Pucky stiffened like a pillar of salt. What had that joker dared call him? Roly-poly? That was …
He managed to control himself and ignored the remark with all the dignity he could muster. He continued on his way to the canoe and pushed it back into the water. Then he paddled vigorously out on the lake toward the waterfall.
Roly-poly!
He glanced furtively at his body. Not exactly thin, he admitted woefully. Rather plump in a span of a mere 24 hours. His legs looked sturdier and his arms showed some adipose. “Disgusting diet!” he grumbled.
Pucky teleported over the waterfall. He had suddenly lost his taste for the adventure. Only when he saw Tako standing at the shore of the island did his mood improve.
Even Tako had begun to look a little pudgy!
2/ THE HARVESTSHIP
The stellar vessel sped unerringly thru space.
It resembled a huge roll, 500 meters in diameter and 2 kilometers long. The hull shimmered silvery. No hatches were visible. There were in a few places fine seams to indicate possible openings. For weapons? Or something else?
The ship was old. The shimmering hull showed numerous marks which
were caused by tiny slivers of meteoroids.
The color of the aft section had changed and
was now darker. It looked as if a hot ray of energy had set the surface of the hull aglow.
The vessel was not steered by human beings. The Control Center had no semblance to anything Earthlings had ever seen before. It contained none of the usual control instruments and it would have been impossible to manipulate the course of the vessel. Most of the room was taken up by a complex structure that had to be designated as a positronic robot after a cursory examination. The robot was not operable by external guidance and had no independent center for making decisions of its own. At the top of its enclosure was a thick cable which connected it with the electronic communication center. The radio center served the robot as receiver for commands as well as transmitter of its followup directions. It was the nerve center of the system where the strings drawn by a long extinct race came together.
The spaceship also contained cabins and corridors but now it was difficult to guess for what purpose they were intended. Perhaps technicians of the vanished race of intelligent lizards now and then traveled with the ship when a planet was harvested but they could also have been utilized for entirely different applications.
The major part of the ship, however, consisted of rooms radiated by artificial suns. These rooms were empty except for an atmosphere which was continually maintained by smoothly functioning machines. At the ceiling were funnel-shaped openings which ended in narrow conduits and then converged in one place. From there a tube led to the upper section of the vessel. A round metal hatch closed it off from the vacuum. Other conduits spread to the lower reaches and ended in suction funnels equipped with seals.
Everything else in the vessel was automatically working machinery which was regulated by the positronic brain center, the commander of the cybernetic system. The positronic brain had received its latest orders, computed the desired position and transmitted it to the hypertransition automaton which could perform transitions in the range of 100 lightyears. Additional calculations were required between jumps. Since the order was not urgent, there was no reason for special haste. The harvested crop was ripe but it could wait as it could never get overripe.
Now Rabotax 3 had had to wait a long time. Perhaps it was due to a breakdown of the radio transmitter or it was the fault of Rabotax 2 and 1 . Possibly the latter had failed to find a suitable planet. But why had the masters remained silent for so long? If they had encountered some trouble, they would have called him back. But this had not happened. He simply had not received another message from them.
Until now! A new world had been discovered and the seedship had done its job. A crop was waiting to be harvested, at least that was the crux of the new impulse message just received.
As a result, Rabotax 3 was now on his way. Transition and waiting. Again and again, hours and days. It was a long trip from the starless void to the rim of the Galaxy. Soon he would be there: 4 more transitions.
Soon…
Pucky crouched on a stone at the bank of the slowly flowing river and stared with a melancholy expression into the clear water. From time to time he touched almost compulsively his legs and arms and his furry belly. It was indisputable, he had gained weight and it was definitely was very noticeable. He sighed and pondered which one of the curses in Bell’s uninhibited vocabulary would fit this disgusting situation best.
Ras lay a few meters away in the shine of the sinking sun, and dozed. He had become much too lazy to keep the nightly fire burning. He looked much heavier and felt his stomach acting up. The nudging reminded of him of hunger but he had no appetite and couldn’t have swallowed a single bite.
It was needless to say that Tako was almost in the same condition. The only difference was that his increased weight didn’t show as much.
“I wish that harvestship would come,” Ras growled, and rolled over on his other side. “I can’t stand this much longer.”
Pucky, who had just finished talking telepathically with Betty for half an hour, shook his head. “Who knows? We’ll have to sit it out no matter how bloated we’ll get.”
“You’ll soon pop your waist,” Tako murmured drowsily. “Wait till little Betty sees you like this …” “So what …”
Ras pointed up the stream. “I would like to know why the 2 scientists who were left behind up there are not getting fatter all the time. There seems to be a limit they can reach. Perhaps their bodies resist the worst of the calamity.”
Pucky shrugged his shoulders. “At least we don’t have to worry that we are in any real danger. We can always reduce our weight again. Wait a minute … !”
He suddenly paused, closed his eyes and listened inwardly. His 2 friends watched him silently and motionlessly. They knew that Pucky had received a telepathic impulse from the Sirius and responded to it. They were already bored with their life of leisure and welcomed any break, not to mention the hope that the communication could divulge the long awaited news which would end their “vacation” . They had not even used their canoe for 2 days.
Pucky nodded repeatedly. He opened his eyes again and twinkled merrily at Tako and Ras. His incisor appeared for a moment, showing his happy mood. However he quickly hid it again and squeaked in a shrill voice, unable to control his disappointment. “That long? Still 3 days?”
Tako and Ras, who were unable to follow the silent conversation, had to restrain their impatience. Pucky’s terse remarks revealed nothing to let them draw any clear conclusions.
Finally Pucky leaned back and relaxed.
“Well, what’s new?” Ras inquired impatiently. “How much longer do we have to sit around here?”
“They have spotted the harvestship,” Pucky replied calmly. “It materialized close to this system and is about to enter it. They are not supposed to find us – at least they
should not notice us prematurely. Therefore we must enjoy our vacation a little longer.”
“The ship!” Ras exclaimed. “It came after all.” “Why get excited about that?” Pucky asked. “That’s why we are here. What bothers me is that we still can’t do anything. First we’re supposed to find out how the ship harvests the spores. Nobody knows how long that will take but we have to observe it for a minimum of 3 days. Then we’ll get new orders.” He sighed. “3 more days to enlarge our girth. Bell will roar with laughter when he sees me.”
“He better not, if he knows what’s good for him,” Ras said grimly.
“Right!” Tako agreed tersely while he scanned the sky. “When will it be here?”
“Marshall said it could arrive in 4 hours if it maintains its present speed. It’s flying very cautiously and travels at about half the speed of light. Oh, one more thing: the ship from Terra has arrived and brought the special transmitter. There was no time to try it out and the first test will be when we have to use it.”
“That’s a pleasant thought,” the Japanese commented sarcastically.
Pucky closed his eyes. “I think I’ll catch a little more sleep. I don’t believe we’ll get much of it 4 hours from now when the chase begins.”
“The chase?” Ras asked, astonished.
“Of course, what else? We must keep track of the ship wherever it flies over the planet. So I better sleep now.” There were no objections.