The station was deserted. It gave every indication of a hasty departure; things were drifting about haphazardly in weightlessness. The station was dark, of course. Tess reported that all but one of its lifeboats were gone.
Accompanied by Tess's spidery robots, they headed for the control room. It, like everything else aboard, showed signs of hasty departure. Cale checked the log recorder in the command chair, but it was empty, as was the log storage compartment.
He turned from the command chair to find Dee pressed tightly against him. He didn't blame her. Deserted and without power, the station was a creepy place.
"Come on, Dee," he said. "There's nothing here that will help. It looks like they abandoned the station, probably when the spaceport was destroyed. We'll have Tess gather as much information about the station as possible. Who knows? Our clients might want it."
They assumed orbit, and began assembling the ball-of-twine 3-D representation of Jumbo, while Tess gathered sensor data.
One of Cheetah's luxurious staterooms had been converted into a "laboratory", crammed with sensors, analyzers and instruments they expected to need to accumulate the data they would need to make their report complete.
Chapter 2
"Can you give us a preliminary briefing, Tess?"
"Yes, sir," came the crisp reply. Tess was back on duty.
"The old records indicate that Jumbo had only seven cities," she began. "All except one were associated with a specific tourist attraction. The sea separating Jumbo's two continents, for instance, had three of the cities along its coasts, including the capital, Nirvana. Nirvana was the administrative center of the planet. It was strategically located on a seacoast in the plains area of the large northern continent, between the Giant Forest and the Mile-High Moutains. It hosted the government and the planet's only full-service spaceport.
"One of the others was at the base of the Mile-High-Volcano, another in the wilderness of immense trees that catered to hunters and campers. Valhalla, the second-largest city, was located in a mountainous area famed for skiing in winter and flying in summer. The last, Pastora, was Jumbo's breadbasket, located deep in the plains farming areas. All are in ruins, of course. High magnification examination of the ruins tends to indicate violence, rather than simply age. This would substantiate the report of the captain of the last liner to visit here.
"Review of the images from our first several orbits indicates that the South continent is completely uninhabited. It was never really developed, and I was particularly looking for nomads or hunter-gatherers, but I have been unable to identify any signs of human habitation at all. Perhaps additional time will reveal such.
"Large portions of the main, northern continent are also devoid of permanent settlement, though I can easily detect groups of nomads. There are several dozen camps, though none is permanent. I can detect old migration routes. It appears the nomads migrate in a pattern."
Unfortunately, it takes many orbits to assemble a ball-of-twine 3D map of a planet, especially one as large as Jumbo. North continent stretched for over 25,000 kiloms in width, and 14,000 from the arctic nearly to the equator. South continent was only about half as large, but it was surrounded by islands scattered throughout the southern hemisphere. Like south continent itself, all of the islands appeared uninhabited. One showed signs of volcanic activity in the recent past.
Watching as mile after empty mile of planet swept beneath Tess's sensors, Cale and Dee were surprised to find planet-scouting boring, and they were relieved when Tess announced, after almost three weeks, that the mapping was complete.
"I do not have a great deal of information to add to my previous reports on south continent and the islands," Tess began. "They are indeed uninhabited, though animal and plant life are abundant. I can confirm that the planet is completely terraformed, and very large areas of it appear fertile.
"It appears that nearly all the inhabitants except the nomads inhabit a rather narrow belt between the ruined cities of Nirvana and Valhalla. This belt seems well defined. The Mile-High Mountain range borders it on the west, and the Great River defines its eastern boundary. I theorize that the nomads enforce limits on incursion into 'their' lands to the east. I estimate the total population of Jumbo to be slightly over two million.
"Most of the planet's inhabitants seem to live in small villages, often clustered around what appear to be forts or castles. A comparison with my ancient history files suggests that a feudal system appears to exist over all of the inhabited belt. This would imply a local nobility ruling domains that can be crossed in a day or two.
Cale frowned. "What's a 'feudal system'?"
"According to my files," Tess replied, "During a period called the 'middle ages' on old Earth, humans clustered in small farming villages, surrounded by fields. These villages, however, were vulnerable to attack by enemies or bandits. The residents simply could not gather quickly enough from their fields to defend their villages or their harvests. A caste of full-time warriors arose to fill this void. In return for a tax, whether cash or produce, they would promise to defend the village. These warriors would contract with as many villages as they could defend, with each village paying its 'taxes'. As the only 'legitimate' armed force, the warriors soon became a social elite, with a very formalized hierarchy and society far removed from the peasant farmer, who became little more than a slave. Thus, it is probable that by now, many of these warriors have built forts or castles, and call themselves 'kings', or some other term indicating great status."
"So," Dee concluded, "what we're likely to encounter will be an armed force, eager to defend its 'kingdom'. Can we expect immediate attack as soon as we ground?"
"I cannot say, Dee," Tess replied. "Certainly these 'knights' will be the first to respond to our arrival. Given the level of civilization I have observed, it is unlikely they could do me significant harm. However, you are not armored like a starship. I suspect the immediate danger will be great."
Cale frowned. "I don't know, Tess. I'd bet an arriving ship would scare the local king badly. His priority would be to find out who we are and what we want. I don't think he'd want to start a fight with people who come from the sky on a pillar of fire! If I were him, I'd send out fighters in case we attack, but as soon as I could, I'd send out a courtier to find out about us."
"You may be right, Captain," Tess replied crisply. "My files on that era are incomplete at best, and much would depend upon the ruler's intelligence and level of civilization.
"To continue my report, sir, I also have to report an anomaly and a problem."
"An anomaly?"
"Yes, Captain. As I mentioned, the inhabited belt stretches from the ruins of Nirvana to the ruins of Valhalla. At the Valhalla end, however, I am detecting signs of technological progress beyond the rest of the planet.
"There is a town at the edge of the old ruins, one almost large enough to be termed a small city. I would estimate over thirty thousand inhabitants, much more than in any other community. Details are difficult to obtain, due to the presence of large amounts of smoke. But I have identified what appear to be railroad tracks extending in a large, irregular circle to include more than a dozen villages and several fortifications."
Cale startled. "What?" He paused to gather his thoughts. "I know what a railroad is, Tess, and I can't believe these barbarians could build one, even if they knew what it was. They don't have any metal!"
"Nevertheless, Captain, I even have footage of a vehicle of some kind traveling on those tracks. I should also mention that Jumbo is not devoid of metals. It retains an atmosphere, and has a magnetic field. Iron is plentiful, as are a number of other metals. What it lacks is heavy metals"