Metaphase. Part 48

"You'll have a job prying it loose."

"Maybe you'll be lucky," Androgeos said, "and it'll die."

"I don't think so," Infinity said. "It's already changing. It's growing, and it's, I don't know, putting feelers down into the rock."

"Oh, great."

"We are * n't in any danger yet," Infinity said quickly.

"It's only half a meter down, and there's nothing vital anywhere near."

"You should destroy it," Androgeos said confidently.

"No," Victoria said. "Zev was right. J.D. will never forgive us if we destroy it." At least part of her urge to protect it was because Androgeos wanted to be rid of it. "What will happen if we leave it?"

"As you see Andro gestured toward-the im age.

In the cross-section, mycelia from the egg case extended another handsbreadth into the substance of the wild side's sh.e.l.l.

"Ultimately, I mean. How big will it get?"

Andro shrugged. "Who knows? We have other things to do than follow the life cycle of a squidmoth." 345."I want to talk about this," Europa said.

She reached into a deep pocket in her skirt, and drew out an age-mottled jawbone with unsettling proportions. It had lost all its teeth, except a single sharp fang.

"The art project," Gerald Hernminge said.

Europa gazed at Gerald fondly. "Your intelligence gives me hope for our species. Until I inspected the fossil myself, I was inclined to believe in the art project. Clever of you to disguise it so openly." She smiled at Stephen Thomas. "Rather like the bacteria. But this bone is real, it's very old, and it's of critical importance to Civilization. I must see where it came from."

Gerald started to say something. Stephen Thomas interrupted him.

"Why?"

"I believe you've found a clue to the other ones," Europa said. "The ones who came before us, and disappeared, except for their stars.h.i.+ps . . . and their control of the cosmic string."

"Good G.o.d," Stephen Thomas said, and thought: Now what?

"If you'll follow me," Gerald Hemminge said, "I'll take you to the . .

. the fossil bed."

On the path to the riverbank, Europa quickened her step. She allowed herself to look like a person well advanced in years, but she had the energy of a teenager. Her meerkats followed her, pacing at her heels or scampering to the top of a hummock to make a quick scan for predators.

Victoria had to lengthen her stride to keep up.

"What do you expect to learn from the fossil bed?" Victoria asked Europa.

She chose her words with care.

"I expect nothing," Europa said. "I hope . . . for some clue to their origin."

"If we found where they came from," Androgeos said, "we might discover how they control the cosmic string."346 Victoria glanced at Stephen Thomas. He rolled his eyes. Victoria was glad the fossil bed was a fake; no matter what else happened, it would never lead Andro to a source of great power.

"And we might overcome the effects of the squidmoths' greed," Andro said.

"The squidmoths!" Victoria said. "Why do you hate them so much? They didn't seem greedy to me-quite the opposite."

Victoria found herself on the side of the squidmoths. Europa and Androgeos respected Victoria because they believed she was descended from the Pharaohs, as they claimed to be. But she was descended from escaped slaves, and her family history included stories of abuse and discrimination, not wors.h.i.+p and power.

"We don't hate them!" Europa said. "But . . . they're an old species.

Just because they've been around longer than the rest of us, they inherited the possessions of the other ones, the earlier star travelers."

Satos.h.i.+ frowned. "What possessions? The squidmoths aren't dragons, sitting on a pile of gold! We met one of the beings, we talked to it. We saw how it lived. If an earlier culture left it everything they owned .

. . they must have been Spartans."

"They left their stars.h.i.+ps, " Europa said. She watched Victoria's reaction, and Satos.h.i.+'s. "You understand. The squidmoths inhabit the other ones' stars.h.i.+ps. Civilization is left as scavengers. We're dependent on their castoffs."

"Some squidmoths never travel to another star," Androgeos said. "They could live on any piece of rock." He flicked his fingers toward the image of Starfarer's wild side. "And obviously some of them aren't particular."

"They never use the s.h.i.+ps to their potential. And they won't sell!

There's nothing they want!"

"Then how do you get any of them?"

"We scavenge."

"Salvage, " Androgeos said. 347."Sometimes you find the s.h.i.+ps abandoned," Europa said. "Maybe the squidmoths die. Who knows?"

"If you're lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time . . ."

The face of the beautiful youth took on a predatory look. Androgeos grinned suddenly, showing his teeth. "Every time we returned to Tau Ceti, we hoped that stars.h.i.+p might be empty. It would have made our fortunes."

What will this mean for J.D.? Victoria wondered suddenly, worried all over again for her friend. What if someone else was lurking, hoping to steal Nerno's s.h.i.+p . . . and J.D. was in the way?

"You've already got one stars.h.i.+p," Satos.h.i.+ said. "What do you need another for?"

Androgeos glanced at him, annoyed. Satos.h.i.+ always asked the alien human questions he preferred not to answer.

"It isn't a matter of needing it," Europa said quickly. "As Andro said, a stars.h.i.+p is valuable. If the opportunity comes up . . . Why shouldn't we take it?"

Europa glanced at Victoria and chuckled softly.

"Ah, Victoria, my dear, you have such a low opinion of us. We got off to a poor start, and now you wonder if these ancient Minoans don't wait for a s.h.i.+p to be empty. Perhaps we're really pirates."

"The possibility . . . crossed my mind."

"Too bad we can't be," Androgeos said. "We'd be a lot richer."

"Good lord, what else do you need?" Satos.h.i.+ exclaimed. "You have a stars.h.i.+p, a whole world of your own, complete freedom-!"

"One likes to have respect, as well," Europa said. "So far, you haven't helped our position in the community." She glanced at the fossil bone in her hand; she stroked the fang with her index finger.

"Are you pirates?" Zev asked curiously.

Europa laughed. "No, young Zev, my ichthyocentaur. We're civilized people, we don't murder each other for possessions. Besides, the squidmoths are far from defenseless. They want you to think they're harm-348 less voyeurs. But in their own way, they're quite powerful."

"And deceitful and selfish," Androgeos said.

"Look who's talking," Stephen Thomas muttered.

Androgeos glared at Stephen Thomas, but Europa smiled at him benignly.

"There are stories, old, old, stories, of people with . . . fewer ethics than our company here, who pursued squidmoths through transition, hunting them for their s.h.i.+ps. The squidmoths were seen again. The hunters were not."

They reached the canyon, where the path plunged down to the river bank.

Crimson Ng sat alone on the canyon edge, gazing into the current.

The river had flooded. Dirty brown water rushed and raced past the cliff.

It riffled past the rough tock, showering everyone with muddy spray.

On the other side, a section of cliff collapsed into the water. The wild current s.n.a.t.c.hed the shattered stone downstream, then dragged it beneath the surface.

The tremendous sound of floodwater possessed a pressure all its own, a low, dangerous roar with a counterpoint of boulder percussion rising from the bottom of the river.

The current was often strong enough to move the fist-sized rocks that formed its bed and beaches. Walking beside the river, Victoria liked to listen to the click and roll of stones in water. But now the river was changing its contours to the background of a kettledrum symphony.

When the water finally fell, the rapids and the pools would all be changed. And so would the riverbank, where the fossils lay.

Europa stared into the water. Stricken, she glanced at Crimson.

"We've had some bad weather," Crimson said calmly.

"But the fossils-! The other ones-!"

"It all washed downstream," Crimson said. "We'll have to do salvage archaeology." 349.Europa sat disconsolately on the riverbank beside Crimson. Crimson gestured down into the muddy water where the fossils had lain, describing what she had seen but not yet excavated. Androgeos kicked the rocky edge of the cliff, as if he might uncover another fossil bed. Professor Thanthavong spoke quietly and urgently with Stephen Thomas. Satos.h.i.+ and Victoria stood together, with Zev nearby. Gerald hovered near Crimson and Europa, no longer trying to maintain that the fossils were an art project. The meerkats foraged on the bank, sending up sprays of wet dirt as they dug for insects.

One of them climbed to the top of a bush, chittering when a branch sprayed it with collected raindrops.

"I don't believe this," Satos.h.i.+ said softly.

Victoria covered her face with her hands, afraid she would start laughing.

An image coruscated around them: the rainbow edge of a transition spectrum.

When it faded, Arachne projected the sight of Nerno's s.h.i.+p plunging into the star system.

"J.D.!" Zev was the first to welcome her. He whistled softly, a descending cascade of notes. He grimaced. "It doesn't sound right, in the air."

The gravity of Europa's s.h.i.+p had pulled Starfarer aside; the starcraft were in no danger of colliding. Victoria felt a rush of joy, unalloyed by fear.

"Are you okay?" Victoria asked. "That is you-T'

They waited impatiently through the instant's timelag.

J.D.'s image appeared "I'm here, Zev. I understood what you said. Me, too. Hi, Victoria."

"I'm so glad you're all right. What . . . what about Nemo?"

"Nerno's dead."

"J.D. . . . I'm so sorry." Victoria wished she were near enough to hug her friend.350 "It's strange. . . . I'm sad, but I-is that Europa with you?"

"h.e.l.lo, J.D.," Europa said. "You've lost a friend? I'm sorry."

"Thank you," J.D. said.

"How did you persuade the squidmoth to bring you here?" Europa asked.

"I didn't. The squidmoth-Nemo-died."

Androgeos swung around from the riverbank, his kilt swinging around his powerful legs. His feet were muddy to the ankles.

"I claim salvage!" he shouted.

"Salvage?" J.D. said. "What are you talking about?"

"The s.h.i.+p's abandoned. I claim salvage."

"My ffiend died and left the s.h.i.+p to me," J.D. said coldly. "It is not abandoned."

"Don't be selfis.h.!.+" Androgeos pleaded. "It's useless to you,"

His usual tone of disdain vanished in his desperation; he spoke in the same tone as when he begged Victoria to give him her new algorithm.

"I'll come over and pith it, so we can harness it," he said. "Otherwise the Four Worlds will send out a salvage crew. What good can it do you?

You have to go back to Earth!"

"If I have to go back to Earth," J.D. said, "I'll take Nerno's s.h.i.+p with me."

"And just how do you propose to do that? Tow it with your pathetic sail?"

The sailhouse trembled. A touch to Arachne showed that Europa's s.h.i.+p was moving again, curving its path in such a way as to fling Starfarer none too gently out of orbit.