Hal Clement: Fossil

“Ged’s testing it. Power is on.” Hugh felt a steady vibration, hoped that it wasn’t an aftershock, and relaxed as the mole moved slowly away from him through the ice.

“We’ll come around and pick you up, Ged says,” came the Habra’s voice. “You needn’t worry about which way we’re facing.”

Hugh was not completely reassured, but watched as the vehicle drew away from him and became progressively harder to see. It was managing to turn, slowly, so steering as well as drive seemed to be working.

For several minutes it was almost out of sight and changing direction; its radius of turn was at least fifty meters. At last it seemed to be heading back toward him, and he called Miriam. She acknowledged, and the mole grew clearer until he could see the motion of its diggers.

“Up a bit. Either you went down or I went up.” He held his breath until he could see that vertical steering was also still working.

“You’re coming right at me now. Stand by a moment- I’ll have to back down my tunnel a bit. I don’t want you to go through me. You should have put a hatch on the front of that thing, too.”

“Ged says he doesn’t see how that’s possible. We’ll go on past, and you can get to the hatch all right.”

Cedar watched the moving blades slash free in emptiness as the mole cut back into its earlier path, and rode on across with the aid of the track-mounted spikes. Hugh had never seen an earthworm, but Falga had creatures which used their setae in the same fashion. The stern of the machine appeared and crossed the tunnel, and the vibrations ceased. A moment later the hatch opened.

“Going to ride, or try the tunnel?” came Barrar’s voice.

“I’ll come with you, if you’re sure there’s room.”

“But the whole idea of your following was for safety,” Miriam objected. “It was so you wouldn’t be trapped in here if anything went wrong.”

“You’re right,” admitted the Erthuma. “And don’t say anything about lightning not striking twice; I know it does. Start on out, if you know which way is out; I’ll come along behind. Ged, have you an emergency procedure to use if that fault plane had cut through your machine instead of a few centimeters behind it?”

“I’m afraid not. Can you think of anything?”

“Sure. Have two moles traveling together. What are the chances of the same plane slicing both of them?”

Barrar made no answer, and the trip was resumed. An hour later the machine emerged, within ten meters of the cliff’s foot, and crawled forward to clear the tunnel opening. Hugh Cedar emerged after it, and moments later Erthuma, Samian, and Habra were looking consideringly at the cliff.

“Do you really think we should have a second, just on the chance of something like that’s happening again?” Barrar asked at length. “After all, what are the chances?”

“What were the chances of the plane’s cutting between your machine and my face?” asked Hugh. “The reason I was tempted to ride with you afterward was that I wasn’t sure my knees would hold me up even in this gravity. I wonder how Rek would have reacted?”

“He’ll never go underground. The thought’s too much for him,” replied Miriam. “I know how he feels, of course, and I’m a bit the same way, but I’ve had practice. I’ve spent a lot of time with Liquid Ocean around me; Solid isn’t that different.”

“You could still get him to try it,” Hugh assured her. “He has a brain, and it would override his emotions if he thought the job were important enough.”

“What would make it important for him, as long as there were crawlers to do it?”

Cedar grinned. “You might use his feelings, too. If he won’t admit to the possibility of such a wild coincidence, tell him he’s thinking like an Erthuma.”

The logic backfired, but not from Rekchellet. Hugh found himself using it on his wife after she heard of the test, and Janice was an Erthuma.

The End