thousand parsecs; but we always like to check the spectrum, if possible. Most beacon stars, of course, are O, B, or M supergiants, but there are usually detectable individual differences which can be picked out by a good instrument. We haven't a good instrument but fortunately S Doradus has a very distinctive spectrum."
Little nodded. "I can see that much. Don't tell me how you reduce the observations to get your position; it would certainly go beyond my mathematical limit, and I don't like to be shown up."
"It's not difficult--elementary spherical trig. If you know what a direction cosine is, you're all right. Matter of fact, that's how positions are indicated--three direction cosines from a given beacon, plus distance. I don't know how we'll get the distance--I can estimate brightness to a tenth of a magnitude, but that may answer to a small percentage of an awful distance. We usually can triangulate, but not in the Cloud."
"I'll take your word for it," replied the doctor. "Can you see anything that might be your beacon?"
"There's a fairly bright specimen sitting just above the north horizon, that seems to have a tinge of yellow; and there's another right overhead. If Art ever gets here with the lenses and grating I'll test them. I suppose he can't make it, since the dumb chums didn't follow us out here and give him a chance to burrow into the kit."
"He may find a way to do it, anyway," remarked the doctor.
"It would be just like him to try, and lose the kit," was the pessimistic answer.
* * * * *
Even Little was growing discouraged by the time Arthur finally arrived. They had been out nearly an hour, Little amusing himself by strolling along the walls to see whether anything were visible below, and Leo observing the satellite as it approached the zenith. He had already come to the conclusion, from the fact that the sun had set practically "straight down," that they were near the equator of the planet. It now seemed that the moon was in the equatorial plane, since it was rising to a point directly overhead. It was well past first quarter now, but the unlighted crescent was still visible. Leo had just noticed this fact when Arthur's voice interrupted his pondering.
"I assumed you wanted the lenses for a telescope of sorts, and chose accordingly," said the technician. "It took me a long time to work the kit out of the pack and into the sleeping bag because the guards were looking in every two or three minutes. I don't know what will happen when they find me gone."
"I do, you chump," answered Leo. "Two or three of them will drift out here after us, and some more will seize the chance to investigate the pack whose position you changed so often."
"Think so?" asked Arthur. "Here are the lenses and grating. I brought the rod and lens clamps, too, but I'm afraid you'll have to get along without a tube." His brother accepted the assortment and fell to work. The doctor looked on silently. Arthur had brought a light also, and held it on the step which served as a workbench.
Leo, after a moment's thought, discarded one lens and used the other--the one of longer focal length. He clamped this at one end of the rod, with the plane side toward the center. The grating was smaller than the lens, and he clamped it against the plane face of the latter with the excess glass blocked off with paper. Another sheet of paper--a leaf torn from his sketch pad--was clamped to the rod at the focal distance of the lens, completing the crude spectroscope.
He set the instrument on the wall, propping it so that it was pointed toward the northern horizon and one of the stars he had mentioned. He leaned over it, to cut off the moonlight. The other two also leaned forward to see the results.
A little streak of color, narrow as a pencil line, was just visible on the paper screen. Leo brought his eyes as close as he could, striving to perceive the tiny dark gaps that should have existed; but the resolution of the instrument was not sufficient. After a moment's pause, he returned to the original idea, removing the paper and clamping the other lens in normal eyepiece position. This proved successful. He could make out enough to identify both the stars he had counted on as unquestionably sun-type G stars, probably no more than a few parsecs distant, and definitely not the giant he sought.
* * * * *
The navigator began to wear a worried expression. There were several thousand stars visible to the naked eye, and only a few of them were obviously not the object of his search. After a few minutes, however, he began a methodical examination of all the brighter yellow and white stars, one after another. Arthur and the doctor saw that interruption would not be helpful, so they withdrew a few yards and conversed in low tones.
"What will you do if Leo does get our position?" asked the technician. "I suppose you have some idea."
"The idea I have depends almost entirely on you," answered Little. "I have been told that a second-order transmitter is less complicated than an ordinary radio. Could you build one?"
Dennis frowned and hesitated. "If I had all the materials and no interruptions, yes. Here and now, I don't know if the necessary equipment is available, and I'm reasonably sure we wouldn't be allowed to do it, anyway."
"You said there were two atomic tools in your kit, a heater and a stroboscope," said Little. "Would their parts be enough?" Once again Dennis paused to think.
"The welder wouldn't--it's just a converter and a tungsten element. The stroboscope converts with a direct electron current and a variable oscillator and--I believe it could be done. But it wouldn't handle much power, and the range would be nothing to speak of."
"That doesn't matter, as I see it. All I want to know is that you can build a vision transmitter with the material on hand--"
"Wait a minute!" interrupted Arthur. "I didn't say a vision unit. What do you need that for? All I was counting on was voice transmission. That won't be very difficult."
Little shook his head. "Vision or nothing. I don't want to tell you why, for the reason Leo gave. But please, if you don't want me to have to re-design the whole plan, find a way to construct a vision transmitter. And I hate to be too exacting, but I'd like it done before that ship leaves again. I don't know how long they usually stay here, but I notice they're stocking up."
"Sure," groaned Dennis. "Right away. Doc, if it were anyone else I'd know he was crazy, but with you it's only a strong suspicion. I'll try--but Lord knows where I can come by an icon tube."
Little grinned invisibly in the darkness. "The Vegans said they smuggled up a complete neutrino assembly. It was taken away from them later, but it gives you an idea of what can be done."
"They didn't give you an idea of their technique, I suppose? I'm not too proud to learn."
"I didn't ask them. There were guards around. Good luck!"
* * * * *
Little went back to Leo, who was resting his arms. Not a single O class spectrum had yet been picked up by the instrument.
"If I were sure it were there, I wouldn't mind so much," he said, wiping his forehead. "But it's just as likely to be in the daylight half of the sky. I'd rather not have to wait here half of whatever time it takes this world to amble around its sun, just to get a rough idea of where I am."