MacAran let out a long sigh. So this world was inhabited, not free and open for mankind. MacLeod asked quietly, “Judy, were these the people you saw that day? The one you called the beautiful one?”
Judy’s face took on the strange stubbornness which any mention of that day could bring on. “No,” she said, quietly but very positively. “These are the little brothers, the small ones who are not wise.”
And nothing could move her from that, and very quickly they gave over questioning her. But MacLeod and Major Fraser were in seventh heaven.
“Arboreal humanoids. Nocturnal, to judge by their eyes, probably simian, although more like tarsiers than apes. Obviously sapient–they’re tool-users and makers of artifacts. Homo arborens. Men living in trees,” MacLeod said.
MacAran said hesitatingly, “If we have to stay here–how can two sapient species survive on one planet?
Doesn’t that invariably mean a fatal war for dominance?”
Fraser said, “God willing, no. After all, there were four sapient species on Earth for a long time. Mankind–and dolphins, whales, and probably elephants too. We just happened to be the only technological species. They’re tree-dwelling; we’re ground-dwelling. No conflict, as far as I can see–anyway no necessary conflict.”
MacAran wasn’t so sure, but kept his qualms to himself.
Peaceful as their trip was, there were unexpected dangers. In the valley with the game, which they named for convenience the Plains of Zabal, the game was stalked by great catlike predators and only nighttime fires kept them away. And on the heights MacAran caught his first sight of the birds with the banshee voices; great wingless birds with vicious claws, moving at such speeds that only a last desperate recourse to the laser beam they carried for emergencies kept Dr. Fraser from being disemboweled by a terrible stroke; MacLeod, dissecting the dead bird, discovered that it was completely blind. “Does it get at its prey by hearing? Or something else?”
“I suspect it senses body warmth,” MacAran said, “they seem only to live in the snows.” They christened the dreadful birds banshees, and avoided the passes except in broad daylight after that. They also found mounds of the scorpion-like ants whose bites had killed Dr. Zabal, and debated poisoning them; MacLeod was against it, on the grounds that these ants might form some important part of an ecological chain which could not be disturbed. They finally agreed to exterminate only the mounds within three square miles of the ship, and warn everyone about the dangers of their bite. It was an interim measure, but then everything they did on this planet was an interim measure.
“If we leave the damn place,” Dr. Fraser said harshly, “we’ll have to leave it pretty much the way we found it.”
When they returned to the encampment, after a three week survey, they found that two permanent buildings of wood and stone had already been erected; a common recreation hall and refectory, and a building for use as a laboratory. It was the last time MacAran measured anything by weeks; they still did not know the length of the planet’s year, but they had for the sake of convenience and the assignment of duties and work shifts set up an arbitrary ten-day cycle, with one day in every ten a general holiday. Large gardens had been laid out and seeds were already sprouting, and a careful harvesting was being made of a few tested fruits from the woods.
A small wind generator had been rigged, but power was strictly rationed, and candles made from resin from the trees were being issued for night use: The temporary domes still housed most of the personnel except those who were located in the hospital; MacAran shared his with a dozen other single men.
The day after his return Ewen Ross summoned both him and Judy to the hospital. “You missed Dr. Di Asturien’s announcement,” he said. “In brief, our hormone contraceptives are worthless–no pregnancies so far except one very doubtful early miscarriage, but we’ve been relying on hormones so long that no one knows much about the prehistoric kind any more. We don’t have pregnancy-testing equipment, either, since nobody needs it on a spaceship. Which means if we do get any pregnancies they may be too far advanced for safe abortions before they’re even diagnosed!”