“So we're starting animal life here at last,” remarked the spaceman. “I thought it was a major bone of contention whether we ever would.”
“The question was settled at the first meeting of the new board,” replied Weisanen. “Life forms able to live here — or presumably able to live here — have been ready for several years. Please be careful in putting those in the lock — just the odd-numbered ones first, please. The evens contain predators, and the others should be given a few hours to scatter before they are turned loose.”
“Right. Any special techniques for opening? Or just get the bubbles through the second lock and cut them open?”
“That will do. I assume that a few hours in the currents inside, plus their own swimming abilities, will scatter them through a good part of the drop.”
“It should. I suppose they'll tend to stay pretty close to the skin because of the light; I trust they can take a certain amount of hard radiation.”
“That matter has been considered. There will be some loss, damage, and genetic change, of course, but we think the cultures will gain in spite of that. If they change, it is no great matter. We expect rapid evolution in an environment like this, of course. It's certainly been happening so far.”
Bresnahan helped push the proper spheres into the lock at the vacuum end and out of it at the other, and watched with interest as each was punctured with a knife and squeezed to expel the contents.
“I should have asked about waiting for temperatures to match,” remarked Silbert as the cloud of barely visible, jerkily moving specks spread from the last of the containers, “but it doesn't seem to be bothering them.”
“The containers were lying on Raindrop's surface all night, and the satellite is in radiative equilibrium,” pointed out Bresnahan. “The temperatures shouldn't be very different anyway. Let's get back outside and see what's going on next. Either these water-bugs are all right, or they're beyond our help.”
“Right.” Silbert followed the suggestion, and the newly released animals were left to their own devices.
Outside, another job was under way. The largest single items of cargo had been a set of curved segments of metal, apparently blue-anodized aluminum. In the few minutes that Silbert and Bresnahan had been inside, the Weisanens had sorted these out from the rest of the material and were now fitting them together.
Each section attached to its neighbor by a set of positive-acting snap fasteners which could be set almost instantly, and within a very few minutes it became evident that they formed a sphere some twenty feet in diameter. A transparent dome of smaller radius was set in one pole, and a cylindrical structure with trap doors in the flat ends marked the other. With the assembly complete, the Weisanens carefully sprayed everything, inside and out, from cylinders which Silbert recognized as containing one of the standard fluorocarbon polymers used for sealing unfindable leaks in space ships.
Then both Weisanens went inside.
Either the metallic appearance of the sphere was deceptive or there were antennae concealed in its structure, because orders came through the wall on the suit-radio frequency without noticeable loss. In response to these, Bresnahan and the spaceman began handing the rest of the equipment in through the cylindrical structure, which had now revealed itself as a minute air lock. As each item was received it was snapped down on a spot evidently prepared to receive it, and in less than two hours almost all the loose gear had vanished from the vicinity of Raindrop's entry lock. The little that was left also found a home as Weisanen emerged once more and fastened it to racks on the sphere's outer surface, clustered around the air lock.
The official went back inside, and, at his orders, Silbert and the computerman lifted the whole sphere onto the top of the cylindrical cargo lock of the satellite. Either could have handled the three-pound weight alone, but its shape and size made it awkward to handle and both men felt that it would be inadvisable to roll it.
“Good. Now open this big hatch and let us settle into the lock chamber,” directed Weisanen. “Then close up, and let in the water.”
It was the first time Silbert had caught his boss in a slip, and he was disproportionately pleased. The hatch opened outward, and it was necessary to lift the sphere off again before the order could be obeyed.
Once it was open, the two men had no trouble tossing the big globe into the yawning, nearly dark hole — the sun was just rising locally and did not shine into the chamber — but they had to wait over a minute for Raindrop's feeble gravity to drag the machine entirely inside. They could not push it any faster, because it was not possible to get a good grip on sphere and lock edge simultaneously; and pushing down on the sphere without good anchorage would have done much more to the pusher than to the sphere.
However, it was finally possible to close the big trap. After making sure that it was tightly latched — it was seldom used, and Silbert did not trust its mechanism unreservedly — he and Bresnahan entered the lock through the smaller portal.
“Aren't there special suits for use inside Raindrop, a lot more comfortable than this space armor?” asked Weisanen.
“Yes, sir,” replied the spaceman, “though the relative comfort is a matter of opinion. There are only three, and two of them haven't been used since I came. They'll need a careful checkout.”
“All right. Bring them in here, and then let the water into this lock.” Silbert found the suits and handed them to Bresnahan to carry out the first part of the order, while he went to the controls to execute the second.
“All ready?” he asked.
“All set. Both lock doors here are shut, and the three of us are inside. Let the flood descend.”
“Wrong verb,” muttered Silbert to himself.
He very cautiously cracked the main inner hatch; opening it would have been asking for disaster. Even at a mere quarter atmosphere's pressure the wall of water would have slammed into the evacuated lock violently enough to tear the outer portal away and eject sphere and occupants at a speed well above Raindrop's escape value. There was a small Phoenix rocket in the station for emergency use, but Silbert had no wish to create a genuine excuse for using it. Also, since he was in the lock himself, he would probably be in no condition to get or pilot it.
5
The water sprayed in violently enough through the narrow opening he permitted, bouncing the sphere against the outer hatch and making a deafening clamor even for the spacesuited trio inside. However, nothing gave way, and in a minute it was safe to open the main hatch completely.
Silbert did so. Through the clear dome which formed the sphere's only observation window he could see Weisanen fingering controls inside. Water jets from almost invisible ports in the outer surface came into action, and for the first time it became evident that the sphere was actually a vehicle. It was certainly not built for speed, but showed signs of being one of the most maneuverable ever built.
After watching for a moment as it worked its way out of the lock, Silbert decided that Weisanen had had little chance to practice handling it. But no catastrophe occurred, and finally the globe was hanging in the greenish void outside the weed-grown bulk of the lock. The spaceman closed the big hatch, emerged through the personnel lock himself, and swam over to the vehicle's entrance.
The outer door of the tiny air lock opened manually. Thirty seconds later he was inside the rather crowded sphere removing his helmet — some time during the last few minutes Weisanen had filled the vehicle with air.
The others had already unhelmeted and were examining the “diving” suits which Bresnahan had brought inside. These were simple enough affairs; plastic form-fitting coveralls with an air-cycler on the chest and an outsized, transparent helmet which permitted far more freedom of head movement than most similar gear. Since there was no buoyance in this virtually weight-free environment, the helmet's volume did not create the problem it would have on Earth. Silbert was able to explain everything necessary about the equipment in a minute or two.