“Thought about that myself,” and Kai told her how he proposed they handle the problem.
“That's okay by me, Kai, and eminently sensible. Only I sure do hope we hear within that period. Say, you might ask the Theks in your next contact if they do remember anything about a previous expedition here.”
“Do I convey curiosity or disapproval because we were landed without any knowledge of a previous expedition?”
“Do the Theks appreciate either emotional prod?”
“I doubt it, but the trick is to get them actively thinking about anything.”
“By the time they've had their think, we could well be gone from here.” She paused and then, sort of surprised at her own words, added, “You don't suppose that Elder Thek is from the original group?”
“Varian, it takes a million years to produce the tectonic changes that buried the other cores. Not even a Thek is that long-lived.”
“Its son, maybe? Direct memory transfer? I know they practise that between generations.”
“That could be it?”
“What?”
"How all knowledge of Ireta got lost. Inaccurate memory transfer.
“There you go again, Kai, accusing the Theks of fallability. And here they've done half your work for you!”
Kai gave her a quick worried look but she was teasing him.
“Not the dangerous half . . . just sketched in the shields. Which reminds me, if you can spare them, I'd like to borrow the heavy-worlders tomorrow. We've got to move a lot of equipment and Dimenon says the terrain is wicked. Gaber will have to be on the spot for detailed mapping.”
“Who does that leave in camp on duty?”
“Lunzie prefers to stay in, on call. Divisti wants to do some tests and Trizein won't stir out of his lab. Oh, fardles, the younger contingent . . .”
"Don't worry about them. I'll take 'em. I'd like to see the pay dirt myself. It'd do them good. We can spin off and leave you to work in peace. I think Bonnard could manage the tell-tagger, even if you don't – "
“It's not that I don't, Varian . . .”
“I'm teasing you, Kai. But the kids'll be quite as useful for me to check the vicinity for the deposition of wildlife as the heavy-worlders. So long as we stay in the sled,” she added as she noticed Kai about to caution her.
Lunzie joined them at that point and Kai complimented her on the drink.
Lunzie frowned as she regarded the pitcher of liquid dubiously.
“It's not right yet. I shall distill it again, to see if I can't filter out that hint of hydro-telluride.”
“By all means keep at it, Lunzie,” said Kai and held out his beaker for her to fill, complaining when she did not.
“You don't need a big head for tomorrow. This fruit is potent.” Lunzie nodded towards the heavy-worlders whose deep laughs were rolling through the dome with increased frequency. “They feel its effects and their metabolism can tolerate more alcohol than ours.”
“They do look drunk, don't they, Varian?”
“Drunk? Perhaps.” It could, Varian thought, account for the way they were handling each other. Alcohol was a mild aphrodisiac for some species. She'd never heard that it affected the heavy-worlders that way. She was wondering if she ought to speak to them when suddenly, as if moved by a spontaneous signal, the heavy-worlders left the dome.
"It's good to see some who can recognize their limitations?" said Lunzie. I will take their tacit advice, and remove temptation."
Varian protested that she'd only had one serving: Kai had had two. Lunzie gave her a splash more and then strode out of the dome. Gaber half-followed her, but a curt remark stopped him at the door. Scowling, the cartographer came back to Varian and Kai.
“The evening's only started,” he said in an aggrieved tone. “Why did she have to remove the drink?”
“She's worried about its potency.” Varian studied the pale greenish liquid in her beaker with marked suspicion. “It sure made an impression on the heavy-worlders.”
Gaber snorted. “No need to deprive us because they have soft heads in spite of their heavy muscles.”
Kai and Varian exchanged glances because Gaber was slurring some of his words whether he was oblivious to the fact or not. He took a careful sip, closing his eyes to concentrate on an appreciation of the taste. “First decent thing on this planet,” he said. “Only thing that doesn't smell. And Lunzie makes off with it. Not fair. Just not fair.”
“We've a heavy day tomorrow, Gaber.”
“Did you tell her to ration us?” Gaber was quite willing to transfer his irritation from Lunzie to Kai and Varian.
“No. She's the dietician and the physician, Gaber. This stuff is apparently not up to standard. There could be adverse reactions to it and tomorrow . . .”
“I know, I know,” and Gaber waved his hand irritably to cut off Kai's sentence. “We've a big day tomorrow. Just as well we have something like this to sustain us when we're . . .” Now he abruptly concluded his sentence, glancing apprehensively at Kai who affected not to notice. “It does have a funny taste to it.” He hurried off.
"Sustain us when . . . what, Kai?" asked Varian, concerned."
“Gaber came up with the ass-headed notion that we've been planted.”
“Planted?” Varian suppressed the words behind her hand and then let her laughter loose. “I doubt it. Not on a planet as rich in the transuranics as this one. No way. Those ores are too badly needed. And it isn't as if they'd landed heavy equipment for us to do any sort of mining. Certainly not transuranic refining. Gaber's the original gloom guy. He can't ever look on the bright side of things.”
“I laughed at him, too, Varian, only . . .”
"Co-leader Kai," Varian glowered at him sternly, of course you did. It's stupid, silly and I only wish that the other reports had been picked up from the satellite so I didn't have any doubts." She gave Kai a frantic look, then shook her head. "No, it won't wash. We're not planted. But, if we don't hear from EV, I wouldn't trust Gaber not to spread that rumour." She looked at her empty beaker. "Damn Lunzie! Just when I need a drop more."
“I thought we'd decided not to worry about EV.”
“I'm not. Just grousing. I like that junk! It's got a certain curious jolt to it.”
“Probably a nutritional additive,” said Kai, remembering Bannard's complaint.
Varian burst out laughing. “Trust Lunzie for that. Our health is her first concern.”
Dimenon, his arm possessively about Margit, came strolling over to them. He couldn't have had more to drink than anyone else, since Lunzie had kept control of the pitcher, but his face was flushed and he was decidedly merry. He informed Kai that he insisted that the pitchblende mine be named after Margit. She was equally insistent that they share the triumph, as was customary, and the two fell to good-natured bickering, each calling for support from special friends in the team until everyone was involved in discussion.
Gaber was not the only one annoyed by Lunzie's precipitous departure with the drink, and Kai was surprised to hear a good deal of veiled complaints about the heavy-worlders. It caught him unawares as he'd been more sensitive to friction between the geological teams.
The next morning, he had additional cause for thought about the heavy-worlders for they were not operating in their usual stolid dependable fashion: they moved sluggishly, awkwardly, looked tired and were almost sullenly quiet
“They couldn't have got hung over in two half-beakers?” Varian murmured to Kai as she, too, noticed the glum manner of her team. “And their quarters were dark early. They ought to have got enough sleep.”