Jeff Carlson - The Frozen Sky

Vonnie snapped her hands inside her gloves as the ghost recited data; the wavelengths and compositions of the sunfishes’ sonar calls; modulation; duration; intervals. By the soft resistance that appeared against her fingertips, she knew her virtual keyboards were up.

She began to type as the ghost continued its report.

Her suit had recorded signals as low as 17,000 Hertz, within range of human hearing, all the way to 130,000, which was well above the high-pitched frequencies used by bats on Earth.

“Keep talking,” she said.

— In sunfish, the larynx is a corded muscle. Air sacs allow them to push the same air back and forth through their larynx instead of exhaling where the atmosphere is minimal or toxic. They reflect those vibrations from the horn-like material of their beaks. They…

“Why did you stop?”

—The chasm we’re following has opened into a cavern approximately seventy-five meters by thirty by forty-five. The floor drops away in a series of ravines. The far end is walled off by ice. Radar indicates fractures and melts in the ice, possibly an extensive network leading up from the rock. We may be at the edge of this mountain.

“Thank God. Go. Let’s get into the ice and try to seal it behind us. We can wall them off.”

— There is also a construct in the largest ravine.

“What are you talking about?”

— There is a rock wall sixteen meters across, two thick, and four high. It holds a reservoir of approximately twelve thousand gallons of water and slush.

“Bring me to it.”

For the first time since the assault, Vonnie felt relief. She remembered the carvings and the air locks. If the sunfish also built reservoirs, she and Lam — the real Lam — were correct in believing this was a sentient race. There were too many clues to think otherwise.

The guilt she felt was buried in fear, but it was the more honest emotion. It mingled with her shame.

How would human beings react if an alien walked into their city? Compared to the sunfish, Vonnie was a giant, and there might be schools or nurseries in the area. Maybe the attack had been her fault. Maybe she’d provoked it with her size or her smell or her heat. She should have known better. Approaching them had been selfish.

What if the sunfish were everything Lam had dreamed?

As her suit rambled down across the cavern floor, she said, “Do you see tool marks in the rock? Make sure you’re recording to mem file.”

— Cameras inoperative .

“Use radar and infrared. What’s the temperature?”

— The air is minus seventeen, but the rock shows hot spots as warm as three degrees due to thermal activity. The water varies between six degrees at its deepest parts and minus two in the shallows.

“Is it salt water or fresh?”

— Atmospheric testing suggests low levels of salinity. Should I send a mecha to acquire samples?

“Yes.”

She was curious. The majority of aquatic creatures on Earth had adapted to particular grades of water; fresh, brackish, or salt; warm, cool, or cold; sunlit, dim, or dark; but there were stand-outs like whales which could survive at least temporarily in any combination.

On Europa, there was also the matter of scalding heat. Most of the hot springs would be piped up from the great salt ocean. Obviously there were fresh water pockets such as this reservoir, melted by distant magma or by rising gases — but like the ice itself, fresh water lakes would be temporary, forever subject to cracking and contamination.

If the sunfish strived to retain fresh water, were they limited to saltless environments?

Could the reservoir have another purpose?

“Look for other ways out of the cavern,” she said. “If this is where they drink or bathe, why haven’t you seen any signs of steady traffic?”

— There are signs of steady traffic .

“Where? I told you I wanted an alert!”

—Your instructions were to alert you to sonar calls or carvings. There are four holes in the ceiling and a fifth alongside the chasm from which we emerged. Three show indications of regular movement. The rock is abnormally smooth in places or cut in bands like ladder rungs .

Mentally, Vonnie paused. The suit kept her body moving forward, but in her mind, she took a step back. She also released her virtual keyboards, cancelling her efforts to subvert the ghost. Taking him apart would have to wait.

“Get me out of here,” she said.

— Von, my scans of the reservoir are incomplete.

“Get out. Detach and activate 84. Leave it here with 85. Command both of them to generate as much noise and heat as possible.”

— 84 detached .

The sunfish hadn’t let her escape. They’d watched her run straight into a population center.

Vonnie ached with horror as her suit jogged from the ravine. With luck, her mecha would cover her. Was this cavern the sunfishes’ home? The air was poison, but maybe they were inside the reservoir, breathing through their gills… waiting to snatch her leg and drag her in…

“Tell what you see!”

— We’ve cleared the largest ravine.

“Bring 85 after us. Keep 84 near the water.”

— There are disturbances in the reservoir. I estimate six lifeforms beneath the surface. Eight. Twelve. Fourteen.

His voice counting smoothly in her ear was a stark contrast to her pounding heart. “What about the ladders up the cavern wall!?” she said. “Are there sunfish above me?”

— Negative.

“Leave 85 between me and 84. Tell it to pick up some gravel and throw it, not at the sunfish and not at me. I want to distract them.”

— The lifeforms have emerged from the water. They are emitting ultrasound.

“Hide.”

Her suit shoved her down onto her knees. The most frightened part of her wanted to keep running, but the sunfish who’d let her go were probably waiting in the chasm. Vonnie didn’t want to run into an ambush. More than anything, she needed to apologize for invading their home.

“Play eight of their sonar calls for my ears only,” she said. “Were there any that sounded non-aggressive before the attack? Simulate those calls for me and prepare to broadcast on my command.”

— Commencing simulation .

Her head rang with shrill chirps and screeches. Ultrasound was imperceptible to human ears, but the ghost translated the sunfishes’ cries into a piercing equivalent.

Were there words or was it only noise? Vonnie didn’t know what she’d heard, but she wouldn’t get another chance to speak before the sunfish were on top of her. “Broadcast those same calls through 85,” she said. “If the sunfish respond, adapt your calls to match. Make sure you keep using both mecha as decoys away from me.”

— Broadcasting now .

“Where are they?”

— The lifeforms have jumped past the mecha straight at you. Contact in five seconds .

“No!”

Her mind split. As a teacher, she wanted to communicate, but the ape in her would do anything to live.

Vonnie yanked an excavation charge from her forearm and slammed it onto the ground on her left, orienting herself solely from memory. She’d worked in scout suits for years. From the earliest days of her career, she’d also learned to map busy construction sites in her head.

Her hand went to the charge unerringly. Her thumb double-flicked the safety locks. Then she aimed the shaped charge at the sunfish and flipped herself in the opposite direction.

If she had had a conscious thought, it might have been that she’d forgotten her despair. But she’d stopped thinking. She acted.

The detonation struck her suit like thunder. Vonnie cradled her helmet in her arms. A small, hard object whacked into her thigh — a rock — as something else hit her shoulder wetly — a sunfish.