Varian had been quite willing to develop a relationship with Kai and had privately done a good bit of private crowing when she'd unexpectedly been tapped as a xenob on his geology expedition to Ireta
“And what's this I hear? This planet's been raped before?”
“The shield land mass we're on has certainly been stripped?” Kai replied, grinning a little at her blunt phrase. “Portegin only got the seismic screen rigged last night. Gaber thought it was malfunctioning because we got echoes where we'd cored, and faint impulses where we hadn't. So I did a decco and found an old old core.”
Varian had already heard many of the details. “We were informed during our briefing on shipboard that the system had been in storage a long time.”
"Well, there was no mention made of a previous geological survey.
“True,” and Varian looked at a vague middle distance thoughtfully as she drawled out the affirmative. There had been sort of a last minute rush to assemble this Iretan expedition, though the Theks and Ryxi had been scheduled for their respective planets for some months. “My team was sure added in a hurry. After they got print-out of life forms from the probe scan.”
“With all due respects, co-leader, the inclusion of your team doesn't puzzle me as much as no mention of a previous coring.”
“I quite appreciate that. How old d'you think the cores are?”
“Too scorching old for my liking, Varian. The line end with the stable shield area!”
Varian drew breath in a whistle. “Kai, that would mean millions of years. Could even a Thek manufactured device last that long?”
"Who knows?" C'mon, you can have a look at the device yourself. And I've some tapes to play for you that I think you'll like."
“Those flying things Gaber was raving about?”
“Among others.”
“Sure you won't have one more piece of fresh fruit?” She couldn't resist teasing him.
Kai gave her a fleetingly irritated look, then grinned. He had an engaging smile, she thought, and not for the first time. They'd seen a good deal of each other in the planning stages but far too little now they had to deal with their separate responsibilities.
“I've had a sufficiency to eat, thank you, Varian.”
“And I'm a glutton, huh?” But she snatched up one more slice from the platter. “What are these avians like? I don't trust Gaber's observations.”
“They're golden furred and I'd hazard that they're intelligent. Curiosity occurs only with intelligence, doesn't it?”
"Generally, yes. Intelligent fliers? Raking ramjets, this'll throw the Ryxi into loops." Varian crowed with delight." Where'd you encounter them?"
“I went to see those coloured lakes of Berru's, and startled them out of the cliffs. By the way, the lakes harbour monsters every bit as big and dangerous as those swamp dwellers we saw this morning.”
“This planet goes in for big things . . .”
"Big puzzles, too." They had entered the cartography dome now and Kai picked up the old core and handed it to her." Here's my latest."
Varian hefted it in the palm of one hand. She saw another core on the table. “Is this one of yours?”
Kai looked up from the tape cannisters he was sorting through and nodded.
Side by side, she could see the slight differences in circumference, length and weight.
“Does this previous coring explain why you've had so little luck in finding any cores?”
“Yes. The shield land has been stripped. My gang was relieved to know there was a good reason – this planet ought to be full of pay dirt. Now, however, we'll have to set up secondary camps in the new fold mountains . . .”
“Secondary camps? Kai, that isn't safe. Even if the worst you'd have to contend with is fang-face . . .”
“Fang-face?”
"Well, That's what I call whatever chewed a piece off Mabel's
flank."
“Mabel?”
"Must you keep repeating me? I find it a lot easier to name 'em than keep calling "em "herbivore number one" or "predator with teeth A"."
“I didn't know you'd seen the predator?”
“I haven't. I can postulate from his tooth marks . . .”
“Would this be fang-face?” asked Kai as the tapes he and Gaber had made that afternoon began to appear on the viewing screen. He punched a hold on the one shot they'd had of the predator's head.
Varian let out a squeak as she got a good look at the toothy, snarling head, the angry little eyes upturned to the sled as the creature had flashed across the small clearing.
“Yes, that could be the villain. Six metres in the shoulder, too. You couldn't set up secondary camps that would keep him out. He could flatten you even with a couple of force-screen belts on you. No, I wouldn't advise secondary camps until we find out how far these sweethearts range.”
“We could move the shuttle . . .”
“Not until Trizein has completed his current run of experiments. And why move? Are we low on power for travel?”
“No, but I was considering the commutation time. Cuts down effective time in the field.”
“True. Frankly, Kai, I'd prefer to scout an area before you set up a secondary camp. Even those herbivores like Mabel, useless as they are, could be dangerous stampeding from a fang-face. However,” she added, seeing he was adamant, “every animal in creation is afraid of something. I'll figure out what animals you'd have to contend with in an area and we can set up some safe-guards around say, one larger, suitably situated secondary camp and your field teams would be relatively safe . . .”
“You don't sound certain.”
“I'm not certain about anything on this crazy planet, Kai. And your discovery today only makes my uncertainty more . . .” she grinned, “certain!”
He laughed.
She took one more long appraising look at the predator's rows of needle sharp teeth and then asked Kai to roll the tape." Sure glad you were aloft when you met that fellow. Gaber managed to tag him? That'll help estimate his territorial sway. Oh, I say, aren't they lovely!"
The golden fliers were on the screen, and while it might have been the juxtaposition to the preceding predator, they seemed so benign and graceful.
“Oh, hold that frame, Kai, please!” Varian gestured for him to go back on the tape until she had the frame of the creature, suspended in its flight, its crested head slightly turned towards the camera so that both golden-coloured eyes were visible.
“Yes, I'd agree that it's intelligent. Is that a pouch under its beak for storing fish? And it's a glider, I think. Roll it, Kai, I want to see if that wing can rotate. Yes, see, there! As it veers away. Yes, yes. Much more advanced than that carrion eater this morning. Why is so much of our reaction dependant on the eye of a creature?” She looked up at Kai whose grey eyes widened with surprise.
“Eye?”
“Yes. The eyes of that little mammal today . . . I couldn't have left it behind, Kai, short of mutiny, once I'd seen the frightened lost confusion in its eyes. Much less the entreaty in Bannard's and Cleiti's. Those swamp horrors, they had tiny eyes, in comparison to their skull shape . . . wicked, beady, hungry eyes.” Varian shuddered in recall. “And that new predator's eyes . . . fang-face has a wicked appetite. Of course, it isn't a hard and fast rule – the Galormis were a hideous example of camouflaged intent . . .”
“You were on that expedition?”
Varian made a face. “Yes, I was a very junior member on the team at Aldebaran 4 when they were encountered. My first assignment out of xeno-veterinary college. They had soft eyes, mind you,” which occasionally still haunted her sleep, “mild-looking creatures too, softish, perfectly amenable until full dark – then – whammie!”