When the Exec called back, he was obviously speaking under considerable strain.
‘It’s not really urgent Skipper – an hour won’t make any difference. But I prefer to avoid radio. I’ll send it down by messenger.’
‘But why – oh, very well – I trust your judgement. Who will carry it through the airlocks?’
‘I’m going myself; I’ll call you when I reach the Hub.’
‘Which leaves Laura in charge.’
‘For one hour, at the most. I’ll get right back to the ship.’
A medical officer did not have the specialized training to be acting commander, any more than a commander could be expected to do an operation. In emergencies, both jobs had sometimes been successfully switched; but it was not recommended. Well, one order had already been broken tonight…
‘For the record, you never leave the ship. Have you woken Laura?’
‘Yes. She’s delighted with the opportunity.’
‘Lucky that doctors are used to keeping secrets. Oh – have you sent the acknowledgement?’
‘Of course, in your name.’
‘Then I’ll be waiting.’
Now it was quite impossible to avoid anxious anticipa-tions. ‘Not really urgent – but I prefer to avoid radio…’
One thing was certain. The Commander was not going to get much more sleep this night.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX – Riot Watcher
Sergeant Pieter Rousseau knew why he had volunteered for this job; in many ways, it was a realization of a child-hood dream. He had become fascinated by telescopes when he was only six or seven years old, and much of his youth had been spent collecting lenses of all shapes and sizes. These he had mounted in cardboard tubes, making instruments of ever-increasing power until he was familiar with the moon and planets, the nearer space-stations, and the entire landscape within thirty-kilometres of his home.
He had been lucky in his place of birth, among the mountains of Colorado; in almost every direction, the view was spectacular and inexhaustible. He had spent hours exploring, in perfect safety, the peaks which every year took their toll of careless climbers. Though he had seen much, he had imagined even more; he had liked to pretend that over each crest of rock, beyond the reach of his telescope, were magic kingdoms full of wonderful creatures. And so for years he had avoided visiting the places his lenses brought to him, because he knew that. the reality could not live up to the dream.
Now, on the central axis of Rama, he could survey marvels beyond the wildest fantasies of his youth. A whole world lay spread out before him – a small one, it was true, yet a man could spend an entire lifetime exploring four thousand square kilometres, even when it was dead and changeless.
But now life, with all its infinite possibilities, had come to Rama. If the biological robots were not living creatures, they were certainly very good imitations.
No one knew who invented the word ‘biot’; it seemed to come into instant use, by a kind of spontaneous generation. From his vantage point on the Hub, Pieter was Biot-Watcher-in-Chief, and he was beginning, – so he believed – to understand some of their behaviour patterns.
The Spiders were mobile sensors, using vision – and probably touch – to examine the whole interior of Rama. At one time there had been hundreds of them rushing around at high speed, but after less than two days they had disappeared; now it was quite unusual to see even one.
They had been replaced by a whole menagerie of much more impressive creatures; it had been no minor task, thinking of suitable names for them. There were the Window Cleaners, with large padded feet, who were apparently polishing their way the whole length of Rama’s – six artificial suns. Their enormous shadows, cast right across the diameter of the world, sometimes caused temporary eclipses on the far side.
The crab that had demolished Dragonfly seemed to be a Scavenger. A relay chain of identical creatures had approached Camp Alpha and carried off all the debris that had been neatly stacked on the outskirts; they would have carried off everything else if Norton and Mercer had not stood firm and defied them. The confrontation had been anxious but brief; thereafter, the Scavengers seemed to understand what they were allowed to touch, and arrived at regular intervals to see if their services were required. It was a most convenient arrangement, and indicated a high degree of intelligence – either on the part of the Scavengers themselves, or some controlling entity elsewhere.
Garbage disposal on Rama was very simple; everything was thrown into the Sea, where it was, presumably, broken down into forms that could be used again. The process was rapid; Resolution had disappeared overnight, to the great annoyance of Ruby Barnes. Norton had consoled her by pointing out that it had done its job magnificently – and he would never have allowed anyone to use it again. The Sharks might not be as discriminating as the Scavengers.
No astronomer discovering an unknown planet could – have been happier that Pieter when he spotted a new type of biot and secured a good photo of it through his telescope. Unfortunately, it seemed that all the interesting species were over at the South Pole, where they were performing mysterious tasks round the Horns. Something that looked like a centipede with suction pads could be seen from time to time exploring Big Horn itself, while round the lower peaks Pieter had caught a glimpse of a burly creature that could have been a cross between a hippopotamus and a bulldozer. And there was even a double-necked giraffe, which apparently acted as a mob-ile crane.
Presumably, Rama, like any ship, required testing, checking and repairing after its immense voyage. The crew was already hard at work; when would the passengers appear?
Biot classifying was not Pieter’s main job; his orders were to keep watch on the two or three exploring parties that were always out, to see that they did not get into trouble, and to warn them if anything approached. He alternated every six hours with anyone else who could be spared, though more than once he had been on duty for twelve hours at a stretch. As a result, he now knew the geography of Rama better than any man who would ever live. It was as familiar to him as the Colorado mountains of his youth.
When Jerry Kirchoff emerged from Airlock Alpha, Pieter knew at once that something unusual was happening. Personnel transfers never occurred during the sleeping period, and it was now past midnight by Mission Time. Then Pieter remembered how short-handed they were, and was shocked by a much more startling irregularity. ‘Jerry – who’s in charge of the ship?’ – ‘I am,’ said the Exec coldly, as he flipped open his helmet. ‘You don’t think I’d leave the bridge while I’m on watch, do you?’
He reached into his suit carry-all, and pulled out a small can still bearing the label: CONCENTRATED ORANGE JUICE: TO MAKE FIVE LITRES.
‘You’re good at this Pieter. The skipper is waiting for it.’ Pieter hefted the can, then said, ‘I hope you’ve put enough mass inside it – sometimes they get stuck on the first terrace.’
‘Well, you’re the expert.’
That was true enough. The Hub observers had had plenty of practice, sending down small items that had been forgotten or were needed in a hurry. The trick was to get them safely past the low-gravity region,. and then to see that the Coriolis effect did not carry them too far away from the Camp during the eight-kilometre roll downhill.
Pieter anchored himself firmly, grasped the can, and hurled it down the face of the cliff. He did not aim directly towards Camp Alpha, but almost thirty degrees away from it.
Almost immediately, air resistance robbed the can of its initial speed, but then the pseudo-gravity of Rama took over and it started to move downwards at a constant velocity. It hit once near the base of the ladder, and did a slow-motion bounce which took it clear of the first terrace.
‘It’s OK now,’ said Pieter. ‘Like to make a bet?’
‘No,’ was the prompt reply. ‘You know the odds.’
‘You’re no sportsman. But I’ll tell you now – it will stop within three hundred metres of the Camp.’
‘That doesn’t sound very close.’
‘You might try it some time. I once saw Joe miss by a couple of kilometres.’
The can was no longer bouncing; gravity had become strong enough to glue it to the curving face of the North Dome. By the time it had reached the second terrace it was rolling along at twenty or thirty kilometres an hour, and had reached very nearly the maximum speed that friction would allow.
‘Now we’ll have to wait,’ said Pieter, seating himself at the telescope, so that he could keep track of the messenger. ‘It will be there in ten minutes. Ah, here comes the skipper – I’ve got used to recognizing people from this angle – now he’s looking up at us.