"Killa?"Lars's image came up on the screen."Glad you're in, C.S. Ree.Would you join me as soon as possible in my office?"
She started to say something snide about his formality, but before she could speak he stepped to one side and she saw that he had visitors in his office: visitors who were wearing the clear plastic suits and breathing masks that meant their errand was urgent enough for them to risk possible contamination by the Ballybran symbiont.
"Permit me time to become presentable, Guild Master Lars Dahl," she said in a similar manner, and waved the comunit off.
Curiosity moved her to shower and change quickly.Very few people would take the chance these were.Urgent was almost always interesting.As she strode into the office, there was a new person at Trag's desk who looked up, seemed about to challenge her presence, hesitated, and then looked quickly back to the screen.She palmed the door and entered Lars's office.
"Ah, Crystal Singer Ree, I appreciate your alacrity.These are Klera and Rudney Saplinson-Trill.Klera, Rudney, this is the other member of the original Guild survey team."He gestured for Killashandra to be seated.
She noticed that there were snacks on the table beside her and blessed him for such thoughtfulness.He had even managed drinkers for the suited Saplinson-Trills.But he hadn't managed to indicate why they were braving the dangers of Ballybran.
"I'm not sure if you can recall the planet we visited some years back…" Lars began.
"Twenty-four years, five months and two weeks to be precise," Rudney Saplinson-Trill said with the quick humorless smile of someone to whom accuracy is more important than courtesy.The tinny and nasal quality the helmet speakers gave his voice increased the impudence of that unnecessary correction.
"Yes, the one with the opalescence which we investigated for the late Guild Master," Lars continued."It was posited at the time that Heptite Guild members, protected by their symbiont, would be safe from the infection which had killed the original exploratory team exposed to the opalescence-"
"Fluid metal, Guild Master," Rudney said, "is a more accurate term for the material-FM for short."
"We called it Jewel Junk," Killashandra said, mimicking him.He didn't notice, but Klera did.
"Yes, we did, didn't we?"Lars said, clearing his throat."For lack of a more accurate designation," he added, nodding toward Rudney."You will remember that we actually made two trips there, the second one after our visit to Nihal Three.On the second one we fed some trash to several of the Jewel Junk aka FM."
Killashandra wanted to giggle at Lars, but mastered the urge.
"Actually, nine of the now twenty FM manifestations," Rudney said.
"Yes.As I was saying…" Lars's nostrils flared, a sign of rare impatience in him, and he gave Rudney a quelling glance."We also tried to establish communications with the, ah FM opalescence."When the scientist seemed about to correct him yet again he said more firmly, "Or has the opalescence abated?"Lars fixed the scientist with a cold glare, then looked back to Killashandra, rattling his strong fingers on the table in a complex roll.
What appeared to be a nervous habit in him, plus the use of the words "opalescence", "Nihal Three" and "the infection" began to stir memories for Killa.
"We established a form of communication with it," she said."Have you managed to enlarge on that beginning?"Why else would they be risking their lives visiting Ballybran?
"We are pure research scientists," Rudney said stiffly."We are attempting to establish the parameters of an extremely complex life-form."
"Then you agree that the Junk is sentient?"
Rudney made a gesture, discounting her assumption."We are only beginning to analyze its substance."
"Wasn't it impervious to diagnostic instrumentation?"Killa asked Lars.
"Ours is considerably more sensitive," Rudney continued inexorably, "and therefore we have made progress where the usual sort of instrumentation was inadequate to the purpose."
"So," Killa said, crossing her arms over her chest and focusing her entire attention on him.She had found this to disconcert the unwary."What is it?"
"We have not yet finished our initial survey," Rudney admitted.
"After twenty-four years, five months and two weeks?"
"With such an unusual material, one does not rush to conclusions," Rudney informed her.
"Did it ever digest the Ballybran crystal we gave it?"Killa was very pleased with herself for that recollection.
"Ah, no," Rudney replied, and cleared his throat, causing an awful rasping sound to be broadcast.The nonabsorption seemed to worry him.
"In fact," Klera said, plunging in, "all nine FM units prominently display the crystal shards in the center of the reservoir.That's what we call the central node.Though 'node' is not exactly accurate either."
"Would blob do?"Killa found scholarly precision tedious.
"Fluid metal is the proper description of its composition and, even, of its function," Klera said, her round face solemn.
"But have you established any level of communication with my Jewel Junk?"
"Yyyeesss, and nn-no," Klera said, momentarily flustered."Our xenolinguist had hundreds of hours of recording but…" She sagged with a weary sigh.
"No mutual lexicon," Killa said, adding her own sigh.
"The individual FMs, however," Klera said, brightening, "seem to be communicating on some level.Though whether or not it's through use of the crystal shards, we haven't been able to ascertain."She shot a worried look at Rudney.
"Just the nine, or the other Junks you've discovered?"Killa asked, wondering if that was the problem.
"We can't be positive that they don't have another means of interacting.But we have established that the crystals send bursts of piezoelectric current," Klera said.
"Though we have been unable to determine the exact reason for the activity," Rudney said, smoothly taking over the explanations."All the twenty FM deposits show irrefutable evidence of a thermoelectric effect, generating a voltage flow which, we have posited, is due to the extremes of temperature through which the planet goes.There is a recognizable tide, as it were, in the fluctuations of the thermoelectric effect that can be timed to the onset of deviations in the planet's rotation around its primary."
"Naturally, we established a control group of three," he went on, settling himself in his chair for a long lecture."Caves Three, Nine and Fifteen remain as we found them on our arrival, complete with their central nub of crystal.We've divided the others into three groups according to size, giving each group a special diet: organic wastes, which seem to have little effect on growth; inorganic wastes, which demonstrably increase the size exponentially to the amount offered; and a mixture, half and half, to the third group which seems to thrive the best."
"We've done hours of recordings," Klera managed to slip in while Rudney took a deep breath, "which I do maintain are not merely thermoelectric statics.Fizal, our linguist, is certain that the various rhythms are conversations of some sort."
"That's not as immediate or as interesting as the history we have postulated about the primary 478-S-2937 and the planet's relationship to it," Rudney went on."Star 478-S has been through many stages, and our investigations point to the probability that the planet, Opal, was formed from ejecta of the various stages of the star's development."
"Now, Rudney," Klera said firmly, "you know that Sarianus's theory is equally viable."She turned to Lars."Our astrophysicist is of the opinion that the star was a huge new star, formed near the remnants of others."
"That has yet to be proved, Klera.That theory does not explain-"
"The flares, Rudney," Klera said, and the pair ignored the others in the room to continue what was obviously a long-standing argument."The solar flares affect the planet.We've noted the exceptional activity of the 'static' messages shortly before and after solar flares."