Earth-but neither was it the product of any parallel process of
evolution. The Lunarian civilization developed independently on
Minerva from the same ancestral stock as we did and all other
terrestrial vertebrates-from ancestors that were transported to
Minerva, twenty-five million years ago, by the Ganymeans!”
Danchekker thrust out his jaw defiantly and clasped the lapels of
his jacket. “And that, Dr. Hunt, would seem to be the solution to
your problem!”
chapter sixteen
The trail behind this rapid succession of new developments was by
this time littered with the abandoned carcases of dead ideas. It
reminded the scientists forcibly of the pitfalls that await the
tin-wary when speculation is given too free a rein and imagination
is allowed to float further and further aloft from the firm grounds
of demonstrable proof and scientific rigor. The reaction against
this tendency took the form of a generally cooler reception to
Danchekker’s attempted abrupt wrapping up of the whole issue than
might have been expected. So many blind alleys had been exhausted
by now, that any new suggestion met with instinctive skepticism and
demands for corroboration.
The discovery of early terrestrial animals on the Ganymean
spaceship proved only one thing conclusively: that there were early
terrestrial animals on the Ganymean spaceship. It didn’t prove
beyond doubt that other consignments had reached Minerva safely, or
indeed, that this particular consignment was ever intended for
Minerva. For one thing, Jupiter seemed a strange place to find a
ship that had been bound for Minerva from Earth. All it proved,
therefore, was that this consignment hadn’t got to wherever it was
supposed to go.
Danchekker’s conclusions regarding the origins of the Ganymeans,
however, were fully endorsed by a committee of experts on
comparative anatomy in London, who confirmed the affinity between
the Ganymean skeleton and the Minervan fish. The corollary to this
deduction-that the Lunarians too had evolved on Minerva from
displaced terrestrial stock-although neatly accounting for the
absence of Lunarian traces on Earth and for the evident lack of
advanced Lunarian space technology, required a lot more in the way
of substantiating evidence.
In the meantime, Linguistics had been busy applying their newfound
knowledge from the microdot library to the last unsolved riddle
among Charlie’s papers, the notebook containing the handwritten
entries. The story that emerged provided vivid
confirmation of the broad picture already deduced in cold and
objective terms by Hunt and Steinfield; it was an account of the
last days of Charlie’s life. The revelations from the book lobbed
yet another intellectual grenade in among the already disarrayed
ranks of the investigators. But it was Hunt who finally pulled the
pin.
Qasping a folder of loose papers beneath his arm, Hunt strolled
along the main corridor of the thirteenth floor of the Naycomms
Headquarters building, toward the Linguistics section. Outside Don
Maddson’s office he stopped to examine with curiosity a sign
bearing a string of two-inch-high Lunarian characters that had been
pinned to the door. Shrugging and shaking his head, he entered the
room. Inside, Maddson and one of his assistants were sitting in
front of the perpetual pile of litter on the large side table away
from the desk. Hunt pulled up a chair and joined them.
“You’ve been through the translations,” Maddson observed, noting
the contents of the folder as Hunt began arranging them on the
table.
Hunt nodded. “Very interesting, this. There are a few points I’d
like to go over just to make sure I’ve got it straight. Some parts
just don’t make sense.”
“We should’ve guessed,” Maddson sighed resignedly. “Okay, shoot.”
“Let’s work through the entries in sequence,” Hunt suggested. “I’ll
stop when we get to the odd bits. By the way. . .” He inclined his
head in the direction of the door. “What’s the funny sign outside?”
Maddson grinned proudly. “It’s my name in Lunarian. Literally it
means Scholar Crazy-Boy. Get it? Don Mad-Son. See?”
“Oh, Christ,” Hunt groaned. He returned his attention to the
papers.
“You’ve expressed the Lunarian-dated entries simply as consecutive
numbers starting at Day One, but subdivisions of their day are
converted into our hours.”
“Check,” Maddson confirmed. “Also, where there’s doubt about the
accuracy of the translation, the phrase is put in parentheses with