Ice Planet Page 9

  Chapter 11

  The following days went by in a rush of activity. They completed the report, adding a carefully-worded conclusion that, although the artefacts might have some unnatural origin, there was no evidence around the site to support that conclusion. An important factor, they noted, was the absence of any waste rock that would certainly have resulted from a human fashioning of the artefacts. The aging of the rock samples was also completed, presenting a problem. The date on which the artefacts had been exposed to the atmosphere was indicated at ten to fifteen thousand years, while the mountain itself, consisting of the same material, was aged at least ten million years – considerably older than the supposed age of the planet. They sidestepped that issue by stating that ‘the age of coming into existence of the artefacts is estimated to coincide approximately with the date of creation of the planet, according to orthodox religious theory, with a possible deviation of some thousands of years. It is, however, clear that the origin of the structures could not have been the work of humans using tools or equipment known to our society at the time of our inspection of the structures.’

  “I’m not sure how they will construe that last remark, Savi. They might be nasty-minded and say that it is a denial of religious dogma, which, in a way, it is.”

  “To tell the truth, Cora, I’m also not sure. The one thing I am sure about is that neither of us is willing to tell an outright lie. I certainly could not put my name to a document that will deny the involvement of humans in the making of the structures, when I know that they were. I’m willing to bear the consequences if they act against me.”

  “I am too, Savi. I hope that the summary at the top of the document stating that the structures, while worthy of preservation, will not stand in the way of the planned mining operations, will be strong enough for them not to read any further. Perhaps we should send an abstract of the document stating that, with the whole document being placed on the file. I know that documents distributed in that way almost never get read in full. People really just hear what they want to hear, and don’t care too much about the detail. And the two hundred pages of technical detail will be enough to put any StateSec reader to sleep.”

  They postponed the distribution of the report until the date on which it was due, sending a copy of the abstract to Listu to avoid him asking questions. They then set to work on their lectures, completing everything that needed to be done before the date of the planned arrival of Aria and her team, and then went on separate shopping expeditions to acquire the bedding, food supplies and other items that the new arrivals would need. By shopping separately, they were able to halve the quantities that would be purchased by each, and so reduce the suspicion that might be aroused by a large single purchase. Savi brought the goods to his home, and then walked with them to the laboratory, entering through the back door. He was in time to help Cora bring her load in through the front door.

  “We’re as ready as we can be, Savi. I hope that we haven’t forgotten anything important.”

  “If we have, we can raid my home. There shouldn’t be a problem.” Savi prepared a cup of tea while Cora worked on arranging the goods so that the area looked less like a warehouse. She was keen to make the new arrivals feel welcome.

  The work was done, and the two sat back to enjoy their tea. They had taken only a few sips when there was a silent movement at the location of the parcel, which they had not yet unwrapped. There was a brief shimmer, and then the movement resolved into one of the cabinets they had seen in the chamber. A second later, the door clicked open and Aria stepped out. She came over to where Cora and Savi were standing, smiling broadly, her pleasure at seeing them again evident.

  “It’s good to see you again, Cora and Savi. We’ve been locked up in the chamber since you left. The clouds closed over the mountain about an hour after you reached the camp, and we considered it wise to close and seal the chamber, in case anyone took a fancy to investigate more closely what you were doing up on the mountain. As you know, although the door is not a perfect concealment, it makes it a lot more difficult for anyone to spot the chamber, particularly from a distance. We’ve spent the time since then analyzing the data on our transport. It was the first long-time transport we have conducted, and we wanted to know that it went as planned. It seems it did, although some of the data gave us some ideas for further research. Aria smiled. “You’ve probably experienced that. Even the most successful experiments create a lot more data to research. But they’re better than failed experiments, particularly when you’re the subject.”

  Savi and Cora laughed at that. They had suffered their share of failed experiments, taking comfort in the knowledge that finding why they had failed was an important step towards reaching their goal. Thinking back on the experience, they realized again how brave the scientists had been in risking their lives on a theory that had been able to be tested by only the barest minimum of experimentation.

  “After we returned, Aria, we thought about the question of putting the members of your group into a situation where you might be exposed to other people. Although we understand the language you all speak, we’re sure that the differences from the current common language are enough to raise suspicion. In the circumstances, we decided to set up this building as a temporary home until you’ve all learned the current language. We hope you agree.”

  “Of course, Cora. I should have thought of that. We need to practice your language. Is this building secure?”

  “It’s probably as secure as most buildings in Vidia. It’s a laboratory that has not been used by anyone other than me in the last ten years. I suppose that’s a sign of a declining civilization. It was the state of the art when it was built, but when the Professor who managed it died, it became disused. There are many other empty buildings like this in the city, and the location here is not particularly in demand, so, when I discovered it and asked the owner, the university, whether I could use it for my work, they agreed. There are ten offices, and Cora and I have brought in bedding and some other household equipment to make it livable. Of course, it has some equipment that might be useful for your work.”

  “I’m sure it will be satisfactory. We’re grateful for what you both are doing for us.” Aria smiled, and Cora realized, again, what a natural leader she was. She envied her that quality. “I’ll send the signal to the others that they should come now.” Aria touched the edge of a bracelet that she wore on her arm, an item that Cora and Savi had thought to be an item of jewelry.

  There was a delay of a few seconds, and then Bian stepped from the cabinet. He walked over to the small group and took the hands of Savi and Cora in greeting. He was followed by the others of the team. When they were all there, Aria spoke.

  “This is our temporary home. I understand that there are ten rooms that we can use. After we have settled in, I think that our first task should be to take language lessons from Cora and Savi, as well as lessons on behavior in this society. They have pointed out, correctly, that we don’t want to stand out too obviously when we mix with people here. From what we’ve heard, we should take great care not to become too obvious as not fitting in. While we’re doing that, we can continue working on plans to use the data on our transport to this time, as well as from the mountain to here. This is the longest distance transport we have yet made with this equipment, and there may be lessons to be learned from it.”

  “I'd like to show you the rooms, so you can decide on the allocation of them. You can also look at the bedding and other items we’ve brought in, and let us know what else you would like. We’ve had to be careful not to appear to be shopping for more than the two of us, so it is fairly minimal, but, if you can put up with what we have here, we can supplement it over time. There’s also the possibility of using my home as an extension, for things like cooking and bathing. I also have a spare bedroom that could be used by one or two of you. It’s only a short distance away, through my garden.”

  “I would suggest that the two of you use your own language when
you talk with us, Savi and Cora. We’ll use it too. The best way to learn a language is to use it.” Bian grinned at them. “By the way, I'd like to congratulate the two of you on your use of our language. You’ve improved so much since we first met that it would be difficult to spot you as not coming from our time.”

  “Thank you, Bian. Of course, we had the advantage of having studied the language in order to decipher the texts from the past that have been found, and that gave us an insight into the similarities and differences.” Cora found herself thinking of how much she liked these visitors from the past, and wishing that the characteristics they displayed had been passed down more strongly to the current population. “Shall we go?”

  Cora led the group to the upper floor. She was interested to see that Bian stepped in to allocate the corner office looking out over Savi’s garden to Aria, while he took the adjoining office. That surprised her a little. From the obvious attraction between the two, she had assumed that they were a couple. She guessed that the need for separate rooms was a custom of that time. When they had all expressed their satisfaction with their accommodation, they walked over to Savi’s house, where he and Cora prepared lunch. Although it was a simple meal, the exercise brought home to him the fact that feeding a group as large as this would require much more than he was accustomed to providing. Over lunch, Grea raised the question of selling the minerals.

  “Have you researched what minerals you’ll be able to sell? It’s clear to us all that we need to bring in some money to pay our way.”

  “I did that, Grea,” said Cora. “I have a list of about fifteen minerals that are in demand, as well as the purity demanded and the price they fetch. Which are the minerals you can reach most easily?”

  “They’re all equally easy to mine, Cora. I simply program the mining machines to extract them from their known deposits. Where the deposits are located is not a problem, nor is the state of the deposits.”

  “My father owns a company that used to mine cobalt and copper, but the resources became exhausted, so he closed the mine, although he still uses the company to trade in those minerals, as well as others. He knew of another deposit, but he was denied the right to mine it because the bribe that was demanded was too high to make the venture viable. We could use that company as a conduit to sell such minerals, if you can supply them. That would minimize the questions that might be asked about their origin. The advantage of those minerals is that the price is high, because they’re now obtained almost solely from scrap, and the quantities we need to supply are therefor quite small.”

  :”Please let me know where to deliver them, Cora. To do that, you could most easily use the magnetic containment unit we gave you to identify the location. Once we have the coordinates fixed, you can use that containment unit for other purposes.”

  “I’ll do that this afternoon. We can probably arrange to use my father’s warehouse on the edge of the city. It’s part of a group of other warehouses that are still in use, so the delivery there without arrival of a vehicle won’t attract too much attention.”

  “How much do we need to mine?”

  “I'd guess between two and five of tons of each metal a week would be more than enough. There’s a demand for at least ten tons a week, if we could arrange that much, but that might raise some questions. A new mine that could produce that much would certainly have attracted considerable publicity.”

  “I’ll arrange to deliver a half ton of each of the two metals per day, Cora. It will be at a purity of 100%.”

  “I’ll have to give my father a commission on the sale, Grea. Will that be acceptable?”

  “We’ll leave the business arrangements entirely to you, Cora.”

  Cora thought for a minute.

  “I can probably ask my father to deliver food to the laboratory in boxes labeled as though it is laboratory supplies. That will also reduce the questions that will be asked. He already operates a general wholesale business and a food distribution business, and he is one of the few people we can trust absolutely.”

  “Your father seems to be an enterprising man, Cora.”

  “He is, Grea. He sees opportunities wherever he looks, and he’s not afraid to take business risks. He’s become fairly wealthy as a result, but he hasn’t changed from the man I’ve always known.”

  “How will your mother react to these requests, Cora?”

  “My mother passed away when I was a young child, Grea. She contracted a disease that was sweeping the city. It should have been easily treated, but the pharmaceutical company that supplies the medication has never operated efficiently, and the medication that was available was allocated to the politically-connected people. She died within a week of contracting the disease. I understand that nearly a hundred thousand people died as a result of the disease before it ran its course. Not one of those was in government or in the religious ranks.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that, Cora. It must have been a blow to your father.”

  “It was, but he managed to raise me, although he never remarried. I’ve often wondered why. He is a very well-educated man, and almost everyone likes him.”

  “Perhaps he has not found the one woman he needs, Cora. Love is very strange, and totally unpredictable. I fell in love with my husband the day I met him at university. After he died in a building accident, I have never found the ideal man. I would like to remarry, but the one I choose must be very special, and I’ve never found a man that fits that particular slot.” Grea smiled, a little sadly, Cora thought, at the memory of the death of her husband.

  “Is there anything that we can do to help in your work?”

  “At the moment not, Savi. We’ve started the work, and each of us is a specialist in the particular field. When we’re a little closer to some conclusions, I'd like to bring both of you into what we’re doing. It is always useful to have additional minds working on a problem, particularly minds that are new to the problem and aren’t confined by the pattern of thinking we’ve developed over the years. You’re welcome to sit in on our work when you have the time, so that you can gain an understanding of what we’re doing.”

  “We’re both needed at the university tomorrow morning. We have classes that we have to lecture to for most of the morning. However, we have the afternoon free. I suggest that we move the particle magnetic containment unit to Cora’s father’s warehouse this afternoon. Perhaps you'd like to come with us, Grea. We won’t be stopping anywhere else, and it might be informative for you to see the city. I think that we need to use opportunities like that to give all of you an understanding of our society where we can do so without risk.”

  “I'd love to come, Savi.”

  Savi was pleased to note that Grea’s use of the modern language had improved considerably since they'd started using it. At first the words she used had sounded a little strange, as the meaning to her of similar-sounding words in her own language confused her, but that had reduced considerably with practice. Now, the main factor that might attract the attention of a stranger was the fact that she spoke a little slower than they were accustomed to, as she checked the words she was using in her mind before speaking them. That was unusual, but not unknown in this society, and he found the slight accent to her words charming.

  They finished the meal, and Savi took them back to the laboratory, giving them a spare set of the keys required to enter it as well as his house. Grea returned with them to the house, and the three of them set off in Savi’s car.

  Cora gave a running commentary of the areas they drove through, knowing that such items of common knowledge might have value to Grea in the future. They reached the warehouse complex, and Savi dropped Cora off to get the keys, while he drove on further to the entrance door, clearly marked with the name of the company. The building was the largest and best-preserved in the complex, and it had a loading door next to the entrance door. Best of all, its placement among the other buildings ensured that no-one could observe what happened there.

  They waited in the
car until Cora hurried up with the keys in her hand several minutes later, and then walked with her to the door. She opened it. The inside of the small office section was clean and orderly, as was the warehouse when they walked into it.

  “My father has several businesses similar to this one, and he moves the staff to where they are needed. With the decline in the economy, business has dropped off considerably, and many businesses like this one can’t afford to employ full-time workers. Fortunately, my father has several businesses, and he is able to keep all of them operating by moving the staff around according to the need. The staff in this warehouse are attending to the work needed in his food warehouse, so they’ll be away until the materials arrive here. I’ve arranged with my father that we keep this set of keys so that we can deliver the materials within the next few days. He’s already making contact with his regular customers for cobalt and copper, and he says he has no doubt that he can sell whatever quantity we can supply, up to twenty tons per week. All we have to do is bring the material here and notify him of the quantity available. He’ll attend to the rest. He’ll also apply the proceeds to the purchase of whatever we need, and deliver that to the laboratory. He was obviously curious about the arrangements, but he didn’t ask any questions. He knows that he can rely on me not to get him into trouble.” Cora looked around. “This is the area he wants us to deliver to. It should be large enough. Where would you like to place the containment unit?”