But that was not an option. All the sounds and images from Team Alpha’s descent to Travancore were tucked away in Angels capacious memory, available for recall and analysis in moments — except that the encounter itself was not there. The final video in the Anabasis files showed Nimrod drifting down the shaft toward the waiting team. It did not appear belligerent, or even particularly powerful.
The fight that had followed was not shown. The transmission equipment must have been destroyed with the team itself. But the disaster on Cobweb Station had proved that the Construct was anything but peaceful, and now it had more battle experience. On Travancore it must have destroyed the first pursuit team in a fraction of a second.
That, at least, was Chan’s own preferred version of the event. He could not bear the idea of the team members — of Leah — lingering on horribly wounded beneath that thatch of vegetation for hours or days.
The Team Alpha recording served one other possible purpose. It indicated the location of Nimrod, during at least the brief period of time of the encounter. When Shikari performed a muon survey from orbit, a nearby site at Travancore’s equator seemed to Chan’s eyes slightly brighter on the images. But there were half a dozen other candidates, and he could not decide among them.
“What do you think, Angel?” Chan indicated his favored bright spot. “Isn’t that the point where we are most likely to find Nimrod?”
“Possibly, possibly.” There was a slow wave of mid-fronds, Angels equivalent of polite skepticism. “But the proof of the pudding is in the eating. We must descend before we really know. In the words of the great Sherlock, it is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data.”
S’greela and Shikari had done their own analysis of Team Alpha’s descent into the surface shafts. They had concluded that in Travancore’s light gravity the tunnels would be navigable by Angel without assistance, provided that a lift pack could be strapped around the tubby mid-section. And S’greela, unhampered by Angel, would have far better mobility.
That conclusion was the only positive result that Chan could see from two days of analysis from high orbit. He drew a conclusion — reluctantly: they could look down at Travancore from afar forever, and not know much more than they knew now. Like it or not, it was time to stick their necks out and get down to the surface.
As they prepared to enter the landing capsule Chan gave the others one more warning. “Make sure you have everything that you’ll need on Travancore before we leave the Q-ship. We’ve had clear instructions from the Anabasis, we will not be allowed back on board unless we can prove that we’ve destroyed Nimrod. We won’t even be given drop shipments from orbit, unless it’s clear that they can’t be used by Nimrod if things go wrong. We’ll be on our own.”
“Until we return triumphant to the Q-ship…” said S’greela.
“…our team victorious, happy and glorious,” added Angel.
“One for all, and all for one,” added Shikari.
If the Tinker was starting that, too, Chan couldn’t stand it. He went across to the Q-ship communicator one last time and initiated a Link sequence to Anabasis Headquarters on Ceres. Mondrian was alone in the control room. He nodded a greeting, and did not speak.
“A few more minutes, said Chan, “and well be on our way. Do you have any final instructions?”
“Nothing that makes any practical difference to you, but there’s been a slight change at this end. The Stellar Group ambassadors are insisting that the Mattin Link to your Q-ship be made one-way all the time that you are down on the surface. Messages and materials can go from here, but nothing must come back this way. It’s the same worry as before, that somehow Nimrod might destroy the team and then find a way to Link out.”
“But if we can’t send messages, how will you know we’ve done our job and are waiting to come home? How will you know anything of what’s happening?”
“I’ve taken care of that. A monitor team will be shipped from here to the Q-ship, and you’ll be able to talk to the people there.”
“How will the Ambassadors be any more sure of that team, than they are of my team?”
“Because I’ll be on the monitor team, myself.” Mondrian smiled grimly at Chan. “You know what that means, don’t you? So long as Nimrod is still active, I’m going to be stuck on Travancore as much as you are. I’ll be in orbit, and you’ll be down on the ground, but neither one of us will be able to leave. Until Nimrod is out of the way, it’s a one-way trip for all of us. So you know I mean it when I wish you luck. It’s a long walk home.”
A long, long walk. Fifty-six lightyears from Travancore to Earth. Six centuries of sub-lightspeed travel. Chan understood what Mondrian was saying: Destroy Nimrod — or your team will have vanished forever from the known worlds.
And Chan understood more, things that Mondrian was not saying. The Stellar Group Ambassadors are insisting …
What did the Angel or Pipe-Rilla or Tinker Ambassadors know of battles, and quarantines, and blockades? Not one thing. It was Mondrian who was deciding the rules and defining the actions. And there was nothing that Chan could do about it.
“We will be on our way within an hour,” he said quietly. “Give us one Earth week, and I hope that we’ll have some results.”
“Don’t set yourself deadlines, Chan. Nimrod will still be there if it takes two weeks. Just make sure you destroy the Morgan Construct. Festina lente.”
Mondrian was still facing the camera, but the display began to exhibit the rainbow fringes of a fading Link communication.
“Festina lente?” said Shikari.
“It is a piece of advice given in an old Earth language. Mondrian took it as the motto for Boundary Security. I believe that it means, hasten slowly .”
“I don’t see why he saw the need to warn us,” said S’greela indignantly. “I am sure that we will not be foolish enough to hurry into trouble.”
“Fools rush in …” said Angel. “Hmm. Enough of that. We believe that we are ready, Chan, to begin our descent.”
Chan’s analysis of Team Alpha data had led him to three conclusions. He explained to the others.
First, and worst, the other team had made one huge mistake. They had been careless in checking the Morgan Constructs current location before they began their descent. Nimrod obviously was able to move about the planet, within or beneath the vegetation canopy, at high speed. Chan would not make the same blunder as Leah. There would be continuous monitoring of the Constructs position as soon as a definite location was confirmed. Second, Team Alpha had not made the best use of the native life forms. At least two of them might be valuable for either information or reconnaissance. There was the long, legless caterpillar-snake that lived in the upper shafts, and the nimble, nervous animal that had been encountered by Team Alpha in the deep jungle. If either one possessed intelligence and could be talked to, it might help to cancel one of Nimrod’s advantages. The Construct had been on Travancore for a long time, and must know it well. Chan’s team had vast numbers of useless facts, but all of them had been acquired from far, far away. What was needed now was knowledge of the planet below the shrouding canopy of vegetation.
Third, the other team had stayed together too much. Chan knew how tempting it was to work as a unit, and how satisfying that could be; but there were some functions that still called for individual actions.