Piers Anthony - Total Recall

The hatchling was male, and looked fit, and holographic scanning verified it: there were no physical mutations. Q’ad felt M’la’s relief; the first hurdle was over.

But now came the interrogation, and that was more critical. A trace physical defect might be tolerated, such as an extra set of limbs, but not a significant mental defect.

Hatchling: what is your nature? The queen’s thought came.

The hatchling had been experimentally walking around the chamber, coordinating his six legs. Immediately he answered, for the No’ui jvere made with genetic memory. I am a male No’ui.

What is your purpose?

To serve the will of my species.

What is planetary transformation?

The hatchling hesitated, and both Q’ad and M’la stiffened. Had the technical transfer taken?

It is the adaptation of a hostile planet to a compatible phase, the hatchling responded. Again Q’ad and M’la relaxed.

Given sufficient quantity of hydrazoic acid and water, how would you generate an atmosphere three-quarters nitrogen and one-quarter oxygen, approximately?

The hatchling paused again. This was not just technical information, it was an exercise in application. If the hatchling got this right, he would qualify mentally.

Question permitted?

Permitted.

Are there facilities for nuclear fusion?

He was getting it!

There are.

I would initiate a controlled fusion reaction for power, the hatchling thought carefully. I would use that power to separate the hydrazoic acid into it component elements of one part hydrogen and three parts nitrogen. I would also separate the water into its components of two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen. This would yield three parts hydrogen, three parts nitrogen, and one part oxygen. I would then merge the hydrogen to helium by continued nuclear fusion, leaving the nitrogen and oxygen in the required ratio. I would store the surplus helium in compact state awaiting some future use.

Q’ad and M’la did a little dance of joy! He had gotten it! Of course it was a considerable oversimplification, but what could be expected of a hatchling with no experience of the universe? He would learn all that was required. Two parts of the test were done.

But the third was apt to be the killer. They tensed again.

Explicate this concept: (FIGURATIVE)

The hatchling paused, and again, Q’ad and M’la stiffened.

The hatchling’s antennae quivered. Then the little body relaxed. I am unable.

Why are you unable?

It is a concept alien to my nature.

Q’ad’s antennae met M’la’s antennae in an expression of rapture. Their hatchling had qualified!

They left the chamber. They would have no further contact with their hatchling, unless later he was assigned to the same project as one of them. Their part had been done: they had produced a true No’ui individual.

But the episode reminded Q’ad of the alien concept. What did it mean? He had struggled with this before, but it had always remained beyond his antennae. It seemed to suggest that something was not precisely as represented, yet indicated the essence. That was incomprehensible. A thing either was or was not; it could not be approximate in other than the purely physical sense, as in the case of an estimate instead of a direct count. Yet it appeared that the verbal language of the human species utilized this concept, and that humans understood it. They were of course primitive; perhaps they would eliminate such meaningless terms from their vocabulary as they matured. Still, it bothered him that a primitive species should be able to grasp a concept that no No’ui could.

Q’ad and M’la were now free to return to their assignments. But in time they would breed again, because their combination had proved to be successful. They had each justified their effort, by producing a viable hatchling in this hostile environment.

Q’ad found that he was now assigned to work on the surface. They were nearing the time of the test transformation and certain modifications had to be made in the landscape. M’la would be working with the genetically modified plants that would be able to root in the sands of this harsh planet. They both had to wear space suits, because until the project was completed there was insufficient atmosphere to sustain them. Actually, they would have to use suits once the atmosphere was established, because of course they could not breathe the alien mixture.

Then the presentation left Q’ad and M’la and zoomed above the planet, showing the time of its temporary transformation. An atmosphere was generated in the general manner described by the hatchling, oxygen-rich but suitable for human sustenance. Water flowed, and the special plants sprouted. The nuclear reactor had elements extending far across the planet, which were used to dissipate its enormous heat, at the same time bringing the temperature of the ground up to the level required by the plants, which was between the freezing and vaporizing points of the water that now collected in the declivities.

The test was a success; it was evident that the human species would be able to live on the surface of the planet if it activated the prepared mechanisms. The No’ui shut them down and restored the planet to its prior condition, except that the flow of water had changed some features in irrelevant ways. The plants were eliminated; their seeds were stored where they would be dispersed when the system was activated at a later date by the arriving human creatures. The activation itself would be simple; the complex was primed to come to life when a particular action was taken. That action was made clear to Hauser. He could readily do it.

But how did they know that the humans would be suitable traders? Hauser wondered. Suppose they abused the equipment?

In answer, he saw a representation of the planet Mars, with the Pyramid Mountain highlighted: the site of the nuclear reactor he had seen them building, and where he now (in memory) stood, receiving this presentation. There were three courses: it could be used as intended, and not only would it transform the planet so as to be livable by the human kind, it would yield its secrets of technology to human scientists, and enable them to catapult their species into galactic space, becoming full-fledged traders. Or it might be ignored, in which case the human species would make its own way as far as it was going to, perhaps achieving trader status in some later millennium. Or it might be abused, in which case it would be destroyed. A little nova symbol appeared, evidently indicating the destruction.

Now the program addressed him directly: Go tell your species, D’gls Q’ad H’sr. Make it understand that the choice is upon it. We No’ui put the matter on your appendages.

The presentation ended. Hauser found himself standing in the booth, and it was only a booth again. The alien presence was gone.

For some time he remained, awed. He knew that there were levels of this message that would take him hours, weeks, or years to understand completely. Right now, he knew what this complex was for, and how to activate it. That was enough.

He also knew that whatever loyalties he might have had in the past had been preempted by the No’ui. He was now their emissary.

Now, as Quaid, he understood so much, yet still not enough. He knew there was danger, immense danger, but wasn’t sure of its nature. Had Cohaagen’s men captured him, there in the alien complex? If so, what had he told them? His mind had been opened to the No’ui, but not to his own life, which had been blotted out by the memory implant that had lopped off his past identity and made him Douglas Quaid.