Ice Planet Page 7

  “I’m not sure how long ago that was from now. It was about 14 000 years before our time, but I haven’t checked what year it is now.” Aria smiled her apology. She knew how silly it would sound, for a scientist not to know the date. That had been the subject of countless jokes over the years. She walked over to the desk and spoke. “Computer, what is the date today?”

  The computer responded without a pause.

  “The date is the twelfth day of the sixth month of the year 24 895, basing the date on the founding of the colony on Kinair.”

  “Did you hear that, Savi? The date on our departure was 14 512. We’ve transported forward 10 383 years. That is more than I expected. It seems that people did not find the structures we built, Grea.”

  “I guess that the permanent ice around here was left over from the freeze you escaped from. The mountain has been known for thousands of years, but it was not the sort of place to go for holidays, or for any other purpose, simply because it was too cold. We saw that the tops of the structures had been exposed to the weather for many years, but, poking a short distance above the ice, they were not really noticeable unless you were looking for something like that. The only reason they were found was that the deposit of minerals beneath the base layer of rock is a continuation of the vein that has been mined a long distance away.” Savi smiled at Grea, a middle-aged woman with long brown hair and a pleasant face. She had the same look in her eyes as the others of her group, a look of intelligence and questioning. “I don’t have any idea of what you could have done that would be more conspicuous after ten thousand years.”

  “Thank you, Savi. I was worried that my work, which was a key non-technical part of the project, would not do what it was intended to. The existence of that deposit seemed to be a good draw card for a mineral-consuming society, which was the sort that we wanted to find us.”

  “I never doubted that it would, Grea. And it did.” Aria’s smile took away any doubts that lingered in Grea’s mind. Aria returned her gaze to Savi. “In addition to creating the structures, Grea mined all the minerals we needed. She was a geologist of distinction in our time.”

  “What are your plans now, Aria? Will you work from here, or do you wish to come with us to the city? We’re both lecturers at the university, and we need to tell the Professor if we plan to be away. They’re expecting us to return to the university in three days.”

  “We also need to arrange some food and bedding for you all.”

  “I suggest that we transport a person transporter to your home. That will ease the travel arrangements. I assume you live some distance away?”

  “Yes, we do. It takes nearly a full day of driving to get here. Do you plan to live here, in the chamber?”

  “Only if we need to! We lived here for three months before we transported, and I would love to go somewhere where I can walk in the open, and see something other than just this place. Is there somewhere we could live in the city?”

  “I’m sure we could find some suitable accommodation. The population has been in decline for a long time, and there are many unoccupied houses and apartments. I also have access to a laboratory that only Cora and I use, and that only occasionally. There are several empty offices there, as well as unoccupied apartment buildings nearby.”

  “We need to arrange some funds for all of this. We can’t call on Cora and Savi to support us.”

  “That’s easy, Bian. What minerals are readily saleable?”

  Cora considered the matter.

  “Diamonds are easily sold, also gold and silver. We could easily research what other minerals are required by industrial companies. If we sell them at about the market price, it won’t raise too many eyebrows. Do you have access to such minerals, Grea?”

  “I have the complete minerals survey for the continent, Cora. I’m sure that some deposits have been mined, perhaps even exhausted, but there are many deposits that can only be mined by particle extraction means. How are minerals mined now?”

  “Most mines use mechanical means, such as drills, explosives, bucket loaders and do on, and the minerals are refined in dedicated plants, usually by gravity separation, smelting or chemical extraction. The smaller mines use manual methods, such as shovels and picks, but there are not many of those left now, with the worsening weather conditions.”

  “Good. We can mine from here in a way that no-one will be able to see. We can deposit the refined metal into a suitable building, and deliver from there to the buyers in the normal way.”

  “How will you mine and refine?” Cora’s face displayed her incredulity. As a qualified geologist, she knew the most modern mining and refining methods, and all of them required large equipment and huge funding.

  “We use a matter transporter to extract only the metals or chemicals we want, and to transport them to our depot or customer. The transporter can extract the metal in an absolutely pure form, so there is no refining required. You may have found that there are no mines from our time, and about eight thousand years before that. That is because we used the mining machines from the very early days, and so had no need for mine shafts or dumps of waste material.”

  “That explains one of our conundrums!” Cora was excited again. “One of the arguments against the theory that civilizations existed earlier than ours is that there is no evidence of the extraction of minerals. Doing it the way you described would account for that.” Cora thought for a moment. “The matter transporters would also account for the lack of roads, bridges and so on. When we climbed up here, Savi and I remarked on the fact that there was no road up to here. It did not seem possible that people could build this sort of facility without the use of a road.”

  “We believed that our society reached a level of scientific development during each warm cycle, and then slipped back a way during the cold cycles, to start again at a slightly more advanced level than previously during the next warm cycle. It seems that I was wrong,” said Savi ruefully.

  “No, your theory was correct for the early years. However, the extreme cold that we suffered probably destroyed much of the technology and knowledge that our people had built up. That extreme cold period may have been repeated in the following cold cycle, perhaps even a little less extreme. I believe that an extreme such as we experienced, if it became the norm, had the potential to destroy all life on the planet. As a group, we represent probably ninety per cent of the specialist knowledge of quantum physics of our time. The removal of the pool of knowledge that we collectively represent from the recovery might well account for the fact that the theory has gone out of use. Of course, if we had not transported to here, we would probably not have survived anyway, so the likelihood is that our transport into the future did not bring about the decline of knowledge.” Aria nodded thoughtfully. What she had said was possibly correct, but the chances that this group could have lived through that cold cycle and taken the knowledge forward through succeeding generations were extremely small. The most likely situation was that their knowledge would have died with them in any event. Only her development of the science of time transportation had saved them, and that had come only recently in her work. That thought frightened her. She had known for years that she carried the burden of taking the science developed on two planets over millennia forward. This group had come perilously close to dropping that burden. She made up her mind that she would do whatever it took to perpetuate the knowledge she carried in her head. She owed that to her race.

  Chapter 9

  They talked until it became necessary for Savi and Cora to leave. They had agreed that they would keep the secret of the chamber from everyone. If the StateSec got to hear of it, it seemed likely that they would attempt to gain control of the technologies contained in it. It was clear that those technologies could ensure unimaginable wealth to whomever controlled them, and that would imply that their new friends would be held in a secure facility, or perhaps even executed once their knowledge of how to operate the machines had been gained. If the President and his men gain
ed the knowledge of how to operate them, they would ensure that that knowledge would have no chance of being passed to the general populace. Just the thought of that put a chill in their minds, and the excesses that would be perpetrated by the top people in the State if they had control of that wealth was beyond their imagination. There was no possibility that the wealth would be distributed amongst the people, or even used to the benefit of the people.

  Cora and Savi took with them a particle enclosed in a magnetic field, which would serve to provide the address that the particle transporter needed to place a transporter in a secure place.

  “I suggest that you place this small device in an open space at least as large as one of those cabinets, Cora. We will transport a person transporter to that location in four days. That will enable us to transport back and forth from there to here. We will use the time to consider what we need to do to help our people. Once we have formulated the plan, we will discuss it with you. If it is possible, we would appreciate you arranging accommodation for us. We can occupy it in pairs, one man and one woman each. That is likely to be less conspicuous than so many single persons suddenly arriving. We will also make arrangements to obtain some minerals that we can sell to provide the funds that we will need to cover our costs.” Aria smiled. “I’m sure that there are many other things to attend to, but they can wait until we have settled.”

  “Will you have enough food?”

  “I believe so. We have some emergency rations packed in the equipment shipment. It won’t be very interesting, but it will keep us alive. We thought that there might be a problem when we arrived, so we included some food to tide us over until we transported on to the next available time, if that proved to be necessary.”

  “I hope you won’t be doing that, Aria,” said Savi anxiously. “I know that we didn’t give you the good news that you were hoping for. However, there is so much more I would like to find out.” Savi paused, not knowing whether he should say more. He did not want to put their new friends under any sort of moral pressure.

  “We won’t do that, Savi. We owe you much for welcoming us here.”

  *~*

  Savi and Cora collected a few random rock samples from the edge of the cliff face to ensure that the story they had given would hold up, and then strapped on the skis that had been such a burden on the climb up to the platform. They waved to their friends, all gathered at the door to the chamber, and then set off down the long slope to the base camp.

  The speed of their descent prevented any conversation, although both of them were aching to discuss the events of the past day, and what they might hold for the future. They reached the more level ground within forty minutes, and reached their car fifteen minutes after that. They arrived back at the base in the shadow of early evening, although the majestic mountain above them was still bathed in bright sunshine coming through a break in the cloud cover.

  “The mountain is beautiful, Savi. This is the first time we’ve seen it in sunlight. It is easy to see why our new friends selected it as a beacon for the people to find them.”

  “It is, Cora. Even so, I’m keen to get back to Vidia, so that we can get to work. There is a lot to do before our friends arrive.”

  “I wonder what the future holds. There seems to be so much promise in the technology they have. We could arrange to transport the whole population to a future time when the warm cycle is beginning again. We could simply skip the problems that this cold cycle will bring.”

  Savi smiled.

  “I’m not so sure that the politicians or the religious leaders would want to do that, Cora. Their power is strengthened by the problems that the cold will bring, and I doubt that the question of how Humanity can survive beyond them hangs heavily on their minds. They have never been noted for any long-term planning. If there is plentiful food, and no limitation on where people can live, you can be sure that all the independent-minded citizens will try to escape their rule.”

  “I’m sure that you’re right. One of their strengths is that they have gained control of all the options available to people, so we have to beg for favors that should be our right. It’s strange that the lust for power and wealth should lead people to take advantage of others in this way. If I were the President, I would have been putting a maximum effort into ensuring that the people are making preparations for what is to come. The people are generally capable of achieving great things, if they’re given the chance to do it. As things are, it seems that the mass of people are giving up, that they believe that the possible reward is not worth the effort.”

  “Perhaps that can be changed. We may not be able to help all the people, but even a few will be an achievement. And, probably, if we can persuade a few to make the move, they will be the ones with the greatest chance of succeeding in the future. The transport technology could make it possible to relocate groups of people to places where they will not be under the control of the Government.”

  “I’m sure that can be done. But we must be very careful in what we do, what and where we talk. We know that university people like us are under heavy surveillance by StateSec. They’re always watching for any sign of deviance from the approved line, and there are plenty of people to report to them of whatever we do.”

  “That will be a real stumbling block in any effort to recruit people to any sort of action against the State. Professor Netteos was arrested for a simple comment that there might be doubt about the accuracy of the official history of our people. He made it to a class of students, who needed to know that there might be doubt. How dangerous could that have been? Yet he was arrested, and hasn’t been heard of since, and the university seems to have done nothing to obtain his release! The university is supposed to be a thought leader for the population.”

  “I heard of that, but it didn’t surprise me. Many of the senior people in my university held their positions mainly because they were friendly with some State or religious leader. That’s why it closed. They didn’t have any understanding of how a university functions, and they made many very stupid mistakes. Even I could see that. I’m sure that is repeated throughout the economy, and it ensures that there will be no economic recovery while the current bunch of political morons are still in power.”

  “I think we should stop talking about the subject. There’s one of the mining people over there, and sound carries some distance in these conditions.”

  They reached the entrance to the base and deposited their skis in the storage area, glad that they could be left at the door. They were bulky and heavy, and carrying them through the building to their small rooms would be difficult. Just their backpacks, loaded with unnecessary rock samples were enough of a load.

  After they had deposited the packs and changed into lighter clothing, the two walked through to the canteen, where a hot meal awaited them. Listu saw them entering, and waved them over to sit at his table.

  “How did the expedition go? Was it worth the effort?”

  “The view from the top was great, Listu, but there is nothing really new there. It’s possible to see these structures from up there, as you would expect. We didn’t find anything that would cause us to change our minds about them. If anyone had established a mine on the mountain, that platform would be the place to put it, because there is nowhere else that is level enough to set up any machinery, but there’s no sign of any roads or cableways to access the platform, and we doubt that there are any minerals worth mining up there. I think that what you have identified under the rock slab is about all there is in this area. Cora and I will be writing the first draft of the report tomorrow, but it won’t contain anything to upset your plans for the mine.” Savi did not enjoy talking around the truth to Listu. The man had been courteous and helpful in their work, and he had no reason to suspect that Listu would report anything he said to StateSec. However, he could not ignore the fact that there had been many examples of that sort of trust being misplaced. The influence of the political and religious leaders was pervasive at every level of the
society.

  “That’s a pity, in a way. It would be great if there were some really ancient artefacts up there. That would have made the effort of clearing the ice away from these structures worthwhile. It would probably not affect any of our mining plans anyway.” Listu smiled at them. “If your work is complete, I can start making preparations to clear the camp here. It won’t be needed, and we could use some of the equipment that’s tied up here. When do you plan to leave?

  “We’ll be writing the first draft of our report tomorrow, and when that is complete, we won’t need to be here. We need to get the samples we took on the mountain to our analytical lab, but I doubt that there will be anything exciting to find. We’ll probably be ready to leave here the day after tomorrow.”

  “Well, I’ve enjoyed your company. Perhaps we can keep in touch when I get back to the city. I’ve always enjoyed speculating about the ancient past. It would be interesting to know how things really developed, to give us what we have now. That’s why I proposed that we commission a geological and archaeological study of those artefacts. I thought that there had to be much more than just a geological curiosity behind them.”

  Savi looked sharply at Listu. Although the man’s words suggested that he had some doubts about the official story of the origin of the planet, it seemed more likely that he suspected that the two of them were hiding some significant facts. It seemed to be possible that he could simply be holding out some bait, waiting for the two university people to bite and give him an opportunity to polish his image with StateSec. That would be a way to gain advancement in his career. The last alternative, unlikely as it seemed to be, was that he believed that the official story about the creation of the planet was unfounded, and wanted information to justify that belief. In the climate of fear that pervaded the population at all levels, people just did not talk openly about that sort of doubt.