Stephen Baxter - Anti-Ice

“Second. The Phoebeans muster enormous masses, and throw them about the Moon with immense vigor. From this we conclude that whatever unknown organic motors power the beasts—their equivalent of our hearts, digestive systems, muscles—must be able to call on large stores of highly concentrated energy—”

“So,” Holden broke in excitedly, “are you suggesting that the Phoebeans are creatures of anti-ice, which shares the characteristic of high energy density?”

“Not at all,” Traveller snapped irritably, “and I will thank you not to interrupt my series of postulates. For even a fool—” Holden winced “—could see that an anti-ice theory is rendered to nonsense by my final observation, which is that the creatures lay dormant before our arrival! If they were powered by anti-ice energy release, Mr. Holden, what in Heaven would stop them from rampaging around the Moon constantly?”

I leaned forward. “So was it our arrival that triggered such an explosion of growth, Sir Josiah?”

“Oh, good God, of course not,” Traveller said sharply, with scarcely less irritation despite my heroic status. “I hardly think our blundering arrival was an event of sufficient moment to warrant the awakening of a thousand living mountains! To the Phoebeans we are rather less than a toothless flea would be to a dog. No; the eruption of the Phoebeans closely followed our arrival from a coincidence: which was that I chose to land close to the terminator.”

“Ah.” Holden nodded. “You mean you set us down into a lunar sunset. And, you suggest, it is only at sunset that the Phoebeans emerge from dormancy?”

“I do more than suggest,” Traveller said stiffly. “I took the time to observe the surface as we departed it through my telescopes; in the day hemisphere there is no evidence of movement on the scale we observed. But the darkened side is a writhing bowl of motion, as Phoebeans swirl their complex dances around each other.”

“A fascinating observation,” I said drily, and wondered whether to remark on my relief that at such a time as our launch Traveller had not become so overcome with anxiety for my well-being that he had been unable to complete a few scientific observations. “But what is so special about the night, Sir Josiah?”

“In the long lunar day,” Traveller said, “temperatures from the unshaded sun must reach hundreds of degrees by the Celsius measure, while during the fortnight-long night there is no air to retain the warmth of the land and heat leaks steadily into space, bringing temperatures little above the absolute zero.

“Next, I would remind you that anti-ice contains not one but two novel properties. There is the propensity of some element of it to combine explosively with ordinary matter. But there is also the phenomenon of Enhanced Conductance, as observed by Lord Maxwell and others. But this Enhanced Conductance is temperature-dependent; try to melt a block of anti-ice and the Conductance disappears, as do the magnetic walls containing the anti-substance… and—Boom!” He illustrated the last syllable by knocking his metal nose against the brandy globe, producing a piercing chime; we all jumped—even the uninterested Bourne. “And this, of course,” Traveller went on, “is the principle on which the construction of all our anti-ice machines is based.”

“I think I understand,” Holden said slowly, his eyes narrowed in thought. “You are suggesting that the Phoebeans are creatures whose blood flows along veins of Enhanced Conductance. But this property is only available when the temperature is low; too high and the Conductance property fails.”

“Precisely,” Traveller said. “The Phoebeans must slumber through the lunar day. Then, as the first touch of night stirs their unresistive blood, they become invigorated and pursue their violent affairs. But all too soon the dawn approaches and their veins clog once more; they grow dormant in the sunshine, waiting for the night to restore their vigor a fortnight later.

“And recall that the magnetic fields associated with Enhanced Conductance circuits are quite spectacularly large—much larger than anything produced by human scientists by any other means. It is these fields, I hazard, which supply the basis for the immense strength and speed of growth of the Phoebeans which we observed.”

Holden nodded. “This has the ring of truth, Sir Josiah. Just think of it, Ned! What if you spent every day unconscious, and were only able to function in the gloom of night?”

I thought that over, and replied, “Actually I have some friends who live a bit like that. Perhaps they have Phoebean ancestry.”

Holden said to Traveller, “You mentioned that this speculation tied in to the earlier observation that the Phoebeans appear confined to Traveller Crater.”

“Yes. For, as you will know, the phenomenon of Enhanced Conductance has been observed only in the substance we call anti-ice. Therefore I would suggest that the life-forms we saw were brought to the Moon by the comet, or meteor, of anti-ice which we have speculated fell to the lunar surface and detonated to cause such an immense formation.”

I sipped some more brandy and said, “It is an intriguing theory; but could such large and complex creatures survive such an explosion?”

“A comparatively intelligent question,” Traveller said, utterly without irony. “Probably they could not. But we may speculate that the Phoebeans have emerged from some simpler animalcule, a spore perhaps, which was hardy enough to survive the impact. And we may imagine that with the vigor of their growth and activities it will surely not be many centuries before they spread around to the Earth- facing face of the Moon.”

I frowned at that. “God is to be thanked that there is no possibility of these animals spreading further—to our Earth, for example.” I shivered, imagining those great crystalline limbs erupting from the green hills of England.

“Perhaps,” Traveller said. “But what an opportunity for scientific study such an invasion would afford us!”

“If anyone survived to carry out such a study,” said Holden.

“It is to be regretted,” said Traveller, “that the remaining stocks of anti-ice are so low—and mostly committed to other projects—that after our return to Earth another voyage to the Moon, by some future expedition, is most unlikely; and it may be many centuries before the theories I have expounded can be confirmed. We may never know, for instance, whether the water ice Ned collected was indigenous to the Moon, was brought there by an anti-ice comet, or has been generated since as some waste product of the activities of the Phoebeans.”

Bourne grinned. “How sad for you English that you are cut off from your newest colony. You could have taught these Phoebeans how to salute your flag; or how to institute a Parliament, as you did the hapless Indians.”

I laughed at this, but Holden bristled and said: “Or you Frenchies could instruct them in the techniques of revolution. They are surely mindless and destructive enough for that.”

I said, “Gentlemen, please; this is hardly a moment for such squabbling.” I looked at Traveller expectantly. “Sir Josiah, you mentioned our return to Earth. And so we are saved, are we not?”

Traveller smiled at me, not unkindly, and pointed to the hatch set in the ceiling. “See for yourself.”

I loosened my restraint, handed Pocket the remains of my cigar for neat disposal, and left my brandy globe to hover in the air; and then, still in my towelling robe, I jumped up to the hatch and passed through into the Bridge.

The Bridge was a place of spectral beauty; the various dials and panels shone in the faint yellow glow of their Ruhmkorff lights like the candlelit faces of carol-singers; and the whole was awash in a soft blue light: this was the light of Earth, which hung directly above the glass dome of the roof.