Part 8

"See how brittle it is," Jak ignored the interruption as he touched a stem, only to have it snap off like a slim glass fibre. "Can't tell without a more thorough microscopic examination, but I'll bet this is some sort of silicon-based life--crystalline instead of being like the gneissic rocks back home."

Jon, meanwhile, had been surveying the valley with his binoculars. Suddenly he gave a gasp, and focussed his glasses more steadily on something that had caught his eye.

For some minutes he studied it, then called excitedly, "Hey, Owl, give a look over there. See, beside that spire of rock," he pointed as his brother rose and unlimbered his own pair of binoculars. "There's movement of some sort there, though it's very, very slow, on that sort of pyramid a yard or so high."

For long moments the two studied the spot through their high-powered glasses, then Jak said slowly but with mounting excitement, "I think you're right, Chubby, and that we've got to see."

In their excitement, the two started off faster and more carelessly than was safe. They found out that fact when both, almost at the same time, lost their footing and fell, coasting down the remainder of the hill. Faster and faster they slid, shaken and becoming bruised, although luckily neither broke any bones.

At the bottom they picked themselves up and started on again. Both walked more gingerly now, and Jak limped a bit from a twisted ankle. Yet they were so eager to see what this strange movement might be, they soon forgot their bruises and hurried once more.

It was a good half mile across the valley floor to their destination. But there, sure enough, they found _life_!

Strange, unearthly life it was, but they soon discovered that it had reproduction, growth and movement--the three main criteria of life-forms.

"Crystalline, by golly!" Jon yelled.

Jak was squatting beside the growing thing. It was somewhat pyramidal, yet the sides were not smooth. Rather, they were many-faceted, like the pieces of rock crystal with which the boys were familiar. It was a grayish-white color--with just enough of the gray in it so it had been visible from a distance, against the white background. But now, as the boys were on the sunward side of one of the pyramids, for there were many of them about, they could see that the light reflected from it was kaleidoscopic coloration at times.

Jak reached out a gloved hand and rapped on the pyramid ... and it gave forth a tinkling sound, then collapsed into a thousand tiny shards.

"You ... you broke it."

"Yes, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to kill it. Had no idea it was so fragile." Jak rose, moved over to another pyramid, and squatted beside it, examining it closely, but careful not to touch it. Jon sank onto his heels beside him.

For a few seconds as they watched there was no change. But suddenly they heard a small, clear _ping_, and a new crystal sprang into existence near the base. Almost at once there was a repetition of the sound and another appeared further up on the adjoining side of the structure--or creature. As the boys continued watching this was repeated over and over--with each tiny sound a new facet came into being somewhere on the pyramid. Before their very eyes the crystal-being was growing.

"Boy, that's something!" Jon exclaimed admiringly.

"Yes, it's a life-form, all right," Jak said more seriously, without taking his eyes from it. "It's all new to us, but I'll bet there's silicon of some sort beneath this carbon-dioxide ice, and that this thing gets its nourishment from that."

"What makes it keep growing?"

"What makes a man or an animal or plant grow when it eats?"

"Oh!" Then, "Do you suppose it has any mentality?"

Jak was silent a moment, mulling that over. Then he looked at his brother, a crease of concentration on his forehead. "I feel quite sure that it probably has, but of a sort we wouldn't be able to understand, even if we could get in contact with its so-called 'mind.' Even reading that, I doubt very much if we'd be able to understand its way of thinking, reasoning, or the motivations by which it lives." He went back to studying the strange crystallization.

"_Ummm_, probably you're right," Jon agreed after some thought. A moment later he asked, "Is it good for anything? I mean, can man use it for something?"

Jak wrenched his gaze away from that astounding growth to look up in shocked disgust. "Is that all you think about in the face of such a marvel as this--whether it's worth anything or not? Here we've found an entirely new type of life, and...."

"Hey, keep your suit tight, Owl. We have to report this, you know, and I'm just trying to find out what to write down."

"Oh!" Jak spoke slowly, his voice now admitting the lightness of that point of view. "I can't, offhand, see any practical value, especially considering how easily these crystals are broken. But I know geologists--and possibly chemists--will be intensely interested in studying them. There's a lot they can learn here, I'm sure. We'll naturally report all that, you're right, and the location of this valley."

"Think they may occur all over the planet?"

"No telling, but probably if they can find the right sort of soil nourishment. We didn't see any while coming down, but they might've been there and we missed them, not expecting anything like this."

"We didn't see any other life-forms, either, that we could recognize. Maybe these're the dominant species here."

Jak rose to his feet and looked all about him. There were hundreds of the pyramids to be seen, some towering a dozen or more feet high and as large across each base line; others very small--babies, he thought with a grin.

Again he watched one of the smaller ones intently, noticing how it grew. Jon walked about, looking at the different structures of that mysterious, growing crystal.

Suddenly he stiffened, straining, listening. Then he called, "Hey, Jak, you hear anything?"

"Huh?" his brother tore his gaze from the crystallization he was watching. "Hear what?"

"Turn up the power of your suit receiver. There. There it is again.... Hey, sounds like our siren!"

"Yes, I heard it then. Mother must be in trouble, or something."

Jak's last words were flung back across his shoulder as he ran as fast as he could across the icy wastes of the valley floor. Nor was Jon far behind. In fact, after a few strides the younger, but longer-legged boy was beside him, then forged ahead.

"Hurry, Owl! Mom wouldn't signal unless it was urgent."

"Maybe Father's worse."

They tried to conserve their breath after that for running and climbing. Once Jon broke the silence. "Turn your oxygen a little higher, Jak," he said as he twisted the small lever at his own shoulder to increase the flow of the strength-giving energy.

They were panting and winded by the time they reached the top of the hill. But they disregarded fatigue in the face of their mother's probable danger--or their father's.

Jon looked quickly to one side and then the other. As Jak topped the ridge he saw his brother run some twenty feet or so to where he had spotted a fairly smooth downward slope. Down this the younger boy launched himself feet first, sliding on his suit's back. Jak instantly realized the reason, and threw himself after his brother.

In less than a tenth of the time it would have taken them to climb down, the boys were at the foot of the hill. They struggled to their feet and started off toward the ship. Both were again shaken and sorely bruised from their rough slide, but they trotted on. Mother had called--nothing else mattered.

As they came closer to the ship they saw her reason for summoning them.

All about the outer lockdoor were those strange crystalline structures, growing swiftly. As the two boys came still closer, they could see that streamers of the crystals had already reached the lower edge and were trying to force their way through the almost imperceptible crack.

"They'll never get ... through there," Jon panted as he raced the last few feet.

"Don't see ... how they can ... but watch 'em." Jak waded into the alien, growing things. His gloved fists smashed right and left as he spoke. Jon was already doing the same.

But whether these crystal-beings were of a different type from those that Jak had broken in the distant valley, or just what was the reason, the boys now found it more difficult to break these crystals down.

"These aren't ... like those ... back there." Jon had now seen that these crystals did not always grow in pyramidal shape.

"No, they grow ... new crystals ... wherever needed." Jak had been concentrating on the tendrils, or chains of crystals that were reaching, always reaching, toward the lockdoor, while Jon had been trying to break the bases of the pyramids from which these arms sprang.

Although the crystals were still fairly easy to break--especially the tentacles, which were only a thin string--new ones replaced them so swiftly, and their numbers increased so constantly, that it seemed almost a losing battle.

"These're growing lots faster than the others." Jon gritted his teeth as he now tried crushing the bases with his heavy metallic boots, hoping thus to make it harder for the crystal-beings to reach the door.

For minutes the two boys fought in desperation; then Jon grunted in disgust at his thoughtlessness, and yanked out his flame-gun. "Never thought of this," he yelled as he trained it on the crystal-beings. The terrifically hot flame washed off them in coruscating showers--but did no damage.

"Try bullets," Jak unlimbered his gun from his back, and started firing it into the base of the crystals nearest the lockdoor.

The heavy bullets shattered the crystals easily, and soon the boys could begin to see that they were clearing the way.

"You keep firing while I open the door and climb in," Jon yelled. "Then you climb in while I'm going to the control room and I'll lift ship."

"Right," Jak replied and fired even faster as Jon touched the outer mechanism-stud that opened the lock.

Hardly had it begun opening, however, than they heard the sound of another gun being fired through the opening. They looked up in surprise and saw it was their mother, shooting a shotgun. Jon scrambled up into the lock.

"Good work, Mom, but get back in. I'm lifting ship."

He dashed through the inner doorway and into the control room. He threw the switch and _Star Rover_ shuddered as its tubes roared into life. Jon punched on the intercom visiplate that scanned the interior of the lock, and saw his mother pulling Jak into the ship, then closing the outer door. Quickly Jon put the ship into a slow cruising orbit and switched on the auto-pilot. Remembering the open doors and the bitter outside cold, he glanced to see that the automatic heaters were taking care of the inside temperature, then ran back toward the lock.

There he found his brother desperately trying to warm their mother's unsuited body, now growing blue from that terrible cold.

"Help me carry her into bed." Jak rose and grasped her arms, but Jon pushed him aside. Stooping, he picked her up bodily. He ran, staggering a bit, with her into the bunkroom. Jak was right behind, and pulled some extra blankets from a drawer. Then, while he was piling covers about her, Jon dashed into the galley.

He drew hot water from the tap and quickly made a cupful of instant tea, then ran back with it to the bunkroom.

Some minutes later they saw with satisfaction that their mother's color was growing more natural, and her body tremors were slowing from the combined warmth of the extra blankets and hot drink. Only then did the boys stop to help each other out of their suits.

"Thanks for the help, Mother, but don't you know enough to wear a suit in weather as cold as this?" Jak's worry made his voice sharp.

"Yes, who's always fussing about us being careful?" Jon added. "Then pull a stunt like this."

Their mother looked up at them, and the old impish grin they had seen so seldom of late came onto her face.

"You've got me, Chums," she drawled. "From now on I reckon I'll keep my big mouth shut."

Jon howled, and Jak added in the same sort of drawl, "Well, now, I wouldn't go for to say it was 'big,'" and ducked as she slapped out at him.

Soon the two boys sobered down. "We'd better go examine the lock and make sure no crystals got in," Jak said.

"Yow, I forgot about that!" Jon sprang forward. "We sure don't want any of them in or on the ship."

9

Despite Jon's desire to get away from this unfriendly world that bore his name, he was careful to see that the signal-marker was set out and functioning, and that the ship's log contained as complete a record of the resources and data on the planet as was required by the Terran Colonial Board. The same was true of Four's four moons. Jak checked all the work, nor did they leave Four until both boys were satisfied it was complete. Their mother was a great help in taking the numerous photographs needed, having become quite competent in handling the cameras. She was so relieved at the steady progress of her husband's convalescence that she put extra enthusiasm into her photography. The family still felt that Mr. Carver should be kept as quiet as possible and away from any mental strain in connection with the ship and the planet mapping and, in his weakness, he seemed content to leave it that way for the time being. He asked few questions and accepted the reassuring answers contentedly.

Nor, even though Jon wished to get back to friendly Two as soon as he could, did he forget they still had to visit Planet Five, and scout and record that.

So, as soon as they were completely done on Four, he lost no time setting course for Five. Once on the way, he announced his names for the four moons of Four, and now it was Jak's turn to scoff.

"Well, if you can name yours after flowers, I don't see why you've got any kick coming because I name mine after fish," Jon asserted. "I leave it to you, Mom--aren't Tuna, Betta, Sturgeon and Porpoise nice names?"

"I think they are fine, just as I think Zinnia and Begonia are aptly named," she said diplomatically.

The two boys made faces at each other, then Jon turned back to his computations. "I'm not as good at figuring these things out as Pop is, but I think Five is about a half billion miles from the sun. It's almost three hundred and fifty million miles from here, since it's further around the sun. But we'll cut across on a direct route."

To his surprise, Jak came up and clapped him on the shoulder. "You're doing a grand job of astrogating, Chubby. I'm really proud of you." His voice was sincere and appreciative.

"Yes," their mother came over and kissed Jon, rumpling his hair affectionately. "I've been unexpectedly relieved that you've managed to get us to each world so surely and to land us so gently. Though maybe I shouldn't have been so surprised, at that." She laughed gaily as her younger son flushed from this unexpected praise.

"Aw, you guys are just saying that because I'm so wonderful." Jon tried to joke, but they could tell how deeply he felt their compliments.

* * * * *

A day later, when Jon announced they were approaching this outermost planet, the other two joined him in the control room, and all were soon deeply engrossed in the sight revealed to them in their visiplates.

An hour or so later Jon was examining their spectro-analyzer, when he let out a yelp of excitement. "Hey, that fuel-stuff's showing up. It must've come from Five." And a moment later, "Listen to 'Annie' rattle. It sure is there--but plenty."

They clustered about him, and even though they could not tell anything from the lines on the spectrograph that he pointed out, they could hear the machine chattering, and they grew excited from his exultation.

"Miners can use the same type of automatics they use on Pluto to get it, can't they?" Jak asked.

"I'd imagine so, although I really don't know anything about it. However, if we find we can use it, there's where they can get it, and that's the important thing."

Their plates again showed only the blinding whiteness of ice they knew was frozen carbon dioxide rather than frozen water or snow. For even more than on Four, there could be no water here, even in its most frozen form.

They cruised about above the surface, watching their instruments to find and record any metallic ore deposits, especially the new one. The terrain was so forbidding, so desolate, that even the irrepressible Jon felt no desire to land on it, or to go outside.

Again their mother took most of the needed photographs, while the boys recorded all the other data of geography, size and conditions generally. Finally, Jon set the ship down on a fairly level plateau close to what they figured was the equator.

"Well, here we are and that's all I care about," Jon announced with a shiver. "We'll use the distant hands to put out the marker. Then we'll see if we can find the location of that fuel deposit."

Jak agreed. "I wouldn't go out there for a million credits." He shuddered as he looked out the port while the others crowded about to view that forbidding scene. "Maybe we should, but I sure wouldn't get any fun out of it."

"Doubt if our suits would be able to keep us warm, even with the heaters at max."

"No," their mother said sharply, although they could detect the relief in her voice that they had already made the decision. "This is one time I would have set my foot down, and not allowed it. This place gives me the creeps."

While Jon was making up the tape, Jak carried a signal-sender into the lock and placed it beneath those "distant hands." Jon came in and installed the tape, then started the mechanism running.

They returned to the control room, and Jak, whistling unmelodiously between his teeth, operated the controls that opened the outer door, then used the lifting servo-mechanism to set the signal-sender outside on the icy ground. When the outer door was closed, he nodded to Jon and the latter lifted the ship again.

"I'm going up a couple of miles, then circle about to look for deposits of that fuel metal. Meanwhile, as we go we can get the rest of our dope, and then scoot out of here."

Jak again took his place at the recorders, while his mother was at the cameras. Jon set the ship into a quartering circle, and when he had located the direction in which the analyzer showed the strongest indications of the enigmatic metal, swung into that course.

They had gone less than five hundred miles when they noticed a reddish glow in the distance. As they came closer, they saw that ahead and below was a terrific, whirling mass of colored gas.

"Wow, look at that storm!" Jak yelled. But he could not help adding, "Did you ever see anything more beautiful?"

"Better get well above it, hadn't you?" Mrs. Carver asked anxiously. "It looks dangerous."

"I'm sure not going through it." Jon was already lifting the ship. "But 'Annie' says the stuffs right close."

At five miles high he leveled off and put the ship into a narrowing spiral. From that vantage point they could see that the storm was a purely localized affair, perhaps some twenty miles in diameter.

"Wonder what makes those colors?" Jak called from the telescopic-visiplate into which he was staring.

"Suppose it could be a volcano?"

"Could there be volcanic action on so cold a planet?" their mother asked in astonishment.

"I don't see how there could be," Jak answered slowly, "but that certainly looks like flames of some sort down there."

"Maybe the experts from Terra can figure it out from our color pictures," Mrs. Carver said. "I'm taking a lot of extra ones, with the variable focus lens."

"That new metal's down there, though, whatever it is. Since those other people mined it, our miners'll figure out how to get it, too, I'll bet."

"I wonder." Jak was suddenly diffident. "Don't laugh now, but do you suppose maybe those flames could be some sort of life, and that they're feeding on the metal, which you said was highly radioactive?"

"Now who's nutty?" Jon asked witheringly, while Mrs. Carver gasped at the daring concept.

"Well, some of those flames are coming higher and aiming for us." Jak tried to defend his position. "We'd have said such crystal-creatures as we found on Four were impossible, but we know they aren't and that they have some sort of--well, intelligence, from the way they tried to get our ship. So why not flame-beings?"

"Do you think they're dangerous?" Their mother's voice held a frightened note as she saw in her plate those swiftly approaching flames.

"Don't see how they could possibly hurt the ship, or us." Jon tried to speak calmly ... but he tilted the nose and the space-yacht was soon nearly ten miles high, although it still continued circling.

"Man, oh man, they're certainly beautiful!" Jak was enthralled as those bright, shining tongues of flame grew taller and taller. "There ... there does seem to be a ... a purpose in the way they act, though." His tone changed to a more anxious one.

The flames were now high above the storm of fire that constituted the main ... body? Now these tongues broke loose, and as they continued rising toward the ship they became more spherical in shape--were no longer simply extensions of the planet-based fires. And as they rose ever higher and faster, they seemed to the anxious watchers to be really thinking, intelligent entities.

"Let's move away from here," their mother pleaded. "I'm getting the feeling that they are actually pursuing us--and for no good purpose, either."

Jon touched the controls, and the ship began rising more swiftly.

"No, don't leave; I want to study ..." Jak began, but Jon interrupted him.

"So would I like to know more about them, but if Mom wants to leave, away we go." Yet there was an undercurrent of relief in his voice.

But as if guessing his intention, the flames hurtled after them at such tremendous speed that before the ship had barely begun accelerating, they were almost up to it.

"Hang on tight!" Jon yelled, and increased the acceleration. Soon the ship had left the flames behind. Peering in their telescopic plates, the three could see the flames, reluctantly and as if baffled, return at last to their home below.

"All gone, Mother. We're safe now," Jak said comfortingly.

"Thank you, God," she said devoutly and sank limply into a seat. "I was afraid for awhile...."

"So was I," Jon's teeth began chattering and his body shaking so hard that he, too, was glad he was sitting down. Now that it was all over the shock of that strangeness--that utter alienness--was hitting him. Nor was Jak in much better shape, in spite of his expressed desire to stay and study the enigmatic flame-life.

It was many minutes before the trio were able to discuss the matter calmly, and to realize they had been in actual danger.

"I see now we sure would have been, if Jon hadn't zoomed us out of there so fast," Jak said.

Finally, Mrs. Carver shook herself. "I'll go get lunch. It must be time, hungry as I feel."

"Me, too," Jon laughed. "But then, I'm always hungry."

As soon as the three had finished eating, Mrs. Carver and Jak went to sit with the invalid and watch hopefully for those semi-conscious moments which were becoming more and more frequent. Jon went back to check his course back to Planet Two, and to lounge later in the pilot's seat, studying from one of his reelbooks.

"There must be," he told himself, "some way of handling that fuel, and of storing and using it. The fact that it was cached there on Two shows that. But then, those folks who used it were so evidently far advanced in science."

A bit later the thought intruded, "Hey, if that stuff's so powerful now, after all the untold time it was stored there, what was it like when it was new?"