Ron Merrill About 9,100 words

[540-54-5913]

Her embarrassment at first was acute, but it wore off quickly, as she'd been told it would. Yuko Glenning had never worn clothing before in her life; but everyone else at Thule Station was dressed in the same unisex coveralls, and nobody stared at her.

What really bothered her was the view out the window. She forced herself to look at it again. The light from Harmony, a K-type star, was dim and had an unpleasant reddish tinge. The vegetation, which ranged from bright yellow to a sort of orange brown, was lush and wild, not at all like the well-tended gardens of her native orbital home. And it was cold out there, she knew, even though Thule Station was located on this planet's equator. Just as well that she was wearing clothes, if she was going to have to walk around out there under the sky unprotected.

"Always reminds me of autumn on Earth," said Karin Mbeli. "But of course it's like that year round, here."

Yuko turned back to the small conference room. She had never been on Earth. "I gather all that stuff is poisonous to humans?" she asked.

"Well, more or less," the black woman responded. "Of course we couldn't use any of the local lifeforms for food; life on this planet is based on L-sugars and D-amino acids, as you no doubt know. It's not inherently very toxic, but eating any of the native stuff will make you pretty sick, and some of the plants are seriously poisonous, so don't put anything in your mouth. I've barely scratched the surface with my studies, but I've identified some dangerous species; I'll brief you on them later."

Yuko suppressed her annoyance at the condescension. Mbeli was a biologist, and the local expert--the only local expert. So Yuko smiled and said, "Thank you. What about animals? And the, uh, aborigines?"

"There are no large predators to worry about on this island. Except in the ocean; don't try any swimming. There are a couple of smaller carnivore species that will attack a human if cornered; I'll brief you on those too. As for the aborigines, they're perfectly harmless. They regard us as gods."

"Perhaps we could get back to the agenda," the man at the head of the table said acidly.

"Of course," said Yuko. "I'm sorry, but as it will apparently be part of my job to go out there and set up the monitor units, I wanted to get some idea of the hazards."

"The hazards," he said, "are very minor. In the eight years since Thule Station was set up, we have not had a single death or serious injury. I realize, of course, that working outdoors may pose psychological problems for a Spacer, but I hope you will be able to overcome them."

Once again Yuko forced a smile. "I'm sure I'll manage. Now, I understand you want to set out twenty monitor units to start with?"

The meeting gradually dragged to an end. Jerri Kopfer, the Station Leader, had loaded the agenda with routine items, mostly just going over points that had already been settled before Yuko had even arrived. She wondered why he bothered to hold the meeting, unless it was so the staff could get a good look at the first Spaceborn to join the ground team.

As people filed out of the room, she struggled to her feet against Thule's 0.78 gravity, almost twice what she was used to. But Karin Mbeli waved her back to her seat as a couple of other women came over. Yuko searched her memory of the introductions. The redhead was Tony Bender, the short stocky blonde was Morgan Lee, she remembered; both were xenosociologists.

"I know you could use a rest," said Mbeli. "But I thought you might like a short informal get-together for orientation. You must have a lot of questions."

"Actually," said Lee, not sitting down, "I just wanted to warn you to stay away from the aborigines."

"I thought they were harmless," said Yuko.

"They are. But I don't want you to hurt them," said Lee. "Let's get something straight. We don't need any breeders here." She glared at Yuko, daring her to object to the epithet. "We're perfectly capable of setting up the monitor units ourselves, without any Spacer 'expert.' I know why you're here--to get a foot in the door. Politics. Well, we've got a very delicate situation here with the glaxhik, and I don't want you interfering with our work. Just get those units installed and get back up to the oneill where you belong."

Without giving Yuko a chance to answer, she turned and stalked out of the room. Her redheaded companion, looking embarrassed, seemed about to say something, but instead she smiled nervously and followed her companion.

Yuko looked up at Mbeli, who sighed. "Sorry. I should have known better. Morgan is awfully stressed these days."

"The population problem?"

"Yes. She's terribly concerned about the glaxhik and she's worried it might be some sort of disease brought by humans. So she doesn't like having you possibly bringing down some sort of new bug from Kepler. I've told her over and over that I'm sure that's not it. The biochemistry of the glaxhik is so different that no microorganism that could live on, in, or near humans could possibly invade them. Anyway, we all came out of the clone machines, so there's no way we could be contaminated. The only terrestrial microbes here are symbiotes that we introduced ourselves."

Yuko frowned. "Still, microbes do mutate. And maybe there's some metabolite that's upsetting the reproductive systems of the aborigines?"

Mbuli looked at her with new interest. "I thought you were an optoelectric engineer?"

"I am, but all Spaceborn have to know some biology. We depend on artificial ecosystems, you know."

"Well, I'm glad to have someone to bounce ideas off of. I'm the only hard scientist here . . . Anyway, those possibilities have occurred to me. I'm sure the problem is not microbial; every microorganism we've released is monoclonal, of course, so they just don't have the genetic repertoire to adapt so radically and so quickly. But a metabolite--maybe. I'm doing research on those lines. So far I haven't found--I'm sorry, you must be beat."

"It's been a long day," Yuko admitted, forcing her eyes to open again. "They rushed me off without warning last night. And the gravity--"

"You come with me, I'll show you to your quarters. Get some sleep." She put a hand under Yuko's elbow and assisted her to her feet. The hand stayed just a little too long, and Yuko made a mental note of it. She knew about Earthborn customs, of course, and she'd been warned before coming down. But she was too tired to worry about such things now.

"Just the two of you?" said Morgan Lee angrily.

Karin Mbeli responded calmly. "Sure. I'll keep her out of trouble."

"You knew I had a meeting this morning. You should have waited till--"

"It's OK, Morgan," said Tony Bender. "I'll go with them. I want to look in on Mlef anyway."

Morgan seemed to like this even less, but after a glance at Yuko she stalked off, looking at her watch. Tony pulled on a jacket and joined them as they went through the door.

Yuko's shoulders hunched involuntarily under the frightening impact of the empty sky. She forced herself to straighten up and she strode forward, trying to look normal.

"It's really not dangerous at all," said Karin. "It's wise to stay on the path, is all. You don't want to step on a sleeping resk. Otherwise, there's nothing out here that's likely to hurt you."

Yuko nodded. "How do you get to the distant villages? The furthest is, what, 200 kilometers?"

"Veetol. We have three. There's a landing pad on the other side of the Station."

Yuko surveyed the broken terrain. She could see mountains in the distance. She was getting used to the perspectives, but the cold chilled her. The path led downhill, and she reminded herself to conserve her strength; coming back up against this gravity would be tiring.

Tony moved up beside her. "May I ask, mizGlenning," she said diffidently, "how old you are?"

"I'm 24," said Yuko.

"Then you're--"

"Yes, I was born here in the system. Five years after the Arrival. All of you here at the Station are direct from Earth, right?"

"Yes, though most of us were vivified on Kepler. I'm a little surprised they'd send someone your age. You're the first Spacer--Spaceborn, to come down, you know."

"My supervisor was supposed to come, but she broke her leg. And I was told a young person would probably be able to adapt better, anyway, but I think that was an after-the-fact rationalization."

They rounded a corner and came to a Glaxhik village suddenly. Yuko stopped and involuntarily stepped back, stunned by her first sight of an aborigine.

The creature stood nearly three meters high. It was bipedal and had two arms and two eyes, but that was about the end of its similarity to a human being. The mouth was located just below the neck, and the body was covered with something that looked more like green-gray lichen than fur.

Tony stepped forward and addressed the aborigine in its own language, a collection of clicks and hisses that sounded more like radio static than speech. Yuko listened and looked in fascination.

"What's she saying to him--or her?" she asked Karin.

"It's a her. Males have much smaller heads, and their coloring is lighter. I'm not fluent in the language, but from what I can make out Tony's getting caught up on the latest village news. One of the tribal elders is sick . . . I think--"

Tony turned back to them. "Mlef is better, she says. Shall we take a look around?"

Aborigines respectfully moved out of their way as they walked through the village. It was made up of small family huts, raised about a meter off the ground on stilts and thatched with leaves. Yuko saw a few smaller individuals, presumably children. At one point they encountered a female who seemed to be pregnant; Tony jerked to a stop and started an intense conversation with her. With a start, Yuko saw a small head poke out a little below the mouth and realized the baby was riding in a pouch, not a womb.

"No, they're not true marsupials," said Karin. "They're not even mammals, though they are warm-blooded and give birth to live young. The mother regurgitates food for them. This is the only baby in the village, which is why Tony is so interested."

"Things are that bad?"

"They certainly are," said Tony, rejoining them. "Population is down about 15% in the last five years, and the birthrate is practically zero. The only intelligent species we know outside our own, and they're going extinct before our eyes. And it's our fault. Somehow it's our fault."

"We can't be sure of that," said Karin.

"Yes, we can. They were doing fine until we came. And the birthrate began to drop first at the local villages near the station, then later at the others. Morgan thinks it's a disease."

Karin sighed. "Can't be, I tell you."

"Maybe," said Yuko, "it's a native disease but somehow promoted by the presence of humans."

Tony was still following her own thoughts. "Or what's worse, maybe it's just because we exist. Maybe contact with a superior culture has just caused them to give up."

"It might have been a mistake to let them consider us gods," said Karin.

"Well, we had no choice. The idea of another intelligent species is totally beyond them. We're obviously not glaxhik, we're not animals, so we had to be gods. They had no other way to categorize us. And at least it's let us help them a bit. We used our authority to put a stop to their stupid wars. Otherwise the population would be even lower than it is."

Tony's eyes were studying the village with professional competence even as she talked. Suddenly she stopped and clicked sharply at a native who was about to slip into a hut.

Yuko watched as the redheaded woman interrogated the aborigine in some depth. It was a female, and something was wrong with her head. It was mottled with what looked like bruises, and obvious cuts were caked with dark purple clots, presumably dried blood.

Yuko asked Karin. "What happened to her?"

"She was beaten by her mate. It still happens."

"Is she badly hurt?"

Karin frowned. "Hard to tell. The glaxhik have very bony skulls, particularly the females. The cuts and bruises will heal, and she hasn't lost an eye, which I've known to happen back in the old days. I worry about concussion, but it's very hard to evaluate brain damage, as you can imagine--at least, not without an autopsy."

Tony was now addressing a stream of sound to a male, who apparently had nothing to say for himself. She abruptly turned away from him and came back to her companions, anger still on her face.

"It does hurt them, damn it. My god, he hit her twenty or thirty times with a stick three centimeters thick. It can cause serious brain damage. They have a proverb that after a female's been mated ten years she doesn't know her own name."

They came to a somewhat larger hut, and Tony spoke to Yuko with some hesitation.

"This is Mlef's hut. I want to talk to him, and Karin's the closest thing we have to a physician for the glaxhik. Uh . . . do you want to come in?"

Obviously Tony didn't want her to. Yuko was puzzled by her embarrassment but willing to go along.

"I'd better start doing some work myself. I'll look around for a place to put the monitor. The village is small, you won't have any trouble finding me when you're done here."

Karin too seemed relieved. "Fine. You'll be perfectly safe. We won't be long."

Yuko actually was still afraid of the natives, but apparently her godhood was automatically accepted by them. Even without her companions present, the aborigines kept a respectful distance from Yuko as she systematically quartered the village. She saw at once that the Station's idea of solar-powered units was problematic. Harmony's low luminosity, only four percent of Sol's, was partly compensated by Thule's close orbit around its primary. But fairly large cell arrays would be needed, and there was very little open space exposed to the sun. The aborigines had agriculture, but it was based on orchards of grain-bearing trees. Uncultivated land was jungle. They could mount the solar cells above the treetops, of course. But how high were they? She craned her neck. She certainly wasn't going to climb any trees, especially in this gravity. In fact, she was already very tired. She'd been walking for an hour at almost double her normal weight--like having another woman riding on her shoulders. She found a fallen log and sat down.

A number of glaxhik young formed a semicircle, five meters in radius, and stared at her. She smiled at them. They weren't exactly cute, but they were children. She wished she had some candy for them. But of course they couldn't eat terrestrial food. Must ask Karin if the Station had any local treats to hand out.

Where was Karin? The rest was welcome, but now that she wasn't moving, Yuko was getting chilly. She checked her watch, then got up. She thought she remembered where Mlef's hut was. She made two turns. Yes, there it was. Were they still inside? She noticed the aborigines looking at something and followed their gaze. There were Karin and Tony standing under a tree, very close together, talking intently. Yuko turned away from them and walked up to Mlef's hut, not too quietly.

"There you are. Sorry to be late. We were just discussing Mlef's condition," said Karin, walking up, as Tony followed a little more slowly.

They walked back up the hill to the station. Though they went at a slow pace, Yuko was breathing hard. This gravity was vicious. Remembering her discipline, she tried not to think about her shoulders, her hips, her knees. And especially not her feet. Instead, she mentally went over what she'd seen. Amazing how clumsy Earthborn were at concealing their emotions. Did they know how wide open they were? Anyway, at least Karin shouldn't be developing any serious interest in her; that was a complication she didn't need.

Morgan Lee was waiting for them at the door of the Station, her eyes searching each face suspiciously. "Well?"

"It's too soon to draw any firm conclusions," said Yuko. "I'll need to examine some more sites, including some of the more distant ones. Perhaps we could arrange to take me around by veetol?"

To Yuko's surprise, Morgan said, "Certainly. I'll take you myself. I'm a pilot, and I have to make a tour of the villages anyway."

"Good. It was extremely helpful today to see the actual situation on the ground."

"And how was Mlef, Tony?" asked Morgan casually.

"He seems much better."

"And did Karin--"

"Karin-ad really helped me out today," Yuko broke in. "She explained things to me while Tony-'d was talking to the aborigines. I don't feel quite comfortable about going around outside by myself yet."

Morgan almost smiled. "That was good of her. Ready for lunch, Tony?"

Karin looked after them as they walked off, an unguarded expression on her face. Finally she turned to Yuko.

"Thank you. But why?"

"You really have been very kind and helpful."

"Mmm. Well, let's get you to lunch. You look like you need to sit down."

Besides, said Yuko to herself, I don't like Morgan Lee.

The veetols were two-seaters, though several people could be fit in the ample cargo space in case of need. Conversation was difficult over the roar of the engines, but Morgan Lee hardly seemed inclined to friendly discourse anyway. Yuko, grateful to be travelling sitting down, ignored her pilot and looked out the window.

A spine of snow-covered mountains ran down the center of Island Thule. The aborigines lived only in the jungle lowlands. Since Planet Thule had no ionosphere, radio communication was limited to line-of-sight, except when relayed through Kepler, which sat above the island in geosynchronous orbit.

The Project, of course, was the reason for human presence in this system. Yuko had grown up with the knowledge that starship Kepler had been sent here and then converted to an oneill in order to support Thule Station. But, like most of the younger Spaceborn, she was caught up in her immediate concerns--education, the constant work on the building and extension of Kepler, and socializing into her group and finding a mate. Now she'd been dumped into the center of a maelstrom of Project politics with no more than a 45-minute briefing.

"No, Yuko'd, it has to be you," Valerie had said. "We'd never get them to accept another Senior; they suspect my injury is just a trick to push someone else off on them." She grimaced at the cast on her leg. "I wish it were. Anyway, someone from your generation doesn't carry as much political baggage."

"That's fine, Valerie'd, but I also don't have the foggiest idea what's going on. I was sixteen when the Earthborn went down. What is all this political stuff, anyway?"

"It's all ancient history to you, isn't it? Well, look. When the Probe sent back data to Sol that indicated an intelligent species here, it happened that the World Government on Earth and the Spaceborn Federation were in close alliance. It was natural to send a joint expedition. And since the Probe found that this planet wasn't livable for humans, it would be necessary to have an oneill to support the planetary base. But it took almost 300 years for Kepler to get here. By the time we came out of the clone machines, the situation back in Sol system had changed. The Federation is now allied with the Confederation of Free Cultures--at least, as of 15 years ago."

"Well," said Yuko, "does it matter what's happening 15 light-years away?"

"Not to you, obviously. Your sole loyalty is to Kepler. But those people down at Thule Station were born on Earth. Still, it wouldn't have been a serious problem in itself. But it started the friction, and disagreements arose--more serious disagreements than you young people were allowed to realize."

"You mean about the building of Thule Station?"

"Mainly. We Spaceborn wanted to study the situation from orbit longer before putting a base on the ground. But the Earthborn weren't so patient. They gave up the option to have children, so they have a more short-term orientation. They became suspicious that we wanted to delay building Thule Station till they were dead, then colonize the planet ourselves."

"That's silly! Humans can't live there."

"Not on the natural environment, of course. But we Spaceborn could set up domes. The planet is nowhere near as hostile as, say, Mars or Mercury."

"But--"

With a glance at the clock, Valerie pressed on. "They insisted on going down--and now the glaxhik are starting to die. We are very careful not to say we told them so, but it gives us the leverage to insist on putting in a more extensive system of monitors to track ecological changes. And of course that means sending our own people down to set things up. So down you go. You keep a low profile, don't talk politics, and--keep your eyes and ears open. That's all I can tell you right now."

There was a change in the sound in her ears. Looking out the window, Yuko saw that the motors on the ends of the veetol's wings were rotating, turning their propellor upward. They were about to land.

They set down in a rocky clearing surrounded closely by the aggressive yellow and orange jungle. Morgan Lee jumped out of the plane with a casual ease that Yuko envied as she carefully lowered herself to the ground.

"Better stick with me, MizGlenning," said Lee curtly. "I don't want you getting lost."

She led the way into the jungle on an almost invisible path. Fortunately, it was only a short walk to a village virtually identical with the one near the Station. Here also the natives kept a respectful distance from the humans. As Lee conversed with them, Yuko looked around. The same situation, she saw at once; the village was built under the forest canopy.

When Morgan Lee had apparently finished her interrogation of the aborigines, Yuko asked, "MizLee, are there any other clearings around here?"

She shook her head. "Just the one we landed in."

"Could the glaxhik make more for us? I need some place to set solar cells--at least two hundred square meters, with this dim sunlight."

"Not without constant work," said Morgan Lee. "The jungle will grow back into a cleared space in a few days unless you keep it hacked back. The clearing we landed in is unusual; you don't often get those stony outcrops here in the lowlands."

"What about at the other villages?"

"A couple of them have larger clearings, but usually not. In a lot of them we have to land several kilometers away and hike in. Sometimes we have to hover the veetol over the trees while the passengers rappel down."

Yuko suppressed a shudder. "In that case, it looks like the only way to mount the solar cells will be to put them on the treetops. Can the natives do that for us?"

Morgan Lee considered. "Maybe. The adults are too heavy to climb trees, but juveniles often do so. In fact, they do the upper harvesting of the graintree crop. But I don't know if the glaxhik would want to put equipment on top of their food trees. Maybe a khazh tree; they have strong upper boughs. There's one over there."

"Where?"

"There. If you stand over there you can see it better."

Yuko walked a little way into the jungle toward the patch of dark red ground cover Lee indicated, craning her head upward. She was dimly aware of a rustle of clicks from the glaxhik. Suddenly there was a hissing screech from the ground beneath her, followed instantly by a stab of agony in her calf. As she jerked back, something whipped out of sight into the jungle. Looking down, she saw blood trickling down her leg.

Morgan Lee was kneeling beside her immediately. "You stepped on a resk," she said. "Let's see . . ." She rolled up Yuko's pantsleg. "Not too bad. I'll bandage it." She reached for her first-aid pouch.

Yuko had mastered her shock. "Is it poisonous?" she asked calmly.

"Not especially. Everything on the planet is toxic to humans, but it's not like a poisonous snake or something. Still, we'd better get you back to the Station. Can you walk, or should I have the glaxhik carry you?"

Yuko tried putting her weight on her injured leg, then limped a few steps. "I can walk. It's not too bad."

"Good. Let's get back to the veetol."

Soon Yuko was watching the foliage streak by below the plane. They were making good time. There was a flash of metal far off to the right; momentarily puzzled, she soon realized that it was the roof of the Station, seen through a gap in the trees. The veetol curved around in a wide arc, landing at the airfield from the opposite direction it had used for take-off. A traffic rule, Yuko surmised.

Morgan Lee hustled her out of the plane and up the path to the Station so hastily that Yuko wondered if she'd been truthful about the question of poison. Lee strode into the Station dragging Yuko by the arm and headed down the hall.

They encountered Jerri Kopfer. "Morgan! I didn't hear your plane. Back so soon?"

"A little medical emergency. MizGlenning got herself bitten by a resk. Karin better take a look at it."

Kopfer opened his mouth, closed it again. He followed them as Lee hurried down the hall with Yuko in tow and pounded on the door of Karin Mbeli's cubicle.

It was some time before Karin opened the door. Behind her in the tiny space stood Tony Bender, her face flushed.

Morgan Lee drew a deep breath and Yuko braced herself for an explosion. But Lee merely said, "I thought so" with intense venom, then turned and stalked off down the corridor. For a moment the tableau remained frozen. Then Karin sighed and looked at Yuko.

"What's the matter?"

"I was bitten by a resk."

"I see. All right, I'd better take a look at it."

Tony Bender slipped out of the cubicle, struggling to hold back tears. As Yuko went in, she glanced at Jerri Kopfer. She could not mistake the satisfaction on his face.

Yuko was doing her monthly stint in the gardens, surrounded by green foliage. She stretched luxuriously, enjoying the warmth here in the spice room. She loved the odor of cinnamon . . . but these were clove plants . . . strange. But the thought passed out of her mind as she saw the cat, a small but eligant calico, come out from behind a plant and stretch, as if imitating her, making her laugh. She knelt on the turf and stretched out her hand, offering to rub it behind the ear. But the cat calmly jumped out on to the path and walked away. She followed it . . . a strange cat . . . she'd never seen it before . . . usually they stayed in their own territories . . . The cat passed into the next chamber and she followed it . . . she was weightless here and she floated effortlessly through the air, looking down at the cat, who walked calmly below her on the path. Yuko descended and began walking again. The cat passed through another door and she followed it into a storage room piled high with bags of seeds. The cat jumped two meters with the effortless slow grace of a low-gee trajectory and sat atop a stack of bags, looking at her intently and purring. She reached up to stroke it . . . it was hard to reach . . . with an effort she stretched her arm further and touched . . .

Her pillow. She opened her eyes to the dim light of her cubicle on Thule.

She squinted at the clock. Almost time to get up, anyway. She forced herself upright against the heavy gravity and pulled on her coveralls, then trudged down the hall to the communal bathroom.

As she brushed her teeth she smiled, thinking of the dream. Like all Spaceborn, she had been brought up to love cats. The complex ecological balance of an oneill required a certain number of small animals--birds and other types of insectivore, especially--and therefore some sort of predator at the top of the food chain to keep their populations controlled. Cats were ideal: efficient, clean, and harmless to humans. And likeable.

She finished her morning ablutions, half an hour later, and came out frowning. Two days now . . . of course, travelling might have upset her system . . . Suddenly she remembered her dream again.

Suffocation, she thought. Talk about bad timing. I'll have to call Nelson.

Yuko returned to her cubicle, glad for the first time that she was not sharing a room. Being alone had been the hardest part of coming here, far harder than wearing clothes; in space one was never alone. "Privacy" was a foreign concept to her, a weird custom of Ground cultures that one studied in school. But the people here at Thule Station were not her people, and she didn't want them listening in on this conversation. Besides, there were political complications.

She plugged her reader into the jack and launched an uplink to Kepler. After a few minutes Nelson's face appeared on the screen, the recroom of his dorm in the background.

"Yuko-ch! How's it going? You all right?"

"I'm fine, Nelson-ch. But something's come up that could be a little complicated."

"All right. What?"

She hesitated. One didn't just come out and say something like this, it would be rude. "Nelson-ch, I had a dream last night. A dream about a cat."

He raised an eyebrow. "You're spending twelve credits a minute to tell me your dreams?"

Suffocate him. Why were men so dense? "Didn't you read Genji in school?"

His face stared at her out of the screen, then comprehension dawned. "Oh. Like Kashiwagi's cat?"

"Yes."

"Well! I'm very pleased, but very surprised. I thought you'd--"

"No, I hadn't expected to be on this trip. Remember, they hustled me on to the shuttle at the last minute when Valerie-'d got hurt."

"I see. Anyway, it's great news--at least, I hope you're happy, too--you are sure, aren't you?"

"No. I'm two days late, but I haven't been tested. As I said, there are complications."

He considered that a moment, then nodded thoughtfully. Now that he'd absorbed the surprise, she saw, his mind was working with its accustomed sharpness.

"Yes. All right, I'll make sure the news doesn't leave Kepler for the time being. We'll just postpone the wedding till you get back, if that's all right with you."

"Of course, Nelson-ch. And I am very happy--it's just--"

He smiled at her. "Right. And I'll talk to Valerie'd. Anything else you want me to do?"

"No. But I sure wouldn't mind getting some guidance from the Seniors. They sent me into this mess pretty blind."

He nodded. "I'll see what I can find out. Probably they'll want to channel communications through me, the way things are. And I'll see if I can get them to pay for the calls; we're going to need the credits."

"Oh, Nelson-ch, I love you."

"Love you too, Yuko-ch."

The screen went black, and Yuko sat for a moment rubbing her abdomen thoughtfully. There was something she should be remembering, but what? Well, it would come to her.

"How's the leg?" asked Karin Mbeli, four days later.

"Much better." The deep gashes left by the resk's beak were healing well, and Yuko no longer limped. Of course there was no chance of infection.

"How about a walk down to the village?"

Yuko had mixed feelings. Leg or no leg, the trip was gruelling, especially coming up the hill on the way back. On the other hand, the atmosphere inside the Station was downright toxic after the confrontation with Morgan Lee, who had since made herself as unpleasant as possible to everyone.

"All right. Just let me get a jacket. Can you translate for me? I want to find out if they can put solar arrays on the trees for us."

The two of them strolled down the hill, Mbeli adjusting to Yuko's slower pace. Yuko ventured a question.

"How's mizBender doing?"

"She's all right. She spends a lot of time out with the aborigines. Tony's throwing herself into the reproduction problem obsesssively; maybe it's the best distraction for her right now."

"Are you making any progress?"

"Not a bit. I can clearly demonstrate that the endocrine system in the females is not working the way it should. They simply don't ovulate. But I can't find out why."

When they arrived at the village, Tony Bender was speaking to the female with a baby; she waved at them but did not interrupt her interrogation. Karin and Yuko sat down nearby and and began a discussion of the solar panel problem with several of the village elders. After a while some of the young glaxhik were summoned and commanded to demonstrate their tree-climbing skills.

"Good!" said Yuko as one youngster came back down. "How about a khazh tree? Can you climb those too?"

Karin clicked at him, and he immediately swarmed up another tree.

"Amazing," Yuko commented. "They climb like cats; I wouldn't have thought they'd be so skillful."

"Cats?"

"Yes . . . Oh, they're extinct on Earth, aren't they? But you must have seen them when you were on Kepler. We have a lot of them."

"Yes, of course. I'd almost forgotten."

"But unlike cats, they're as good at getting down as they are at getting up. Ask him, would you, how much weight he thinks he could carry if we could attach it to his back. --Karin?"

"What? Oh--" She addressed another stream of clicks to the aborigines.

After a while Tony Bender got up and walked back toward the Station. Yuko and Karin continued an intensive discussion with the natives, ending finally with plans for a carrying harness and tests of the young glaxhiks' dexterity in assembling solar panels the next day.

Yuko's pace, as always, was even slower returning, but she was well satisfied with the day's work. She still had another problem to solve, though, she reminded herself. Spotting an opportunity, she asked Karin, "What's that red patch over there?"

Karin glanced where she was pointing. "Probably a resk's lair. The leaves turn from yellow to red because of its urine in the soil. You don't want to step in there."

"Yes, I know," commented Yuko.

Karin looked at her sharply, but hesitated to speak. Finally, seeming to avoid a dangerous subject, she asked, "Do you have a . . . special friend?"

Yuko smiled. "Yes, I'm going with a man named Nelson Kay. He's a systems analyst. I hope we'll be married soon."

"And having children," said Karin, more to herself than Yuko it seemed. "If we hadn't cut ourselves off, we might have seen . . ."

"What?"

"Never mind. Look, Yuko, I have some computer work I need to do. I'll go with you again tomorrow at 0900, OK?" She strode off toward the station, leaving Yuko panting uphill with a puzzled question.

The next morning, when Yuko came to the exit, Karin was not there. She opened the door and looked out. Nothing but yellow and orange vegetation. She was about to go back in when Tony Bender came up the hill.

"Looking for Karin? She had to leave early; she's down in the village with Morgan. Can you meet her there?"

"No problem. How about you?"

"I'm done for now. Take care."

Yuko made good time on the trip down. She was becoming somewhat conditioned to Thule's gravity, apparently. She was nearly to the village when a patch of red off the side of the trail caught her eye.

Not a resk's lair, this time.

Karin Mbeli was lying sprawled on her face in the brush, the back of her head crushed. Yuko knew at once she was dead; the blood had stopped flowing. It was still bright red and almost liquid, though; Karin could not have been dead long. Beside her lay an aboriginal threshing stick, a hardwood rod over a meter long, its tip bloody.

Crouching over the body, Yuko fought down the urge to vomit and called on her training. Emergency! Stop! Don't act! Think! Take a moment to evaluate and decide, then act.

Karin Mbeli dead.

Head crushed.

Aboriginal threshing stick.

In a sudden flash of insight the answer came to her. Of course!

And that meant--

Deadly danger.

Instantly Yuko surged to her feet and dashed into the jungle. Her only chance was to do something unexpected; to be caught by the body, on the path, or in the village would be lethal. The brush tore at her clothing, her face. She pushed on a few more meters, then stopped and crouched, forcing her breathing to slow. She listened over the pounding of her heart.

A rustling in the brush behind her.

Run, or stay frozen and hide? Run; she could be easily tracked, she must be leaving an obvious trail. And time would be critical; her pursuer must catch her soon, or give up. Yuko rose and thrashed through the jungle as fast as she could.

She couldn't really get lost; an uphill course, anywhere within kilometers, would ultimately bring her to the Station. She tried to slowly turn her course to the right, up the slope. Her path was erratic, as she dodged around trees and dense clumps of vegetation. Was she still under pursuit? She didn't dare stop and listen again. Head down to protect her eyes from branches--and to look for red patches on the ground--she ran on. Already there was a cramp in her side, and her breathing was so labored she was sure she could be tracked by the sound of it. Crashing through the bushes she couldn't tell if she was still followed. Her shoulders hunched involuntarily; any moment now the blow would fall from behind, crushing her skull like Karin's . . . She stumbled and fell, forced herself to her feet again, and fled on. How long could she keep running uphill under twice her normal weight? She had to stop and rest . . . she didn't dare stop. She fell again, got up and staggered on. Her breath was ragged gasps--she could hardly breath--"Remember, class, you can go without breathing for several minutes and still function, if you don't panic"--had she panicked?--no, but her mind was wandering . . . get a grip, Yuko! She dodged a tree, went around a bush--found herself back on the path. OK, don't worry about it now, just a few dozen meters to the Station . . .

And suddenly she was almost to the door, and there were Tony Bender and Jerri Kopfer, looking at her in amazement. She gasped out "Karin--dead!" As she halted, the sudden cessation of effort caused her blood pressure to plummet. A red haze came across her eyes, she felt a wave of dizziness, and the last thing she remembered was the sensation of falling.

"How are you now, MizGlenning?" Jerri Kopfer asked.

"I'm OK now," Yuko responded. "Just sad about Karin. She was so nice to me."

"Yes . . . Well, your statement seems clear. We'll have to hold a hearing tomorrow, however, and we'll want you to be present to testify. Uh, it would be wise not to leave the Station."

"Certainly, MizKopfer. Are there any other restrictions on me? Specifically, I will want to report this incident to my seniors."

He hesitated. She could almost see him balancing the political hazards.

"No restrictions, no. We're not trying to keep this secret. I just don't want anyone else going out until we know what happened."

After he left, Yuko sat thinking. She was sure, but a hunch wasn't enough. She needed evidence. And she'd better move soon.

She launched an uplink to Kepler, using a doubled security code. Of course if her cubicle was bugged . . . have to chance it.

Soon she had Nelson and Valerie on a split screen. Quickly she explained what had happened.

"Obviously things have come to a crisis," Valerie said. "I think it would be best if we could postpone this hearing until we can send down some of the Seniors for a full conference."

"Valerie'd, if you put pressure on them now they'll be defensive--and their most obvious response is to hit back at us through Yuko," Nelson warned.

"And," put in Yuko, "I think time is of the essence. Nelson'ch, can you hack your way into the Station's computer through a downlink? Specifically, can you get into Karin's account?"

"If Valerie will authorize me to draw as much bandwidth as I need from Kepler's mainframe, I think so. But if I get caught we'll be in a very bad position, you realize. What do you have in mind?"

Yuko told them.

"I see," said Valerie slowly. "All right; I think it's worth a try. And I agree time is essential. I'll have to stick my neck out and authorize it personally; there's no time to get a consensus from the other Seniors. Nelson'ch, I'm giving your password full bandwidth. Don't get caught, or I'm out the airlock."

Nelson's eyes dropped to his console. "OK, I'm attacking . . . no . . . maybe . . . yes, I'm in. Have they seen me? Can't see any activity . . . routine security. OK, they have a robot patrolling the core, but I can dodge that, at least for a while. But if the sysop comes on personally, we're in trouble. OK, let's take a look . . . her files are tidy. Ah, here's her notebook. Sorry, Yuko'ch, no entry from yesterday or today. Do you want to look at day before yesterday?"

"No. Suffocation! I'm sure she would have recorded it. It must have been wiped."

"If so, it was cleverly done. Let me look at the activity log . . . she was on yesterday . . . or someone using her password . . . but no record of files erased. Of course, there are ways to cover up. Want me to look for evidence?"

"No, we couldn't prove who did it even if we could prove it had been done. Unless she had a backup notebook . . . wait. Look at yesterday's activity. Give me a list of what files she consulted."

After a short interval, a list of files appeared in a window on Yuko's screen. A moment later, one item was highlighted, and Nelson's face appeared smiling in another window. "Bingo! Smart girl! Anything else? I think that robot is getting suspicious."

"Let's pull out. I think this will be enough--if I can get them to listen to me."

Rather to Yuko's surprise, the hearing into Karin Mbele's death was handled, not in a formal trial, but in a meeting of the Station's personnel. She'd always thought of the Earthborn as being more rigid in their procedures. But Jerri Kopfer called witnesses without formality, and questions from the floor were admitted without objection.

Yuko led off with an account of how she'd found the body. She said nothing of her flight back to the Station, merely letting it be assumed that she'd been in a hurry to report the death.

Testimony then came from Karin's assistant, Geo Claric, who was now the Station's senior medical expert.

"Karin was struck down from behind. There was a single blow, very powerful. The skull was fractured on the--I'll spare you the medical terminology--on the right rear. The same blow broke the neck between the sixth and seventh vertebrae. The weapon apparently was the aboriginal threshing stick that was found by her body. The wound is consistent with that, and the blood on the stick is hers."

"Fingerprints?" Kopfer asked.

"None."

Kopfer hesitated. "It sounds like an aborigine killed her. Perhaps--"

Morgan Lee and Tony Bender jerked, too stunned to protest immediately. There was noise from the audience, which hushed as

Claric raised his hand.

"No, that doesn't seem likely. The angle from which the blow was struck indicates that the assailant was no taller than Karin--probably shorter, in fact. An aborigine couldn't possibly have hit her like that, unless it was squatting, say. A juvenile, maybe, but--"

"It's nonsense, anyway," said a woman's voice from the audience. "The aborigines are in awe of us, the young more than any. And we all know who had a motive to kill Karin Mbele!"

Yuko never learned who had said it, but all eyes went at once to Morgan Lee. Jerri Kopfer cut in sharply.

"Let's keep this orderly. No wild accusations, please. We have no evidence whatsoever to indicate guilt at this time. Morgan was there, so let's get her testimony as to what she saw."

Yuko had a feel for the dynamics of the meeting now. Morgan Lee was very unpopular, and it wouldn't take much evidence to get a consensus verdict against her from this crowd. But Jerri Kopfer's prejudice was evident to Yuko, even if not to the others. He was the leader, and he would probably prevail--and it was obvious where he was going. She had to intervene before the meeting got locked into the wrong solution. But she was in the weakest possible position, as a despised outsider.

"Excuse me," she said. "May I offer some additional evidence?"

"What else do you know about it, anyway?" the same voice demanded. "Or did you kill Karin yourself, perhaps?"

Yuko shuddered, but Geo Claric spoke up on her behalf. "Not a chance. No Spacer would have the strength to strike that blow."

Jerri Kopfer looked at Yuko and hesitated. She had to have the leader's support, if only for a minute! "And I don't think it was Morgan Lee, either," she said loudly.

Kopfer jumped at it. "Why not?" he asked.

"Well," said Yuko, trying to tune her senses to the emotions of the audience, "I'm no forensic scientist, but it doesn't make sense to me." They were curious now, but still hostile. Lower the voice a bit, express a little more humility. And make them feel superior to Spaceborn. "I mean . . . on Kepler we have that sort of crime pretty often. People go berserk and kill out of jealousy. But that doesn't seem to fit here . . ." She let her voice trail off uncertainly.

It was working. Kopfer sensed the mood of the audience and helped out. "No doubt you're an expert, then," he said dryly, "but what's your point?"

"Well . . . the idea is that Karin was killed out of jealousy, right? That Morgan Lee hated her for stealing her lover. But when somebody kills out of hate like that, she wants her victim to see her doom coming. If Morgan had done it, she would have hit Karin from the front. And she would have hit her over and over again. But in this crime, the killer snuck up from behind and struck one quick blow. That suggests it was motivated, not by hate, but by fear."

Claric shook his head. "That's a pretty thin argument. I thought you said you had additional evidence, not speculation."

"I do have additional evidence. I know the motive. Karin had found out what was wrong with the glaxhik."

There, now she had them. Morgan Lee and Tony Bender stared at her in shock. "What?"

"The glaxhik females aren't ovulating, right? Karin discovered why. And that's why she was killed."

"I think you'd better explain," said Jerri Kopfer over the murmers of the Station personnel.

"Of course. We all know that humans and many other mammals ovulate to a regular schedule--about 28 days for women. But that's not true of all animals, or even all mammals. In many species, ovulation doesn't occur until some event triggers it. It's called induced ovulation, and that's what happens with the glaxhik."

Geo Clarik nodded. "Of course we considered that. But we couldn't identify an inducing event. So how did Karin find it, and how did you know about it?"

"We were down in the village together, watching the glaxhik youths climbing trees, and I happened to mention that they climbed like cats. You Earthborn aren't familiar with cats any more, but Karin, as a biologist, knew about them. They undergo induced ovulation too."

Clarik frowned. "I don't remember much about the species. What's the inducer?"

"Pain."

"Pain?"

"Pain. In cats, the male's penis is barbed. When he withdraws it after intercourse, it's extremely painful for the female. And it's that pain that induces ovulation."

Yuko carefully avoided looking at her audience. Not yet. She concentrated on Claric.

"The glaxhik females also ovulate in response to pain. Specifically, the pain of being beaten about the head by their mates."

There was a gasp and Morgan Lee leaped to her feet. "No!"

"Yes. Karin suddenly got the idea, and as soon as she got back to the Station, she checked it out. Among other things, she looked up the biology of cats. Then when she was sure, she wanted to talk it over with someone. And she made the mistake of confiding in her lover."

Morgan Lee's head turned, almost unwillingly, with the others to look at Tony Bender.

"You couldn't face it, could you, Tony?" Yuko said gently. "It was your fault the glaxhik were dying out. You--you and Morgan Lee--stopped the glaxhik males from beating their mates. You didn't confine yourself to observing as a scientist; you meddled in their society, thinking you were helping them, but actually exterminating them. You couldn't have that come out. You persuaded Karin to postpone announcing her discovery."

"No," said Tony. "You're making all this up."

Yuko shook her head. "Don't you see it's too late? Now that he knows what to look for for, MizClaric will soon confirm the biological facts. Everyone will know the truth. It was all for nothing, Tony. I know how much it hurt you to kill Karin, and it was all for nothing."

Tony Bender buried her face in her hands.

"You asked Karin to meet you near the village, knowing Morgan Lee would be there that morning. Then you came up behind her with a threshing stick and struck her down. You couldn't bear to look her in the face. Morgan Lee had a well-known motive and was nearby with no alibi. You set up an excellent frame-up. You ran back to the Station and sent me down to meet Karin. But you should have left it alone instead of following me to kill me too. Karin must have told you that she hadn't said anything to me."

"I couldn't take the chance," said Tony woodenly. "She said she got the idea from talking to you. I thought you might see it too--and you did, didn't you? If you were killed down there, it would look like Morgan did it, to get rid of a witness."

"As long as it was done close enough in time to Karin's murder."

"Yes. But just as I was getting close to you, you suddenly jumped up and ran off into the bush. I chased you for a little while, but when I didn't catch you I went back to the path. I had to get back to the Station before you did, at least. I was hardly there a minute before Jerri came out."

She looked up at Jerri Kopfer. "Is that sufficient confession? I'm very tired."

"We'll have to have a full statement. And confirming evidence is required."

"You might try," said Yuko diffidently, "looking into Karin's computer records. She might have left notes, or there might be a record of inquiries into induced ovulation and the biology of cats . . ."

"That will be done. Well, MizGlenning, you've been very helpful. We'll want to review the entire monitoring program, of course, in view of the new data. As soon as you've given us a formal statement, I see no reason why you can't return to Kepler."

"Very well. Tony," Yuko found her eyes were blurred. "Tony, I'm sorry. Very sorry."

"It's all right. To tell the truth, I'm glad for it to be over."

"They sure didn't lose any time getting rid of you," said Valerie, as soon as Yuko's mother, and then Nelson, had finished hugging her.

"Well, it was an embarrassing situation all around for them, so it's only natural. And I certainly wasn't complaining! My word, it's wonderful to be back in normal gravity."

Valerie laughed. "Now you know why the Seniors hate to go down. Unfortunately, some of us will have to--but not too soon. We'll let things stabilize a bit first."

"Stabilize . . . I wish they wouldn't execute Tony. I can't understand how the Earthborn can kill like that."

"After centuries of desperate overpopulation, they haven't got much respect for human life. The death penalty is routine on Earth. But it's painful when it's someone you know. I remember Tony from when she was revived here on Kepler. She was a nice young lady; I felt Morgan Lee was a bad influence on her. I suppose Morgan will attach herself to Jerri Kopfer now?"

"Maybe," said Yuko. "If she can dominate him."

"And Karin Mbeli," sighed Yuko's mother. "Such a nice woman. She used to play with you when you were a baby, Yuko-ch, back before the Station was built. You were too young to remember, I suppose. By the time you were school age, the political situation was already so tense that the Earthborn were hardly talking to us any more. She should have had children of her own."

"Our first girl, Nelson-ch, let's name her Karin."

"Of course. Now, about wedding plans--"

"Wedding plans?" asked Valerie.

"Yes," said Yuko, blushing.

"Well! Congratulations! And many more, I trust."

"And be glad," said her mother, "that Nelson-ch doesn't have to beat you on the head each time."