White, James – Sector General 05 – Sector General

from the forward section of the coil, that is, from the tail segments of this

multiple creature, and the second two came from a position considerably aft of

amidships. Our own deductions, supported by the in­formation on the creatures’

probable planet of origin which

arrived with Tyrell, suggest that the tail segments are immature beings, perhaps

very young adults, and the head segments aft to be composed of the older, more

experienced, and most highly intelligent of the beings since they are

responsible for ship operations and disembarkation following a stern landing.”

“Agreed,” Conway said, wishing Prilicla would get to the point, no matter how

unpleasant it was, instead of talking all around it.

“Aft of amidships, friend Conway,” Prilicla went on, “the CRLTs should be older.

The two who have just left us, judging by their emotional radiation, were even

less mature than the first set.”

Conway looked at Murchison, who said defensively, “I don’t know why that should

be, I’m sorry. Do the data on their home planet, if it is their home planet,

suggest an answer?”

“I’m pretty sure it was their home planet,” Conway replied thoughtfully,

“because there couldn’t possibly be another like it. But the data are old and

sparse and predate the assembly and launching from orbit of the coilship, and

we’ve been too busy since Tyre’ll brought back the information to discuss it

properly.”

“We have half an hour,” Murchison observed, “before the next two CRLTs arrive.”

Many centuries before the formation of the Galactic Fed­eration, the Eurils had

ranged interstellar space, driven by a curiosity so intense and at the same time

hampered by a caution so extreme that even the Cinrusskin race to which Prilicla

belonged was considered brave, even foolhardy, by compari­son. Physiologically

they were classification MSVK—a low-gravity, tripedal, and vaguely storklike

life-form, whose wings had evolved into twin sets of multidigited manipulators.

They had been and still were the galaxy’s prime observers, and they were content

to look and learn and record through their long-range probes and sensors without

making their presence known to the large and dangerously overmuscled specimens,

intelligent or otherwise, who were under study.

During their travels the Eurils had come upon a system whose single,

life-bearing planet pursued a highly eccentric orbit about its primary which

forced its flora and fauna to adapt

to environmental conditions ranging from steaming polar jun­gles in summer to an

apparently lifeless winter world of ice. Seeing it for the first time in its

frigid, winter mode, the Eurils had been about to dismiss it as being

uninhabitable until their probes showed evidence of a highly technical culture

encased in the winter ice. Closer investigation revealed that the civi­lization

was current and was awaiting the spring, like every other animal and vegetable

life-form on the planet, to come out of hibernation.

It was not until the polar spring was far advanced that the members of this

hibernating culture were identified as the large, loglike objects which had been

lying in and around the cities under the ice.

“It is clear from this that the overall being is a group entity* which, for

reasons we do not yet understand, must separate into its individual parts before

hibernation can take place,” Conway went on. “Since hibernation is natural to

them, the problem of artificially extending it and reversing the process for the

purpose of interstellar migration was, medically speak­ing, relatively easy to

solve.

“The following year a number of the beings were observed by the Eurils in a

fully conscious state,” he continued, “going about their business in small group

gestalts inside heated domes under the winter ice, which indicates that they do

not go into hibernation unless or until it is forced on them. It is

unnec­essary, therefore, to duplicate the extremes of temperature of their

planet of origin on their new home since any world closely resembling their

summer environment would suit them. Had this not been so, the near impossibility

of finding another and identical planetary environment to the one they were

trying to leave would have made the migration hopeless from the start. And the

reasons for the CRLT life-form becoming a group entity, initially a small-group

entity, are also becoming clear.” Even at the time of the Eurils’ visit the