James White - Federation World

THE ENVIRONMENT IS SUCH THAT THE EARTH-HUMAN SENSORIUM WILL FIND IT RESTFUL, ‘ QUIET, AND VISUALLY PLEASING. PROVIDING BASIC PROTECTIVE MEASURES ARE TAKEN, THIS ASSIGNMENT MAY BE REGARDED AS A VACATION AND A REWARD FOR THE SUCCESSFUL COMPLETION OF THE TELDI OPERATION. DEPART WHEN CONVENIENT.

On this planet it was a different kind of silence from that on Teldi, the silence of fear rather than respect. The insects did not hum, the birds did not sing, and the creatures that they could see, large and small alike, made sounds which had to be amplified to be detectable at all. Only the wind, which had no natural enemies to fear, sighed quietly as it stirred the vegetation.

The silence was contagious.

Without speaking, Martin pointed toward two small, lizardltke creatures who were tearing each other to pieces with such quiet ferocity that it was difficult to tell which limbs belonged to which. Beside him, Beth lowered her image enhancing visor to look at them more closely.

“It’s quiet,” she whispered, “but there isn’t much peace.”

Immediately the two combatants broke off hostilities and moved rapidly and very quietly away-plainly startled by the sound of her whisper-to resume their battle some fifty meters further up the hill Beth and Martin had been climbing.

He sent their protector ahead to make sure that none of the larger predators were waiting silently for them on the other slope.

They had studied the surface of the planet from orbit and during lower level atmospheric flights in the lander. It was an Earthlike world seemingly devoid of indigenous intelligent life. The vegetation was varied, beautiful, and, unlike the fauna, nonaggressive. The largest life form, although too heavily equipped with natural weapons to be effective against members of their own species, were fast enough on their six enormous feet to ensure that their diet was not exclusively vegetarian. Fortunately the species was not numerous, so that it was unlikely that they would become a serious inconvenience during a half-hour stroll.

“The whole planet is like this,” he said, stooping to touch one of the gorgeous blooms. “We’re wasting our time here.”

They had climbed to the top of the hill before Beth replied. “We’ve been ordered to waste our time here, remember, so just relax and enjoy the scenery… Oh-oh.”

He looked up to see that their protector, which had been hovering like an enormous metal insect about a quarter of a mile away, was rushing toward them flashing its warning lights. It was moving only slightly faster than one of the large predators which was coming at them from their right flank.

Running in any direction would simply have complicated the job of rescue by the robot, but it was incredibly difficult to stand still while that outsized predator was bearing down on them.

If anything, it resembled an Earth elephant, Martin thought, but with six padded feet and nearly twice the body mass. Two long trunks were mounted laterally above a mouth which could have been transplanted from an outsize shark. Although fast-moving, it had a jerky, hobbling gait caused by its peculiar leg motion. A fraction of a second before touching the ground, each foot hesitated so that three of the others were supporting the creature’s weight and thrusting it forward while the remaining limbs were lifting to continue the cycle. Whether moving fast or slow, it had the ability to place each foot in turn with the minimum of sound and ground vibration.

While it was charging up the slope toward them, Martin found it difficult to believe that it represented a real threat-he had the ridiculous idea that it was simply a tri-di recording with the sound turned off, and at any moment an instructor’s voice would draw their attention to the interesting anatomical details. Then sound and reality returned as the protection vehicle dropped to the ground with a most unsilent thump between them and their attacker, and they dived through the open entry hatch.

The charging predator struck the other side of the vehicle so hard that they were knocked off their feet. They picked themselves off the floor and tried vainly to strap in as the creature lashed at the upper hull with its twin trunks. The vehicle dropped to the ground, immobilized as its gravity cushion died, and the damage to the external sensors left half of the vision screens showing only white snow. Malfunction lights were winking all over the control console, and they could hear the creature climbing onto the top of the hull.

“What are you waiting for, dammit?” Martin yelled. “Blast it, before it beats you into a heap of scrap!”

One of the still operable screens lit with the reply.

I AM RELUCTANT TO DESTROY THIS CREATURE BECAUSE IT IS A MALE MEMBER OF A SUBSPECIES WHICH IS CLOSE TO EXTINCTION. DAMAGE SUSTAINED SO FAR IS WITHIN THE CAPACITY OF MY SELF-REPAIR SYSTEMS ONCE THE CREATURE REALIZES THAT I AM INEDIBLE AND WITHDRAWS.

Why, Martin raged silently, were intelligent robots so stupid? But it was Beth who spoke first.

“We are edible,” she said, clearly and simply as if speaking to a child. ‘The creature knows we are here and it has organic sensors which will confirm our continued presence within you. The creature will not, therefore, withdraw and we are seriously at risk unless you…”

“Get us out of here!” Martin broke in harshly as the floor heaved alarmingly and for a few seconds became a wall.

OF COURSE. MATTER TRANSMITTER ENGAGED. DESTINATION?

“The lander, stupid.”

They had been sprawled in an untidy heap inside the protector and that, following the split second of indescribable shock as their bodies were dispersed into their individual atoms and reassembled again, was how they arrived in the tender’s control center. He helped Beth to her feet, wondering if there was a single square inch of his body which was not aching. Beth winced as she sat down at the console to set about protecting their lander.

The predator had lost interest in the damaged protection vehicle and was moving slowly in their direction. Martin hoped that it was simply curious about the large, unusual object occupying its territory and not aware, at a distance of nearly half a mile upwind, that they were inside.

Their view of the creature became hazy for an instant as Beth put up the lander’s force shield. Then, with an expression which was distinctly maternal, she signaled the damaged protector for a status report.

EIGHTY PERCENT EXTERNAL SENSORS INOPERABLE. SEVERE DAMAGE SUSTAINED TO UPPER HULL. GRAVITY NEUTRALIZATION GRIDS INOPERABLE. POWER SUPPLY OPTIMUM. PRIORITY IS BEING GIVEN TO REPAIR OF THE GRIDS TO RESTORE MOBILITY. ESTIMATED TIME FOR GRID REPAIRS SEVENTEEN MINUTES. FOR RETURN TO LANDER NINETEEN MINUTES.

“There’s no big hurry,” Beth said. “Make a wide circle on your way back and keep the lander between you and the predator. You don’t want to lose another argument with that thing,”

REVISED ESTIMATE FOR RETURN TO LANDER TWENTY-SIX MINUTES.

But before she could acknowledge, the screen color changed from black to red.

EMERGENCY. MALFUNCTION IN SELF-REPAIR MANIPULATORS. SENSORY INPUT REDUCING. MOVEMENT IN ANY DIRECTION IMPOSSIBLE. THE VEHICLE IS TRAPPED IN A LOCAL LAND SUBSIDENCE. REQUEST ASSISTANCE.

“Maintain transmission of all sensory input, incomplete though it is,” Beth said. “We’ll pull you out of there as soon as possible.” To Martin, she added worriedly, “My initial scan of the landing area did not show any subsurface pockets. I don’t understand how…”

She broke off as the screen lit with the bright, crawling blankness indicative of a receiver which no longer had a signal to receive. The adjacent screen showed the already magnified image of the predator galloping rapidly into close-up.

Then for no apparent reason the creature slowed, veered to the right and came to a halt. It began to move slowly in a tight circle with its head held close to the ground. Then it stopped again and reared up with its forelimbs pawing the air and its twin trunks extended stiffly upward in a narrow V. For the first time since encountering the creature they heard it make a noise, a high-pitched hissing sound which wavered above and below the level of audibility.