“Let’s go in then,” Hunt said.
For the next two hours they walked every inch of the labyrinth of footways and catwalks that had been built inside the craft, which had come to rest on its side and offered few horizontal surfaces of its own upon which it was possible to move easily. The Giants followed the cable-runs and the ducting with eyes that obviously knew what they were looking for. Every now and then they stopped to dismantle an item of particular interest with sure and practiced fingers or to trace the connections to a device or component. They absorbed every detail of the plans supplied by UNSA scientists, which showed as much as the Earthmen could deduce of the vessel’s design and structure.
After a long dialogue with ZORAC to analyze the results of these observations, Jassilane announced, “We are optimistic. The chances of restoring the Shapieron to a fully functional condition
seem good. We’d like to conduct a far more detailed study of certain parts of this ship, however-one that would involve more of our technical experts from Main. Could you accommodate a small group of our people here for, say, two or three weeks?” He addressed these last words to Mills. The commander shrugged and opened his hands.
“Whatever you want. Consider it done,” he replied.
Within an hour of the party’s return to the surface for a meal, another UNSA transporter was on its way north from Main bringing more Ganymeans and the necessary tools and instruments from the Shapieron.
Later on, they went to the biological laboratories section of the base and admired Danchekker’s indoor garden. They confirmed that the plants he had cultivated were familiar to them and represented types that were widespread in the equatorial regions of the Minerva they had known. At the professor’s insistence they accepted some cuttings to be taken back to the Shapieron and grown there as mementoes of their home. The gesture seemed to affect them deeply.
Danchekker then led the party down into a large storage room excavated out of the solid ice below the biological labs. They emerged into a spacious, well-lit area, the walls of which were lined with shelving that carried a miscellany of supplies and instruments; there were rows of closed storage cupboards all painted a uniform green, unrecognizable machines draped in dustcovers, and in places stacks of unopened packing cases reaching almost to the ceiling. But the sight that immediately captured every eye was that of the beast towering before them about twenty feet from the doorway.
It stood over eighteen feet high at the shoulder on four treetrunklike legs, its massive body tapering at the front into a long sturdy neck to carry its relatively small but ruggedly formed head high and well forward. Its skin was grayish and appeared rough and leathery, twisting into deep, heavy wrinkles that girded the base of its neck and the underside of its head below its short, erect ears. Over two enormous flared nostrils and a yawning parrotbeaklike mouth, the eyes were wide and staring. They were accentuated by thick folds of skin above, and directed straight down to stare at the door.
“This is one of my favorites,” Danchekker informed them breezily as he walked forward at the head of the party to pat the beast fondly on the front of one of its massive forelegs.
“Baluchitherium-a late-Oligocene to early-Miocene Asian ancestor of modem rhinoceroses. In this species the front feet have already lost their fourth toe and adopted a three-toed structure similar to the hind feet-a trend which had become well pronounced in the Oligocene. Also, the strengthening of the upper-jaw structure here is quite developed, although this particular breed did not evolve into a true horned variety, as you can see. Another interesting point is the teeth, which-” Danchekker stopped speaking abruptly as he turned to face his audience and realized that only the Earthmen had followed him into the room to stand around the specimen he was describing. The Ganymeans had come to a standstill in a close huddle just inside the door, where they stood staring speechless up at the towering shape of Baluchitherium. Their eyes were opened wide as if frozen in disbelief. They were not exactly cowering at the sight, but the expressions on their faces and their tense stances signaled uncertainty and apprehension.