On their last day they hurried back to the river, so they could slingshot Ch’ing’s corpse and suit back for the scientists at Colorado Springs.
DEATH DUE TO UNDIAGNOSED GPEM MALFUNCTION had haunted all of them for seven days.
They had been pushing their suits to the limit all week.
Ch’ing had been killed by his just standing, doing nothing.
But there hadn’t been any problems. These things happen, Tania said; freak accidents. The GPEM’s are checked, double-, triple-, and quadruple-checked. But it’s as complex a mechanism as anyone has ever trusted with his life. The doctors and engineers will find out what happened to Ch’ing and make sure it never happens again. Tania said.
The river had risen and Ch’ing was standing upright in knee-deep water. They got there with more than two hours to spare, before the Slingshot Effect took hold.
They moved him out of the water and sat, waiting. Jacque took the creature out of the compartment in Ch’ing’s suit, where they had stored it (in an environment that simulated the river).
They passed the animal around and its powers seemed undiminished.
“I have a theory,” Jacque said.
“On what?” Carol said.
“Why there aren’t any land animals.” Except for the creature Ch’ing found, they’d found no animal that could survive out of the water. “When that meteor hit, you know, the big crater? It must have caused a worldwide catastrophe. Earthquakes, fires, tidal waves-“
“Fill the atmosphere with superheated steam, if it landed in water,” Carol said.
“Radioactive steam,” Tania added. “That kind of impact-“
“That’s what I mean,” Jacque said. “Nothing on land survived. Only plants and animals that were protected by a buffer of water.”
“Could be, could well be,” Tania said. “If that happened, the geologists ought to be able to reconstruct it.”
“From the samples,” Carol said.
They were quiet for some time. The only one standing was Ch’ing.
“How much longer?” Vivian asked.
“About twenty minutes,” Tania said. “Twenty-two.” Another long silence. “Well, we might as well get into position,” Tania said. “Jacque, you’ll be on top again, otherwise the heights won’t match up. I’ll be on the bottom with Ch’ing . . . Ch’ing’s suit.”
They shuffled and climbed into place, after Tania scratched a 120-centimeter circle to guide their arms and legs. “Four minutes.”
Like the first time, the transition was abrupt. One instant, they were looking out over the dirty-milk river; the next instant they were falling from a meter or so above the floor of the Colorado Springs LMT chamber.
“We have life,” Vivian said, before Jacque had even hit the ground. “Need a chamber at twenty-eight degrees, pressure point eight nine four. The following mix: nitrogen, point three five seven; argon, point two nine seven . . .” This would be the preliminary environment for the creature; they would be able to match the ambience of Groombridge exactly after analyzing the samples the Tamers brought back. “. . . and a source of circulating water, a tub. The creature is semi-aquatic.”
“And we have a fatality, Tamer Ch’ing. Undiagnosed suit malfunction.”
Before going through decontamination, they had to wait for an analysis team to come take charge of their samples. It took a while, since most of the scientists had to be routed out of bed-nobody had expected a milk-run training mission to come back with organic material.
The autopsy team, though, was ready and waiting.
Finally they went through the room of mirrors and cleansing lights, into the ready room. The cranes lifted off the top halves of their GPEM’s and they scrambled out to an orgy of backscratching. Then hot showers and clean clothes, a quick physical exam and some real food. Then six hours of rest before debriefing, while the analysts surveyed their accumulated data.
Jacque set down the totally naked bone of a ravaged pork chop. “Uh, Carol . . .”
“Sure. Should be fun.” She poured herself another glass of wine and passed the carafe down to Vivian.
“You know-“
“I’ve been waiting an hour for you to ask.”
“And I’ve been waiting for you. After all, you asked Ch’ing.”
“He would never have gotten around to it. I was curious how long it would take you.”