orbits.
The ambulance ship was a modified Monitor Corps cruiser
and, as such, the largest of the Federation vessels capable of aerodynamic
maneuvering in atmosphere. It sliced through the brown, sand-laden air like a
great white dart, trailing a sonic Shockwave loud enough to wake the dead or, at
the very least, to signal its presence to any survivors capable of receiving
audio stimulus.
Visibility was nil as they approached the grounded ship. The whole area was in
the grip of one of the sandstorms which regularly swept this harsh, near-desert
world, and the picture of the barren, mountainous surface was a sensor
simulation rather than direct vision. It accurately reproduced the succession
of wind-eroded hills and rocky outcroppings and the patches of thorny vegetation
which clung to them. Then suddenly they were above and past the grounded ship.
Fletcher pulled Rhabwar into a steep climb which became a ponderous loop as they
curved back for a slower pass over the landing site. This time, as they flew low
over the other ship at close to stalling speed, there was a brief cessation in
the storm and they were able to record the scene in near-perfect detail.
Rhabwar was climbing into space again when the Captain said, “I can’t put this
ship down anywhere near that area, Doctor. I’m afraid we’ll have to check for
survivors, if there are any, with the planetary lander. There aren’t any obvious
signs of life from the wreck.”
Conway studied the still picture of the crash site on his screen for a moment
before replying. It was arguable whether the ship had made a heavy landing or a
barely controlled crash. Much less massive than Rhabwar, it had been designed to
land on its tail, but one of the three stabilizer fins had collapsed on impact,
tipping the vessel onto its side. In spite of this the hull was relatively
undamaged except for a small section amidships which had been pierced by a low
ridge of rock. There was no visible evidence of damage other than that caused by
the crash.
All around the wreck at distances varying from twenty to forty meters there were
an number of objects—Conway counted twenty-seven of them in all—which the sensor
identified as organic material. The objects had not changed position between the
first and second of Rhabwar’s thunderous fly-bys, so the probability was that
they were either dead or deeply uncon-
scious. Conway stepped up the magnification until the outlines became indistinct
in the heat shimmer, and shook his head in bafflement.
The objects had been, or were, living creatures, and even though they had been
partly covered by windblown sand, he could see a collection of protuberances,
fissures, and angular projections which had to be sensory organs and limbs.
There was a general similarity in shape but a marked difference in size of the
beings, but he thought they were more likely to be representatives of different
subspecies rather than adults and their young at different stages of
development.
“Those life-forms are new to me,” the pathologist said, standing back from the
screen. She looked at Conway and the others in turn. There was no dissent.
Conway thumbed the communicator button. “Captain,”he said briskly, “Murchison
and Naydrad will go down with me. Prilicla will remain on board to receive
casualties.” Normally that would have been the Kelgian Charge Nurse’s job, but
nobody there had to be told that the fragile little empath would last for only a
few minutes on the surface before being blown away and smashed against the rocky
terrain. He went on, “I realize that four people on the lander will be a tight
squeeze, but initially I’d like to take a couple of pressure litters and the
usual portable equipment—”
“One large pressure litter, Doctor,” Fletcher broke in. ‘There will be five
people on board. I am going down as well in case there are technical problems
getting into the wreck. You’re forgetting that if the life-forms are new to the
Federation, then their spaceship technology could be strange as well. Dodds will
fetch anything else you need on the next trip down. Can you be ready at the
lander bay in fifteen minutes?”