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  Cora had watched the interchange as she ate, and now she came in smoothly.

  “One of the jobs that is still outstanding is the research on other possible artefacts similar to these. That’s why we need to get back to the university to complete the report. I know of a few other finds that seemed to suggest that they pre-dated the human race, but the final reports all concluded that they had natural origins. If they had been man-made, they would have upset numerous people.” The findings that Cora referred to had almost certainly not been natural in origin, but the ‘experts’ who had investigated them had created some fanciful explanations that removed the risk of going against the religious beliefs. Those explanations were paper-thin, and could easily be seen through by those who knew the subject, but they satisfied the need of the moment. The people employed by StateSec were not known to be the most intelligent or best-educated.

  Listu nodded, and continued eating. Savi switched the conversation to a less risky subject, enjoying the interchange with Listu, and Cora participated in the discussion. When they had finished eating, Cora and Savi excused themselves and headed to Cora’s room, a tiny cubicle that they had used to store their papers. They entered, and Cora stopped. Her belongings were in some disorder. The difference would normally not have been noticeable, but she had taken care to put everything tidily in place after she had changed for supper, knowing that they would be working here after the meal. She glanced meaningfully at Savi, putting her finger to her lips. Savi understood the gesture. The walls of the cubicles were far from soundproof, owing to their temporary nature, and anything that might be said could easily be overheard by a listener nearby.

  “I think I should fetch the rock samples, Cora. We need to expand the descriptions. I’ll fetch them from my room.” Savi nodded to Cora, unsmiling, and walked out.

  Cora set to work to check her documents. There were a few missing, although she knew that she had placed them in their correct place in the pile. One notable document she remembered was headed “Evaluation of the Age of the Artefacts”. The conclusion that she and Savi had reached in that document was that the probable age of the structures put them at the earliest years in the history of the planet. She remembered how she and Savi had discussed whether they should go out on a limb and put on record that the structures probably pre-dated the creation of the planet. They had chosen not to make such a positive statement, preferring to wait for the results of the analysis of the age of the rock from which they were made. Neither had any doubt that that age would put them firmly in an age range of millions of years before the current time. Publishing that statement, even to the mining company, would present a whole new set of problems. As it was, the loss of that particular document tended to throw greater emphasis on the question. Cora was not sure of what precisely the wording was that she and Savi had settled on to fill that gap in the report.

  Cora had not yet come to any conclusions by the time Savi returned, carrying the pack of rocks. He unpacked the samples, each carefully contained in a sealed and labeled bag. He was smiling. When the samples were all out, he took the small container holding the magnetic containment device that was so important in allowing their friends to find them in the city. He showed it briefly to Cora, smiling. She smiled back. If they had been found in possession of that device, they would have been required to explain it, what its function was and how they had come to be in possession of it. The label on the base was written in the archaic language, understandable to the two of them with their specialist knowledge, but probably highly suspicious to anyone else who, in any event, probably harbored suspicions about them. A simple claim that they had found the device on the mountain and were bringing it back to the university for further examination would not hold up, in the absence of a report by them immediately on their return to the camp about the device. That device could constitute an arrest warrant for both of them!

  “I’ve been thinking about our report, Cora. We’ve already completed most of it. All we need to complete it, apart from the research on other comparable artefacts, is the evaluation of the age of the rocks, so that we can compare the age of the rocks near the bases of the structures with the natural rock of the mountain. I’m sure that they come from the same formation, so the difference in age should give us an indication when the rock in the structures was first exposed to the air. As you know, the chemical composition of the rock changes gradually over time when it is exposed to air or water, as the rock in the structures have been. Of course, if the structures are natural, as we suspect, there will be very little difference in ages. Do you think that we need to collect more samples from around the structures?” As he said the words, he shook his head vigorously from side to side.

  “No,” replied Cora, seeing the smile break out again on Savi’s lips. “Looking at them again, I believe that the two sets of samples are representative of their sets. If we get back to the university earlier than we planned, we can have the sample analysis done sooner, while we work on the report. I also need to work on my lectures when we return. We’ll have to start giving lectures three days from now. I think we should pack up tonight, and leave first thing in the morning.”

  “I agree, Cora. I’ll leave the samples here, so that it is all together.” Savi pointed to the small parcel containing the magnetic containment device, then under Cora’s bed, then to himself. Cora realized that he intended to hide the parcel under his bed. He had recognized the same danger as she had.

  The work was soon done, and Savi and Cora carried the load out to their car, leaving behind only what they needed for the night. They loaded it in the car, and then called in at Listu’s office.

  “We’ve changed our plans a little, Listu. When we checked what work the report needed done, it turned out that all of it can be done best at the university. Given your change in plan to mine from the edge of the slab, rather than from here through it, it seems that the report will be more helpful to you if we complete it earlier, so we plan to leave early tomorrow morning. We’ll send you the final draft for comment before we publish it. Will that be satisfactory?”

  “Perfectly. I’ll be sorry to see you go, but, as I said earlier, we can make contact again when I return to the city.”

  The two returned to their rooms to make the final preparations, then settled into a troubled sleep.

  Chapter 10

  The drive to the city did not take as long as when they had gone to the mountain, and there was still some daylight left when they reached it. They were thankful that the snow had not reached here, although the sky threatened that it would not be long in coming.

  “Let’s go to my house first, Cora. We can unload the documents and samples there,” The two had been careful not to discuss anything about their new friends in the car. They had heard reports that StateSec placed listening and tracking devices in the cars of suspect persons, and the disturbance to their documents suggested that they might be on the list of suspects.

  “That’s fine, Savi. Stop in at the store on the way there, so that we can get some supplies, and I’ll cook us supper while you work on the documents.”

  They reached Savi’s home and unloaded the car, then Savi put the car away while Cora started work on their meal. He returned a few minutes later, carrying the small parcel under his jacket. He beckoned to Cora, then walked out the back door of the apartment. Puzzled, Cora followed him, leaving the food to simmer gently in the kitchen. Savi walked through the small garden and around the shed near the back fence. Cora followed, to see Savi using a key from the car key set to unlock a gate. They walked through the gate and across the small yard to the back door of the building behind Savi’s house.

  “This lab belongs to the university, but it hasn’t been in use for over ten years, so they allow me to use it as I need. No-one else ever comes here.” Savi unlocked the heavy door and turned on the lights, and then allowed Cora to precede him into the building. It was about twice the size of Savi’s house, and it had all the equipment they might need.
“There’s a secure office just over there, where we can talk without fear of being overheard.”

  Cora knew of the laboratory from a conversation with Savi, but she had never been here. She was impressed.

  “I wanted to put the magnetic containment here, and also to show you how to get in from the back. There’s a key labeled ‘Lab’ on the key rack in the hall of my house. That opens the front door of this building, but this way is much more secure. The key is on my car key ring.” Savi looked around. “If there’s a need, we can accommodate all our friends from the mountain in here. There are ten offices on the upper floor. We’ll have to get bedding and food supplies in.”

  “That might be a safer way to go, at least until they have learned our modern language. They’ll stand out like a sore thumb speaking the way they do now.” Cora paused, smiling as she thought of the new people. “I can’t wait to see their transporter in action. I know that we saw their arrival, but it all seemed to be so unexciting. The lights came on, the doors of the cabinets opened, and there they were. I would have expected that a journey of over ten thousand years would be much more exciting than that.”

  Savi smiled.

  “You’re right. It deserved a big band, fanfares and a fireworks display. Perhaps even a politician making a long, boring speech. And it was interesting that none of them seemed to be too excited about the whole thing, although I suppose that arriving inside the chamber they had just left, subjectively, was not really an exciting event for them.”

  “That chamber left a lot of questions in my mind, Savi. The way the lights inside the chamber came on as we opened the door, even the fact that the door could open so easily after such a long time. The place was free of dust or any other sign that it had not been in use for so many centuries. And I'd love to get my hands on that computer. It makes the best we have look primitive by comparison.”

  “It’s a real indictment of our government, that we had all of that knowledge and we let it slide. I suspected that we went downhill with each cold cycle and then recovered to a more advanced level of knowledge with each warm cycle, but we obviously had so much more to start with than we have now. And the ancients were able to take the knowledge that arrived on the planet with them, and grow it to that level, even though they probably faced the same challenges we do.”

  “That is probably why the government and religious leaders are so keen to propagate the story that the world was created seven thousand years ago. That way, they don’t have to answer why they let it slip. Any citizen who could understand what we’ve lost would want to get rid of them.” Cora paused to reflect on what she had said, then smiled. “I think that most people would want that anyway. It’s a puzzle to me how they’ve stayed in power for so long.”

  “They can do it because they’re organized, whereas the citizens are a bunch of individuals. They’re able to use StateSec to terrorize the people, and to break up any grouping that might become a problem. And, in addition to all that, they have the religious leaders on their side, slipping in false propaganda where it is least visible. They’re all a bunch of self-interested criminals holding hands.”

  Cora laughed at the anger on Savi’s face.

  “I think our friends might have the solution to that problem. If it is possible to transport easily to another place or another time, anyone who feels strongly about the activities of the government can simply go elsewhere. If enough citizens do it, there won’t be a tax base for the leeches to live on.”

  “I think that the problem is greater than that, Cora. The government people aren’t in this alone. I’m sure that they buy the willing assistance of businesspeople, using different inducements, such as reduced tax or sweetheart deals in return for exceptional service. The businesspeople may not like it, but they go along with it because the alternative, at least in the short term, is reduced profit or even no business for them. I don’t know of a single businessman who plans in the long term. They’re all acting as though they know that the end is coming, and they want to take as much as they can from what is here now, while it is still here. I know that they talk the other way, but what business do you know of that has made a large investment that will produce results possibly only in ten years? The technology that Aria and her associates have was developed that way. Someone saw a problem coming 25 000 years in the future and a group of scientists made up their minds to do something about it. If that were to happen now, we'd all be sitting on our hands and hoping that some supernatural power will come to our rescue. In fact, that is happening. We all know that the cold weather will increase until the conditions on the planet will be hardly livable, yet what have we done to bring about any change? Even the mine that Listu is developing is planned to last less than ten years before the resource is exhausted. That has happened before. They’ve been driven to open that mine because the present one producing that ore is exhausted, and the industries that use it are living on the scrap from the previous production, hoping that the new mine will come on stream soon enough to save their bacon.”

  “Is it that bad, Savi? I know that the economy is faltering, but I thought that was the result of the declining population.”

  “It is declining, Cora, and the reason is that the people are giving up hope. No-one wants to bring children into the sort of future that is now obviously coming. They see that jobs are becoming increasingly difficult to get, so they hang on to the one they have, rather than trying to work their way up in the system. The employers don’t believe that the future is likely to be better, so they’re not making investments until that changes, and it will never change until their expectations change. Maintenance of plants and assets is slipping, because the owners don’t want to use the money on it while there’s a chance that they’ll need that money to survive. People aren’t spending because they’re not sure that they will have a job or an income in the future, and so the sales of the businesses that supply them are decreasing, making the probability that there will be a further decline more certain. And all the time, the religious leaders are telling the people that the Creator will save them! He won’t save them, unless they do something to save themselves. And the government won’t save them, because the people at the top are taking an increasing share of a reducing pie to sustain their own wealth. Even if they wanted to do something about it, I doubt that they have the capability to really understand what needs to be done, or to do it if they’re told what is needed. The only question in my mind about the likely result of it all is whether the cold will come to decimate the population before starvation does.”

  Cora stood and looked at Savi. She knew that he was an astute thinker, and what he had said matched her own understanding of the situation. She had not yet reached the conclusions that he had described, but she knew instinctively that they were correct. The thought worried her.

  “I suppose then that our biggest hope is that Aria and her team can develop some means of checking other planets for habitability before the cold makes life here impossible.”

  “I think that there is another possibility, Cora. Aria mentioned that this planet was colonized about twenty-five thousand years ago, along with numerous other planets. In her time, they were not able to make contact with any one of the other colonies. The reason for that could be that not one of the other colonies survived, but I think that is unlikely. We did, and the conditions on this planet, according to the astronomers, are possibly worse than is the case with dozens of others, so there’s a chance that at least some of the other colonies survived. If they did, it seems reasonable to assume that at least some of them would have taken the basis of the knowledge that they had when they were established and developed it further, as Aria and her team did. After all, they had an extra ten thousand years to do it! If that is the case, it may be possible to communicate with them, and get their assistance in solving some of our problems. Even if we can’t transport to them, as our ancestors did to come here, we may get advice on how to warm the planet.”

  “I’ve had
a thought on that, Savi. If it is possible to mine without digging a hole, it may be possible to place some sort of device to ignite the minerals in Kinair’s core. We know that there is almost certainly fissionable material there. If we can access it, and set off a nuclear reaction, it might warm the planet sufficiently to offset the effects of our elliptical orbit. The planet is big enough to shield us from the radiation, and it won’t require more than a few degrees of warming to melt the ice and snow cover build-up that is the most important factor in the cooling of the planet. It has been scientifically proven that the duration of the snow cover on the ground is a stronger determinant in the cooling of the planet than the depth of it, because it reflects the warming rays of the sun out into space. In other words, a longer mild winter has a greater cooling effect than a shorter, more extreme one. And that is exactly what has been happening.”

  Savi considered the idea. It certainly made sense. The biggest single question, of course, was how to initiate that nuclear reaction, followed by the secondary question of whether it could be contained. A world-size nuclear explosion would put an end to all of their problems in the worst way!

  “How could we prevent a runaway nuclear reaction?”

  “The first aspect of that is that it seems to be very unlikely. I believe that the pockets of fissionable material are relatively small, with the material sufficiently dispersed to avoid self-ignition. If that were not the case, they would have started the reaction spontaneously. If it is the case, it may be doable. The conditions near the core seem to be sufficiently extreme already for us to be confident that there will not be an explosion.”

  “It’s certainly worth looking at. It will be better than the alternative of waiting for salvation.” Savi grinned. “Or extinction.”

  They completed their inspection of the lab, and deposited the parcel they had brought in a suitable place, next to a small pile of boxes of reagents behind a desk that would shelter it from view, then locked up and walked back to the house. Once inside, the conversation reverted to a discussion of the report and the allocation of the work between them. They ate their meal, and then Savi walked with Cora to her home in a small apartment block a little closer to the university. There was much to do to prepare for the arrival of their friends, and each of them spent a couple of hours after they reached their homes doing what they could to save time over the next few days.