“You see,” Varian went on, “the Thek surveyed Old Terra eons ago and were entranced by the dinosaurs. Long before the animals were threatened with extinction by a climatic cataclysm, they had imported them to Ireta which they knew would permanently provide the proper environment.
The Thek even brought the Rift grasses for the dinosaurs since Ireta has no natural vitamin A.
Dinosaurs are Thek pets.”
“Suitable combination, I expect,” remarked Lunzie. “Both have insatiable appetites.”
“Dimenon was exactly right when he said the Thek were gorging themselves. They were!”
Varian said with a crow of laughter.
“Originally Ireta was slated to be a Thek feeding ground,” Kai said, taking up the tale again,
“because of all that raw energy being released after every good earthquake or tectonic shift. That’s why those old cores had been put down. Ger was in the process of digging them up. By the 148
Anne McCaffrey – Dinosaur Planet II – The Survivors strangest coincidence, the old core we first uncovered was actually close to Ger when the quake trapped it. There’s a Thek dating device on those cores, and when the Thek ingested them, that’s what they were looking for. But the searchers were having a free meal at the same time. Young Thek, especially, have to be closely supervised or they’ll strip a planet!”
“What!” Lunzie half rose from her chair while the three who had endured the Thek conference favored her with smug expressions. “You can’t possibly imply that …”
“That’s my interpretation, Lunzie,” Sassinak agreed. “We got comprehensive, Thekian explanations though what we were supposed to remember related only to our personal involvement in this adventure. Part of the explanation was a large wedge of Thek history.” She gave Fordeliton a stern look. “Which, if you value your rank and role as a Disciple Lieutenant Commander, had best remain locked in your head. In their youth as a species, the Thek were driven into space by their insatiable appetites to discover planets which would supply their need for raw energy. They find the transuranics especially succulent. Even then, fortunately, they had a regard for developing species.
Otherwise, a planet with no emerging life-forms would be reduced to bare rock by Thek hungers.”
“The Thek are the Others,” Lunzie gasped.
“That is the inescapable conclusion,” Sassinak agreed. “Thek are nothing if not logical. It became apparent in a millennium that, if they couldn’t curtail their appetites, they ran the risk of eating themselves out of the galaxy.”
“No wonder they have an affinity for dinosaurs,” Fordeliton exclaimed with a whoop of laughter.
“We may all be grateful that the dinosaurs did not evolve into space travelers,” Sassinak replied.
“And grateful, too, that the Thek have preserved them. But what will happen now?”
Varian beamed. “Because we are ephemera’s, short-lived and vulnerable, we would not make the mistake the Thek did, in leaving only one guardian …”
“You mean, zoo keeper,” Kai said.
“So I have the option to stay on Ireta,” and Varian’s expression was tinged with awe, “as a planetary protector. I can study the giffs, all the dinosaurs, and even the fringes if I feel like it. I may have as much staff as I require.” She turned to Kai expectantly, her eyes twinkling. “Tell ’em your good news, Kai.”
Kai grinned shyly. “Ireta is restricted, of course, as far as the transuranics go, but I, and my ‘ilk’, as they put it, have the right to mine anything up to the transuranics for … is it as long as we live?
I’m not sure if the limit is just my lifetime.”
“No,” said Lunzie. “By ilk, the Thek probably mean the ARCT-10 for as long as it survives. You deserve it, Kai. You really do.”
“Curiously enough,” Sassinak said into the respectful pause that followed, “the Thek did appreciate the fact that you all have lost irreplaceable time. In doing so, of course, you set up the circumstances which retrieved the lost Ger and the forgotten planet. Thek justice is unusual.”
“What about Aygar and the other Iretans?”
Varian shot a quick glance at Kai whose expression was of resigned disapproval. “The Thek lumped all humans in one group as survivors. In a sense, that’s correct. Aygar plans to stay.”