Hal Clement - Mission of Gravity

Unfortunately, it was decidedly more than a step to a Mesklinite sailor. The Bree was still in the wrong ocean; Lackland, after staring silently for many minutes at the mosaic about him, said as much to his tiny companion. He expected no answer, or at most a dispirited agreement; his statement was self-evidently true — but the native fooled him.

„Not if you have more of the metal on which we brought you and the meat back!” was Barlennan’s instantaneous reply.

For another long moment Lackland stared out the window into the sailor’s eyes, while the implications of the little creature’s remark sank into his mind; then he stiffened into something as closely approaching an alert attitude as the gravity permitted.

„You mean you would be willing to tow the Bree overland on a sledge, as you did me?”

„Not exactly. The ship outweighs us very much, and we would have the same trouble with traction that we did before. What I had in mind was your towing, with another tank.”

„I see. I — see. It would certainly be possible, unless we hit terrain that the tank couldn’t pass. But would you and your crew be willing to” make such a journey? Would the extra trouble and distance from your home be repaid by the little we could do for you?”

Barlennan extended his pincers in a smile.

„It would be much better than what we originally planned. There are trading goods that come from the shores of the eastern ocean to our country, by the long caravan routes overland; by the time they reach the ports on our own sea, they are already fabulously expensive, and an honest trader cannot make a decent profit from them. This way, if I picked them up directly — well, it would be certainly very worth while indeed, for me. Of course, you would have to promise to bring us back across tfe isthmus when we returned.”

„That would certainly be fair enough, Barl; I’m sure my people will gladly agree to it. But how about the land travel itself? This is country you know nothing about, as you have said; might not your crew be afraid of unknown land, and high hills over them, and maybe animals larger than can possibly grow in yotir part of the world?”

„We have faced dangers before,” the Mesklinite replied. „I was able to get used to high places — even the top of your tank. As for animals, the Bree is armed with fire, and none that walk on land could be as large as some that swim the oceans.”

„That’s true enough, Barl. Very well. I was not trying to discourage you, goodness knows; but I wanted to be sure you had thought the matter over before you embarked on such a project. It’s hardly one that can be backed out of in the middle.”

„That I can readily understand, but you need not fear, Charles. I must return to the ship now; the clouds are gathering again. I will tell the crew what we are going to do; and lest the thoughts of fear should come to any of them, I will remind them that the profits of the voyage will be shared according to rank. There is no member of that crew who would put fear in the way of wealth.”

„And you?” Lackland chuckled as he asked the question. „Oh, I’m not afraid.” The Mesklinite vanished into the night as he spoke the words, and Lackland was never sure just how he meant them.

Rosten, when he heard the new plan, made a number of caustic remarks to the effect that Lackland could certainly be counted on for ideas that would give him use of a tank.

„It seems as though it should work, though,” he admitted grudgingly. „Just what sort of sled are we supposed to build for this ocean liner of your friend’s? How big is it, again?”

„The Bree is about forty feet long and fifteen across; I suppose it draws five or „six inches. It’s made of a lot of rafts about three feet long and half as wide, roped together so they can move fairly freely-I can guess why, on this world.” „Hmph. So can I. If- a ship that long had its two ends supported by waves while the middle hung free, up near the pole, it would be in pieces before long whether it started that way or not. How is it driven?”

„Sails; there are masts on twenty or thirty of the rafts. I suspect there may be centerboards on some of them too, retractable so the ship can be beached; but I never asked Barlennan. I don’t really know how far advanced the art of sailing is on this world, but from the casual way in which he speaks of crossing long stretches of open ocean, I assume they know about beating into a wind.”

„Seems reasonable. Well, we’ll build something out of light metal here on the moon, and cart it down to you when we finish.”

„You’d better not bring it down until winter’s over. If you leave it inland it’ll get lost under the snow, and if you drop it at the seashore someone may have to dive for it, if the water line goes up the way Barlennan expects.”

„If it’s going to, why is it waiting so long? The winter is more than half over, and there’s been a fantastic amount of precipitation in the parts of the southern hemisphere that we can see.”

„Why ask me things like that? There are meteorologists on the staff, I believe, unless they’ve gone crazy trying to study this planet. I have my own worries. When do I get another tank?”

„When you can use it; after winter is over, as I said. And if you blow that one up it’ll be no use howling for another, because there isn’t one closer than Earth.”

Barlennan, hearing the gist of this conversation at his next visit some hundreds of days later, was perfectly satisfied. His crew was enthusiastic about the proposed trip; they might, as he had implied, be lured by the prospective gain, but there was liberally distributed among them a share of the plain love of adventure which had carried Barlennan so far into unknown territory.

„We will go as soon as the storms break,” he said to Lackland. „There will still be much snow on the ground; that

will help where the course lies over land different from the loose sand of the beach.”

„I don’t think it will make much difference to the tank,” replied Lackland.

„It will to us,” pointed out Barlennan. „I admit it would not be dangerous to be shaken off the deck, but it would be annoying in the middle of a meal. Have you decided what would be the best course to follow across the land?”

„I’ve been working on it.” The man brought out the map that was the result of his efforts. „The shortest route, that we discovered together, has the disadvantage of requiring that I tow you over a mountain range. It might be possible, but I don’t like to think of the effects on your crew. I don’t know how high those mountains are, but any altitude is too much on this world.

„I’ve worked out this route, which I’ve shown by a red line. It follows up the river that empties into the big bay on this side of the point, for about twelve hundred miles — not counting the small curves in the river, which we probably won’t have to follow. Then it goes straight across country for another four hundred or so, and reaches the head of another river. You could probably sail down that if you wanted, or have me keep.-on towing — whichever would be faster or more comfortable for you. Its worst feature is that so much of it runs three or four hundred miles south of the equator — another half gravity or more for me to take. I can handle it, though.”

„If you are sure of that, I would say that this is indeed the best way.” Barlennan gave his statement after careful study of the map. „Your towing will probably be faster than sailing, at least in the river where there will probably be no room to tack.” He had to use his own language for the last word; Lackland received the explanation of its meaning with satisfaction. He had guessed correctly about the extent of nautical progress among Barlennan’s people, it seemed.