Uranus in the Solar System, lies nearly in the orbital plane. The arctic
and antarctic circles thus almost coincide with the equator. In the
course of a year 11 percent longer than Terra’s, practically the whole
of each hemisphere will be sunless for a period ranging from weeks to
months. Chill even in summer, land and sea become so frigid in winter
that all but highly specialized life-forms must either hibernate or
migrate …
“Progressive autochthonous cultures had brought Stone Age technology,
the sole kind possible for them, to an astonishing sophistication. Once
contacted by humans, they were eager to trade, originally for metals,
subsequently for means to build modern industries of their own. Diomedes
offers numerous organic substances, valuable for a variety of purposes,
cheaper to buy from natives than to synthesize …
“The biochemistry producing these compounds is only terrestroid in the
most general sense. It consists of proteins in water solution,
carbohydrates, lipids, etc. But few are nourishing to humans and many
are toxic. They permeate the environment. A man cannot survive a drink
of water or repeated breaths of air, unless he has received thorough
immunization beforehand. (Of course, that includes adaptation to the
neon, which otherwise at this concentration would have ill effects too.)
Short-term visitors prefer to rely on their basic antiallergen, helmets,
protective clothing, and packaged rations.
“The Diomedean must be similarly careful about materials from offplanet.
In particular, most metals are poisonous to him. That he can use copper
and iron anyway, as safely as we use beryllium or plutonium, is a
tribute to his intelligence. But the precautions by themselves have
inevitably joined those factors which force radical change upon ancient
customs. Some cultures have adjusted without extreme stress. Others
continue to suffer upheaval. Injustice and alienation bring dissension
and violence … ”
Although, Flandry thought, if we Imperials packed up our toys and went
home, everybody here would soon be a great deal worse off. There’ve been
too many irreversible changes. You can’t even sit still in this universe
and not make waves.
The sun was never down in summer; but Diomedes’ 12.5-hour rotation spun
it through a circle. At the point in space and time where Hooligan
landed, sharply rising mountains to the south concealed the disc.
The saloon was warm and scented. Nevertheless, what he saw in the screen
made Flandry grimace and give an exaggerated shiver. “Brrr! No wonder
climes like this foster Spartan virtues. The inhabitants have to be in
training before they can emigrate and dispossess whoever lives on
desirable real estate.”
“You can’t appreciate, can you, here is home for the Lannachska that
they only want to keep unruined,” Kossara said.
Couldn’t she recognize a joke? Maybe not. She’d held aloof since he
interviewed her, studying as he urged but saying nothing about what
meaning she drew from it.
What a waste, Flandry sighed. We could have had a gorgeous voyage, you
and 1.
His gaze lingered on her. A coverall did not hide the fullness of a tall
and supple body. Blue-green eyes, mahogany locks, strongly sculptured
countenance had begun to haunt his reveries, and in the last few
nightwatches his dreams. Did she really speak in the exact husky
contralto of Kathryn McCormac? …
She sensed his regard, flushed, and attacked: “We are on Lannach, are we
not? I think I recall several of these peaks.”
Flandry nodded and gave his attention back to the view. “Yes. Not far
south of Sagna Bay.” He hoped she’d admire how easily he’d found a
particular site on the big island, nothing except maps and navigation to
guide him down through the stormy atmosphere. But she registered unmixed
anger. Well, I suppose I shouldn’t object to that, seeing how carefully
I fueled it.
Concealed by an overhanging cliff, the ship stood halfway up a mountain,
with an overlook down rugged kilometers to a horizon-gleam which
betokened sea. Clouds towered in amethyst heaven, washed by faint pink
where lightning did not flicker in blue-black caverns. Crags, boulders,
waterfalls reared above talus slopes and murky scraps. Thin grasslike
growth, gray thornbushes, twisted low trees grew about; they became more
abundant as sight descended toward misty valleys, until at last they