Charles Sheffield - The Spheres of Heaven

“They were destroyed?”

Deb asked the question automatically, and a moment later was cursing herself for doing so. A Tinker Composite was no better than a Pipe-Rilla at admitting the possibility of physical violence. Eager Seeker produced a muffled stutter, but the Composite was already dissociating into its components. Ten seconds later every element had vanished into the dense bushes.

Vow-of-Silence said in a high, nervous voice, “Perhaps the missing components found something of interest that they wished to investigate.”

Tarbush Hanson turned on the Pipe-Rilla. “You think so? So why don’t you go take a look, an’ see what’s so fascinatin’ out there. Rather you than me.”

“All right, Tarb.” Chrissie put her hand on his arm. “Take it easy. We work together, or we’re all in trouble.”

“We do.” Danny Casement turned to Deb. “Mind if Vow-of-Silence takes a look with it? Give her something to occupy her mind, and she’s supposed to have phenomenal vision.”

“Do you think she’s tall enough to take a peek over the ridge if she uses it?”

“Worth a try. And if she’s not that tall, it’s for sure none of the rest of us is. Shall I?”

Deb nodded. Even before that Danny was bending over and rooting in the supply case. He pulled from it a round cylinder half a meter long and about as thick as his upper arm.

“Here, big girl.” He handed the cylinder to Vow-of-Silence. “Courtesy of Bony Rombelle, in the bit of time he had before we left when he wasn’t fiddling with the ship. See what you can do with that.”

“It is a—” the Pipe-Rilla held it in two forelimbs, and turned it over and over “—what is it? Why do you offer it to me?”

“It’s a periscope. It works like this.” Danny pulled out the extensible tube, foot after foot, until it was as long as the Pipe-Rilla was tall. “You look into one end, the thick end here, and you get a view of what the thin end sees. The question is, if you stand up and raise this as high as you can, are you able to look over the top of the ridge?”

“I do not know. But I will find out.” Vow-of-Silence crouched down, then slowly and carefully raised the periscope until it was vertically above her head. “Not from this position. But perhaps if I rise …”

The long, thin body slowly unfolded, until it towered far above the watching humans.

“I have a view over the ridge.” The Pipe-Rilla’s voice came from far above. “And as you say, buildings are visible. Many buildings, around a long cleared strip of land — the airstrip seen in the images. And beings moving, around the buildings. And …” The tone of voice changed. “Is there any way to operate this device at higher magnification?”

“Be reasonable!” Danny called up to her. “The Bun cobbled this together from any leftover bits of optics he could find. It’s mechanical, not electronic. What you see is what you get. Just what is it you’d like to see in more detail?”

“I am not sure.” Vow-of-Silence remained standing for another long minute, then at last crouched down to the same level as the humans. “Perhaps my eyes are deceiving me, but here is what I saw. I saw many creatures moving around the buildings. Some were bigger than others, but all of them had the same overall body plan. Except for one.”

The Pipe-Rilla bent yet lower, and placed a pair of forelimbs together in a gesture that seemed apologetic. She stared into Deb Bisson’s eyes. “That one — as I said, I cannot be sure, and I do not like to speculate on such an important matter — but that other one had a different shape, a quite different body design.” Vow-of-Silence paused, as if not sure that she wanted to say what came next. At last she murmured, almost too low to hear, “That other one seemed like one of you: that other one had the shape of a human.”

What Vow-of-Silence had seen, or possibly not seen, led to the shore party’s first major disagreement. The Pipe-Rilla was all in favor of walking straight up to the encampment. “They did not harm the one person, who can only be Friday Indigo. So why should they harm us? It is so like humans, to assume the worst of every other living thing. Let me approach the encampment, and announce our presence.”

Deb was ready to argue, but she didn’t need to. Eager Seeker said, “With respect, it is easy for you to say that. You have not lost a part of you. We urge caution.” The mound of the Tinker Composite became taller and thinner. A group of topmost components began a preliminary fluttering of purple-black wings. “We can fly parts of ourself high over the ridge, and make our initial contact with low risk.”

“With respect, although as a composite you possess superior reasoning powers, your separate components are not capable of thought or intelligible discourse.” Vow-of-Silence began to stand up. “It is far better if I go.”

“With respect, we must disagree.”

Deb suddenly understood what the argument was really about. “No one should go until we’ve learned a lot more,” she said, “and I’ll tell you why. You’re both hoping to have first contact with a new species. Well, we humans are just as keen for that. But if it is Friday Indigo inside the encampment, you’re too late. And if it isn’t Friday Indigo, we have no evidence that whoever lives in that encampment would accept any offer of our friendship.”

The Tinker Composite did not speak, but sagged a foot lower. The flutter of component wings ended. Vow-of-Silence crouched low, and stared at Deb. For once the Pipe-Rilla lived up to her name.

“I’m as eager to meet the aliens as any of you,” Deb said, “but we’ll only do it when we know it’s safe. And if it’s not Friday Indigo over in the encampment, we all go to meet the aliens together. That way there will be no arguments about first contact. Agreed?”

No one spoke, and Deb went on, “So here’s what I propose. I’ll snake through the vegetation, keeping low, until I can get a closer look at the encampment. No matter what I see, I won’t make any attempt at contact — that’s a promise. I’ll return here, tell you what I’ve seen, and we’ll decide what we want to do next. Everyone in agreement?”

“No.” The objection came not from Vow-of-Silence, or Eager Seeker. It was Chrissie Winger who was shaking her head. “You’re the leader of the shore party, even if you don’t think so. That means we normally do what you say.”

“So do what I say now.”

“Wait a minute. The team leader ought not to be an advance scout, because you may have to make tough decisions back here. Suppose you get into trouble, what do the rest of us do? So somebody else ought to go take the look-see. I propose that Tarb and me do it.” Chrissie held up a hand, because Deb’s mouth was opening. “The two of us have been sitting on our hands for weeks, waiting to find something to do—”

“We all have,” said Danny.

“ — something that fits in with our special skills. Now, you Danny, you can charm the leg off a chair, but that’s not what we need at the moment. You can’t charm an alien until you can talk to one. And you, Deb, you’re a weapons master, and your special skill is fighting.” That produced a groan from Vow-of-Silence and a hiss from Eager Seeker. Chrissie went on, speaking fast. “We’re not allowed to fight. But Tarb, on the other hand, he can read a person or an animal’s intentions without them saying a word. And he’s stronger than anyone I know. As for me, my specialty is deception. Call it magic if you like, call it trickery, call it sleight of hand — but it works. He and I make a good team.”

“Fine. You and Tarb can be the scouts.”

“We’ve been working together for years, in all kinds of situations. Whatever one of us does, the other can back up and support—”