is an alluring idea. Yum. I’ve tried it in zero-g. Here, not yet, be

interesting. I could loop it between the two of you."
No comment on that one. Hate to think what I’d get in response.
We got underway. Philos and I maneuvered around the end of the ridge
while Spider ran up a nearly vertical cliff a hundred meters inland, the slope she’d slid down when approaching us. She has fun with her capabilities. Good.
The location was great. Setting up camp went quickly, individual tube tents on hoops for Philos and me. A nest of cloth-covered sand for Spider.   Briquette fueled fire in front of us, sea beyond. Once the blaze was going we added dead branches Spider had gathered from the other side of the ridge where there were many bushes. Did so to save on carried fuel. The kindling worked fine. Just brown and dead, alien and.. useful. Subsequent nights, Spider informed us, she’d make a real nest of the puckerbrush, for now we could burn all she’d brought.
The warmth was appreciated as the L-star left us. The campfire’s flickering yellow&orange made the scene feel cozy. If we could find something in the water that was consumable by Earth life, this wouldn’t be a bad way to travel. Shanks mare and close to the ground.
Night settled over us. Only the sea breeze, the occasional shoosh of sliding sand coming off a dune, and the sound of waves broke the silence.   The rugged banking behind us radiated captured heat, that was pleasant too.
What with moving things about for our comfort when in bivouac, excavating latrines, as we had to do at each stop, we were altering the environment. If there were nothing here to object, I guessed I shouldn’t worry. No government, no forms to fill out. Freedom.
Starlight sparkled, seeming friendly, as it never does in space. Most of the swinging planets of this system would be in sight these nights. Our dusk star was the Big H. Hortense was particularly bright, as might be expected. Some of her moons would be large enough to be visible once the planet was free of the L-star’s flare.
Philos was able to keep general track of where we were by doing celestial navigation with a mini-sextant, bubble type, batteries not included, nor needed. Between that and a hand calculator he was able to continue his function as Navigator. Should we stay a while, geo-sats would be set out along the equator to assist with mapping.
Once our freeze-dried/salt-water reconstituted meal was finished, I relaxed. Sat back against the hollow I’d made in the bank. Four meters in front of me the ledge dropped off gradually, ran away to the beach.
To speak into the profound quiet, or not. To speak or not to speak?
Speak, a while.
" Philosopher, if you’ll excuse me for suggesting it. I think the meaning of life is just to be."
" Apropos of what, Lilly?" He walked over from where he’d been standing inspecting the sunset as though he were going to grant or withold approval of the display, depending on his mood. He squatted down near me, his knees creaking. His eyes glittered in the firelight.
A waft of cold air touched my cheek, " Of the night, the fire, and the ambience of this peaceful planet."
Spider strolled over to us, stood near and suggested, " You mean the absence of nature red in tooth and claw. On land, at least."
" Something like that, Spider. And I know I’m stepping on your Philos-responsibilities, Old One, whom I love, of course, of course. And I apologize."
He patted my shoulder, " No need, Lilly. It is a lovely evening. With lovely company, after a lovely.. "
" Don’t go on, Philos," I said, " reconstituted liverwurst and cheese with artifical bacon bits, served as half-grilled patty isn’t a lovely anything. We’ll need an air drop, if we continue to decrease the munchies at this rate. Bottom of the barrel stuff now."
He broke in, " I was going to say, after a lovely day."
      " Still exaggerating, dragging my tootsies through sand and tiptoeing
around rocks, slipping and falling on my face in gravel, is not my idea of a lovely stroll."
Spider intervened, " Beddy-bye time? You seem a tad cranky, Lil. Need your beauty sleep."
I postulated, " Not much can be done for my beauty, so-called. Sun scalded, dusty faced and wind blown. But, you’re right. Recharging time.   For some of us, while you keep watch. For which we are grateful. Believe me."
               
By the day following our encounter with copious greenery it had become difficult to keep track of each other in the puckerbrush/gorse/furze that Le Gentil wore in her tropics. The height of the night-visible planets above the southern horizon had increased as we tramped south. Enough to be detected on the sextant. By that change we knew we were closing on our goal, the river spotted on the way to our landing site; the narrow watercourse that emptied into the south-east edge the ‘Gulf of Discovery’.   Our temporary name for the source of H2O&salt for our soup.
I turned my head over my shoulder, shrilled, " Philos, you still back there?"
He called back, " Yup. No problem. Is Spider still happy doing all the trail cutting?"
" Guess so, she hasn’t made any noises about it. Probably enjoys using her cutter toes to clip and prune. Without her we’d be having hard going."
Puffing closer, he replied, " We’ll be at the river shortly. Then we can decide if we need boats to get upstream or if the brush is thin enough to proceed along the shore, as it appeared it might be from the air. Thins out along the river bank, vegetation not salt/brackish tolerant, perhaps?"
I commented, " I don’t care what the reason is, long as it becomes easier going." I was going to be huff-puffing shortly myself.
Spiders tones came from ahead, " Hey, HO, good buddies?"
" Ya, ya." I shouted back.
      She said, " If my navigation is correct it’s half a long K to the
river mouth. We’ll find a place to set up shop. Take the rest of the day off? How’s that?"
" Fine by me, Spider. Any more odd insects?"
      " Nope, more of those four winged flies, they scatter when I come
along. Hard to imagine what they could be scavenging. Perhaps they get more to eat in the wet season, if there is one, as we suppose there is."
I pulled myself past a thicket of trimmed off brush and came up to the black leggy dome that was my favorite spider. The only one I knew personally. Philos sauntered up behind me, stopped.
He asked her, " I appreciate that flies on Earth are bi-winged and six legged, while here four and six appear the norm. If I’d thought about it, I would have expected flies. Things here aren’t too peculiar. Flies? Why not?   Lots in common with Earth. Like sponges and what we spotted that appear to be jellyfish. Bushes, to be expected, of course. What else ambulatory in the sea? Mini-sharks. Fast, whatever they were. Other stuff hereabouts?   Grass, there’ve been some tufts of that, or something like it. Bushes and grass.. they fit a niche in the eco-sys and are at the bottom end of the evolutionary ladder, loosely speaking, plus being survivors. We should also have expected.. flies."
Spider didn’t let that go by, " And I suppose all insects and their relatives are at the low end of the Great Chain of Being too? Thus? We will find lots of them? We didn’t on Clairaut."
Philos turned to watch our back trail, mumbled, " Don’t take offense, Spider. Uh, I meant that the basics will be covered by the simplest organisms. Ahem, scavengers, ground covers.. using available food and moisture, communal feeders in the sea. No, no. I don’t regard spiders as lower organisms."
She hardened her voice and waved all four pincer equipped legs at him. Snapped them audibly. Suggested, " You’d better not."
I could get tired of their repartee but what other show was there? I said, " Would’ve been useful if we’d had Alice dump some geostationary sats into the region around Le G early on. We’d know better exactly where we are. Of course we didn’t at C. ‘fraid to give ourselves away either place?   You’re sure you have a good mental map of our location, Spider?"
She swung back and forth on her legs, as though getting ready to rush off. Gulped, " Yes, ma’am. Sure, of course, yup."
I gave her a straight look, frowned. " Is that is positive ‘yup’, or a tentative ‘yup’?"
She gave a Spider-shrug, a lift of her fore-end and then a dropping of it. " I’m sure enough Lilly. Can keep pretty good track of our progress by averaging out the ground I can cover in each sort of terrain. Here we’ve been doing about eight hundred meters per hour."
I smiled, " Not exactly a reasonable percentage of light speed.
Ironic, isn’t it?"
Philos spoke, " Chatter, chatter. Let’s get on with it, I want to view this river close up. Fresh water, running water. Haven’t seen any for a half-century. About. Maybe we can get a swim."
" Not I," Spider quipped, " something might mistake me for a local and do a number on me."
I half-lied, said, " We’ll surely protect you, Spider, Dear. You just got caught off guard on Clairaut. Not to mention your original programming didn’t anticipate you doing the scuba-do thing much."
She concluded, " Well, be good to clean off. That’s true, we’ll see.   Onwards and onwards." She turned and headed into the dense brush again, front four up and snapping at the oncoming branches. Greenery flew, dark green greenery, which was how plant life showed in the red L-light. Smelled green too. Pungent sappy odors drifted in the still air, coming from the severed branches.
Philos followed Spider. I took up the rear.
      We tramped along at the slow pace enforced by the scrub. Could have
been vegetation anywhere, one could suppose. Basic brushy-brush.
After a few minutes Spider made some sort of noise from ahead.
      " What did she say, Philos?" I spoke to his khaki clad back, the
cloth-hue of our basic hiking uniform, what we were now wearing, having packed away the too-hot silvery suits we’d started out in. These outfits were warm enough. Full sleeve shirts and slacks tucked into high boots.   Easy to get sweatin’ in ‘em. No choice but to cover up. There was zero way of knowing what leg climbers might be around. On Earth we’d be concerned about ticks and the diseases they carried. Who could tell here? Worry here too, and take precautions.
" I think she said: Urk." Philosopher informed me dryly.
      Her voice came from the other side of a wall of shrubbery she’d
managed to penetrate without doing much pruning. " Urk, is correct. Just saw a gheko. Or what appeared to be one. But with six legs. A gheko shaped six-leg."
Philos inquired, " Color? Green-black or?"
      " Not everything here is green-red-to-black, but, yes. It was, we must
have passed many. I just happened to look in the right place, on a plant stem, and there he-she-it was."
I offered, " He or she. ‘though I s’pose parthenogenesis is one possibility for repro in this sparse territory. But she’d still probably be a she."
Philos urged, " Try to catch it, Spider! Our first land animal, other than the flies and the ubiquitous nematodes I was able to find here, as I had on C. Hope they eat these insects, they may not bite, but they’re annoying."
" I doubt I can catch one. When it realized it had been spotted it/she moved off at a rate I can’t even compute. Besides, the collecting gear is somewhere in one of your packs. Probably at the bottom."
I added, " So long as you trapped an image, I’ll be happy. You think there are a lot of them. Guess?"
" My guess, Lilly. And something in the line of predators too around, else why did it absquatulate?"
" Good thinking," Philos opined, " We’ll make an Explorer of you yet."
      " Onwards, onwards, as you say, Spider," I prompted. " We must be
getting into a more viable/agreeable biosphere. Wonder what it’s like around here at night? That may be the eat and be eaten segment of the twenty hours."
Crashing indicated she’d started out again, doing more plowing through than trail clearing. Eager to get to the river.
Philos followed.
I ducked and wove my way along the trail she and Philos had opened, being careful not to get stabbed in the eye by the broken branches they left behind. Tail end Charlie.
But then, if they ran into trouble, I’d be warned.   I glanced over my shoulder to see.. nothing of interest. Bland black-green brush-over-brush, nothing sneaking up on me.
Paranoia would be easy to develop in this terrain, a place where a view of a meter or two was unusual. Usually vision-space was less.
We burst out onto a wide beige shore where a scattering of obsidian wave-washed pebbles stood starkly defined in the decreasing glow of Lalande.
Dust-gray water slipped past from left to right, arriving out of the southeast, from inland. Flowed off to the mouth, emptying into a wide silvery-red bay to the west.
Spooky Halloween feel to this location. Coleridge feel. Dark unmeasured river flowing, into the sea. L-star a few hours from the western horizon. High brush, trees really, on the raised banks to our left and facing us, across the half-kilometer wide mouth. Tide? Hard to tell.   Followed Lalande’s influence, so? Half past high? From the looks of the detritus at the edge of the strand a scant ten centimeters of lowering had taken place. No spot for a tidal power station anywhere on these two planets.
Slow whorls of colorless current sucked at the beach. I kicked my feet against loose rouge&tan sand. The few centimeter across pebbles were numerous enough. Had to have come from somewhere. Ground down igneous black cliffs once here? Volcanic rubble or hardened sediment? Difficult to imagine anything washing down from upstream, at least in this geological era. There just wasn’t that much current.
The river flowed evenly into the salt. Current? Lazy! Back currents?   Lazier still, both evident from rippled eddies.. Would this styx be boatable by our crazy craft? Likely: do-able. One of the gals could bring them to us with a re-ration. Assuming the flows bio-safety passed a check, we could drink the water after boiling it, could give up using the hand cranked desalination gadget.
Earlier, after going over aerial photographs of the region, produced from vids taken on the way in, we’d tentatively concluded we could get days upcurrent before we ran out of navigable stream. Seeing the waterway in person seemed to confirm that possibility. Likely we could accomplish a penetration of a hundred kilometers, even more. Some offshoots of the jungle clad river led back into hills to the northeast and southwest, others petered out on this side of the mouth, while a few disappeared a short distance inland on the other side of the bight beside which we stood, faded away along the thin wedge of equatorial desert that intruded close to the far shore.
Our best effort? Try the main branch, then one or two of the tribs.. that was our plan. Still good, so far as I could tell.
Philos was surfing on the same brain-wave as I, I suspected. For he proceeded to drop his pack, unsling the HF radio from it’s clamp on a strap. Turning it on, he opened comm with the glideship port.
Polly’s voice came back instantly, either she was on watch alone, or was the duty responder. " GOTCHA, Philosopher. What WISHES?"
Better him than me trying to explain something to Polly-silly, of course, she’ll record it. Shouldn’t be a problem, since Mol or Dol could scan the message later.   If Pol remembers to tape it.
" We’re ready for that resupply. In the morning would be fine. And bring the watercraft. You can put them all onboard one of you using the porta-crane in Dolly’s cargo. For arrival? As discussed; come in the west and land at the mouth, we’ll scout to see if there might be any observers, but.. we don’t think sentience is the local fashion. Quiet, and..   it’s very quiet. But, we did spot a land vertebrate today. Spider did.
Lizard-type. So there’s hope for more of interest. Once we head up stream, you might transfer your ops to here. Over."
Polly replied, " RECEIVED. Anything ELSE?"
      " A possibility for the future, if you don’t move the base to here, we
could head back cross-country from a point upstream. That would be easy enough. Once we’re satisfied we’ve seen enough, cut northwest back to there, on foot. The puckerbrush jungle narrows further east, according to the surveys. It’s the dense bush that makes travel hard. We should be able to break out of it and get through the bare hills easily. Over."
" ROGER, dodger, Oh, Philos. Can do. I’ll bring the stuff myself. As for moving, we are fine here, unless you need help. Good protection. Plenty of L-starshine for electrolysis. If you have any specimens, I can bring them back, check the DNA."
" Flies, leaves&twigs, and nematodes. Nothing of great interest. But we’ll get an assortment together. Assume you’ve dredged up some of the less mobile sea life to study."
" SURE. DNA apparently similar to C’s. Be good when we are again with Alice, she can run some detailed charts on everything we find. See you, twenty-three skiddo and all that. Roger, Wilco.. OUT."
Philosopher thumbed off his handset, " Well, Lilly. Not quite the verbose Polly we’ve known. I’m not sure I was even through with the conversation."
" Perhaps they had a game of multi-dimensional Space-Time chess going, and she didn’t want to be distracted. In any case, she R’d the request.   So.. time to make camp and look about."
Spider had wandered down to the edge of the water, was standing looking worried. If an all-black hemi-disk-bodied ball-headed red eyed eight leg can express worry in a stance, she was doing it. Perhaps the info was in her fight or flight position, six forward legs on the sand, two aftmost raised and ready to move her backwards.
I called over, " Watch out for the spider eating Giant Waterbuggers, they can pop out from the most unlikely spots!"
She ignored me and waded into the water until the bottom of her hemisphere was touching the surface, then she folded her legs and submerged to lie awash on the bottom.
I hollered, " Oh, yes. Perfect cover, you’re supposed to look like a boulder. How clever! Of course there isn’t another in sight. Hey! OK if Philos and I set up camp here? Be less fly infested, unless they have nasty sand nippers that only come out at dark."
Spider remained silent. Her hearing was good enough above and below the water to understand me, unless the swish of waves was obscuring my voice. Doubtful.
Philos prodded me gently, " Let her get on with her investigations, Lilly. We can do the camp ourselves. Buld a boma   perhaps?"
He moved off, dragging his pack, heading for the highest point on the beach.
I raised my voice, " Got me on that one, Philos. A what?" I moved away from the tidal area towards the point he’d chosen, twenty meters in from the water. Breeze less, but safe from large waves, non-existant large waves. Clean air, smells great, no mess, no people.   Not Waikiki, did hupers spoil everything they encountered?
He’d raised a hand head height, held it there, " Thicket fence around our campsite, keep tigers, kimodos, what have you, off our backs." He dropped his burden, began to haul an antique Buck knife out of a belt sheath.
Guess he’s serious." Sure, sure. Whatever you say, Bwana. Me gettee latrine built-built and will help Big-big Chief, quickee, quickee."
I dropped my pack beside his, unstrapped a shovel&pick from it. Moved away. Headed to the edge of the cleared area to make a potty-place.
Red Lalande was striking in under the brown trunked trees. Shade and light mixed in cooling proximity. Pretty. Pleasant. I hadn’t noticed how warm it was in the light until now.
Straight-arrow trunks lifted the canopy higher here, more water, additional nutrients to the same types of plants we’d been seeing = height.   I stepped into the forest far enough to give some privacy to any user of my facility-to-be and started digging. A glance back over my shoulder now and then suggested Spider was gradually working her way into deeper water. Only the uppermost parts of her solar panels were in view, and those not all the time. An evening breeze was rising and putting some ferocity in the waves.   If going from five to ten cms could be considered becoming intense.
Fake-ferocity.
It’s not necessary to have fierce competition on every planet? Or so it appears. Pax should be the name of this place. I’ll suggest it. Pax River. The bioforms compete mildly where there is sustenance, elsewhere they stay away, leave the place to the scenery.
At least Spider doesn’t need latrine space. Two by one-half a meter.   Should do. A small grave? Ugh. Morbid thoughts, must be the illumination, dim&red.
      " BOO!"
I screamed and fell face down into the hole I’d excavated.
      Philos had walked up to me while I was thinking, not giving due note
to the neighborhood. I stood up in the knee deep pit and gave him my best glare. Waved the digging tool threateningly, I bellowed, " Hysterically amusing old F-word. I could’ve had a heart attack!!"
He raised his hands and apologized, " Sorry, I thought you were paying attention to your surroundings and were.. just pretending I wasn’t approaching." He offered me help, I spurned his hand and climbed out the opposite side of the latrine from him.
" Someone has to work around here." I tried to get my hammering pulse back to normal, took deep breaths of the aroma laden air.
Aroma? Yikes. " Ah, Philos. Have you noticed a smell?"
He chaffed, " It’s true I haven’t had a bath recently, but then,
neither has thee, Perfect One."
I gestured for him to shut up and listen, " No, not that. A hint of..   hum, urea. Sniff! Nitrates, something pungent, if I was on Home planet, I’d say we were downwind of a turkey ranch."
I let my not inconsiderable nose swing about, attempted to locate the direction from which the redolence was coming. As I did so another waft of it hit us. This time Philos noticed.
He voiced his reaction, " Yes, got it. Whew! From inland, in-bush.   Close by, I’d say. Fertilizer smell, right. Let’s get encamped then do a quick explore. With Spider."
I followed him to the piles of brush he’d dragged out of the woods and helped him arrange them in a nearly continuous circle, one that would give us about the same amount of room to spread out that we’d had at previous camps. The result wasn’t head height, more like a meter tall.   Would provide psychological comfort, I supposed. We left a small stack of brush to pull across the gap we’d left in the barrier, that would complete the circle come eve. Won’t do a damn bit of good to stop mini-lizards, flies or other creepies.
Once we were done putting things together, we whooped for Spider to join us.
The black rock-spide had been sliding up the river as we worked. It took a while for her to respond.
Once she’d condescended to rejoin us, she brought us up to date on her finds.
She expounded, " Lots of commensals around - small feeders working around the tethered inverts and plants. Rich in food here. Lots to investigate. What’s up? Besides supper, and I think I’ll skip it. Mono-bean casserole with brussels sprouts is not my favorite."
I quizzed   her, " You never join us. Can’t. Don’t you miss a full stomach?"
" Never, a new program since I inhabited Spider gives me the feeling of satiation when I’m fully recharged. Like now." She tapped her underbody with one pincer-leg, paused, continued, " Polly will be along, I understand."
" Listening again, for shame, Spider," said Philos.
      " I monitor everything going on in the electo-mag spectrum, as you
know. And.. I even heard Lil’s scream. What did you do, you pervert! Goose her?"
Philos had the grace to blush, and said, " Wouldn’t even cross my mind, Spider. No, just startled her. And we get a strong smell.. "
" Yes, I was going to mention that, I’ve been trying to stay upwind.. "
      He raised a hand to his lips as though holding a microphone, struck
back with, " Lots of comedy here tonight folks, stay tuned, don’t touch that remote!" Philos couldn’t take it as well as he could dish it out.
I said, " I get.. commensals. Fancy term for hangers-on feeding off the feces of the fauna and flora?"
She answered, " And food residues, yes, Lilly. What about this smell, I’ve got nothing on a smell."
" You were down in the sea wind, Spider. Not near the woods. Organic smell.. "
Philos added, " Chickenshit."
Spider responded, " I’m not. I went in the water. Or, you mean,
literally, the do-do of avian fauna?"
Good shot. I said, " Right to the question, Spider. But if avian versus reptilian, why’ve we seen nothing?"
She stood high on her legs, strutted back and forth, unable to hold her news, " Well, I can tell you. I was saving the best to last. I caught a glimpse of something wading, up river. Just before I turned around. And it hopped-flew off." She waggled two forelegs in the air to make the motion of wings.
" Hop-fly?" I inquired. " Vas ist das:   Hop-fly?"
      " Jumps and flopping - using winglets, or what looked like small wings
on a two-legged wader. Pink, white. Hard to say."
" Lizard." Philosopher concluded. With insufficient data, of course.
      Spider pulled something from a collecting pouch slung under her
turret, waved it at him, " With these?"
She held out a long pale feathery-soft object. The satiny pinkish tinge given by the L-star suggested it might be pure white in what we Earthians would consider normal light.
" Wow!" Philos exclaimed and took it in his fingers.
      I touched it. Silky. Seemed like a feather to me. Little hooks along
the edges of the barbs, barbules, if I recalled correctly, to keep it aligned with it’s mates. Warm in cold, cool in hot. Downy insulation, like the fake stuff that filled our bodyvests. Clothing we needed only at night here.
" Boids," said Spider, " feather brains, tweeters. One other thing.."
We waited, she was one to play with us!
      Spide elucidated, " it’s not strictly a two leg&wings.. what I saw, or
more specifically, to be clear, think I spotted was wing claws, vestigial maybe. Not full fingers like a SOL bat has. But certainly there. Mating claws? A wader, but might nest in trees, claws would help in that case.   With climbing. Perhaps what you smelled is a rookery."
Philos noted, " We can spare an L-hour, before it gets time to eat and sack out. A quick probe beyond the latrine? Yes."
I nodded, Spider did her yes-bob by flexing her legs.
      Philos led us off. In moments we were sneaking into the woods beyond
my work site.
As soon as we got away from the influence of the fresh air at the waterside the rankness appeared again. At that point Spider stopped briefly, then restarted her perambulation - evidently she’d sensed it too.
After a short spell, the trees began to thin. We halted in amazement.   High in the ten meter over-canopy above us were entwined huge bundles of twigs and leaves, one or more per tree. Abandoned or, at least, vacant nests. Sea side structures for breeding-nesting where food was plentiful?
Gray&white shit was all over, encrusted on branchs and around the tan trunks, mixed with leaves and small twigs in heaps. They must clean the nests regularly, whoever they were. Lots of theys. Must be a hundred nests within this clearing. Often several per tree but all well apart. Some bio-drive to keep space between nestlings. Prevent the transfer of diseases and parasites?
Philos spoke, " I hate to keep saying: Wow! But WOW, again."
      " Double wow, for me." Whatever the whatevers were, there must be a
lot of ‘em. Beaucoup whatevers!
Spider pointed out feathers in the piles, plumes identical to the one she’d found. Only not so clean.
Silently, we turned away and departed. We felt like intruders, although nothing was around. It was just a place the birds had marked off for themselves. If birds they were, and not cold blooded reptilians.
Once clear of the area, I whispered to Philosopher, " May we call them birds, if they turn out to be warm blooded? Makes sense, only it might be confusing. If they turn out to be more like feathered reptiles with on-board heating-cooling systems."
He spoke in a normal tone, " For ourselves, Lilly. We can call them rutta-toota-shit-hopping bastards, if we wish. No one is going to mind. Any taxonomists who might object are eight light years away." He gave me a smile and a pat.
I stepped away from him, " Don’t patronize me, Big Cheese. But do let’s get clear of the ordure-odor."
He chided, " Now, Lil. If we decide to farm, this will be a gold mine for the gardens."
Huh? " Bring a miner-bot down, you mean?"
      " Nope, that would disturb things too much. Dig and barrow it
ourselves. Do some plots in a clearing. Swiss family Robinson?"
Spider griped, " I suppose I can pull a wagon? You’d make me your mule, eh? Work, work, work. That’s all you want of me."
I stopped and rubbed her shaggy hump, she didn’t mind, nor did I object to Philos being familiar, well.. I did.. a little. I wanted to be treated as an adult. I comforted her, " There, there, Spider-baby, that’s not the way we think at all. As you well know, or should suspect. True, Philos remains ambivalent about us both, since we’re incarnations of Lady Borgia, but he doesn’t think of us as his to command. Right, Philos?"
He concurred, " Yes, yes. I mean no, not as such. No. We’re a triumverate. Trio. In harmony, often. Sometimes? Forget it. Let’s leg it for camp and eat and sleep on this. Spider will feed her vid and conclusions to Polly in the AM soon as she arrives, after the resupply session we can head up river and see if the fecundity continues. We’re on a roll, far as I can determine."
We spent a reflective night under customary constellations. A mere jump from SOL, nothing much was changed in the sky. As said and conveniently, Earth’s pole star, Polaris, was close to the an extended line from G’s axis. It hung only twelve degrees off-center.
It felt pleasant to camp beneath familiar starry displays. Might have been south Calif-Mex, in the Baja. Never been there, but the holos of the two places would have looked similar. If you threw in a jungly river. Not quite Baja, was it? Like nowhere on Earth. For good reason.
Canoe, raft, inflatable. Philos, Spider, myself, respectively. All.   afloat and paddling or.. rowing up the river. River of the Birds, we called it. We kept along the shore, in order to see into the undergrowth and to keep out of the stronger flow in the middle. Polly’s air-obs, done after she flew in our gear, had provided no indication that there might be threats or barriers ahead. Following that recce, Dolly had done a night infra-red sweep. Nothing unusual was located during that run either. Where most of the bird-types hung out this season wasn’t revealed. If they scattered, it was not unusual that we’d found zilch. The tree canopy would disperse a lot of body heat, if they were perched well under it. Dolly’s sensors were good, but, possibly, not good enough.
The day was cool enough here on the agua. Pink&silver ripples vibrated on the surface of the salt free stream, it had proven drinkable - with precautions. Confined by the olive jungle walls that were only a quarter K apart here, the air was still, but not oppressive. Later, if we got too warm, a dash of water over our just delivered cham-suits would do to break the heat as it evaporated. The chameleon cloth had been removed our space touring gear where it had served as insulation. For good reason we’d had Polly leave the heavy helmets, thick gloves and silver semi-hard outer covering at the base. Unless Le Genil lost it’s atmosphere suddenly, we’d not need them.
Last eve we’d discussed our situation and locked in a decision. That was, we’d return to base overland, survey a different stretch of territory on the way back.
So far snakes - zero. Lizards - lots. Birds, in gradually increasing numbers and of all sorts and shades of red, yes. Wild variations on   the red theme. Some species displayed contrasting flourescent blue ruffs and tail feathers (males?). Others exhibited flashes of yellow-green at the tips of their wings. Attractive bunch. Insects? Lots too. Lizards and bugs on land. Small squirmy squidgy-worm things in the water&sand, all food for the birds. We’d settled on calling them that, why not? Basically? Two legged, hand-clawed, bi-winged flighted and/or flightless, and in between = hop-jump-gliders. No soarers. Short range fliers.. those that could get into the air. Climbers with long claws. Agile. Quick. No deaders to study yet. Ethics prohibited direct collecting. Killing. Mucho verboten.
My arms ached at the end of each day, I used the electric motor sparingly, despite the fact that ‘flatable boats were not easy to propel. I worked at it, kept up with the others. To scrutinize everything carefully, we averred, we kept the pace slow. Swimming had proven safe and we sluiced off daily at the beaches that appeared, showed up often enough to serve for noon and night camp sites. Green-black foliage got boring. But then, they say, so does Earth’s verdant jungle once you’ve been in it long enough.   Whoever THEY are!! Once in a while we got excited by a flash of pure SOL-sun yellow, but it always proved to be an insect, one the birds and lizards left alone. At a guess, toxic. Yellow was the color of danger.
Dolly would be avoided! Her golden splendor feared, should we ever meet intelligent inhabs. She’d have to be hidden. Or repainted. Green? I’d hesitate to be the first to suggest that.
Spider voiced her opinion, speaking across the short interval between us, resting her foot-paddles - they remained dangling over the side. She’s getting relaxed, less fearful about.. too relaxed? All of us?
" That big trib coming from the northeast back there. Is that the one Polly suggested we use for our return trip?"
" I’d say so, Spider. If we push on another couple of days and see more of the same, we can stop. Come back here and plod overland sans boats.   If such they are."
Philos said, projecting his words across the counter current we were riding, " The canoe serves, Lilly, serves well. Be easy enough to cut another out of, say, aluminum-fibre sheet and stitch it into shape, put in a few woodribs made from local stuff, do a better job the next time.   Abandoning it will be acceptable. Perhaps I’ll lug a few thin slats of curved-carved wood back. As for the other watercraft, I think you’ll both be glad to get afoot again."
Spider replied, " Perhaps, perhaps, Philos. Will be a dry hike overland, though. Better have an air drop arranged, with water and extra clothing included. We can bury anything we don’t need, recover it later, if we, or someone comes back.. that way." She raised a leg before one of us could interrupt, " Not that I’m arguing with the principle of packing out what we take in. Not in general, just if we must, are overloaded. That we make a cache."
I added my two bits, " As we intend to scout a good trail, why not? We can always relocate what we leave." I continued, in a sententious tone, waggling an oar in the air, " The Philosopher-Spider-Lilly Trail, now an historic park. Step right up folks, suffer thirst, hunger for: synth-spamsteaks, and get footsore during our Re-Enactment Days."
Philos grunted in amusement at my sally.
      Spider stayed mute. She often shrugged off my jokes. Had probably
already thought of them, rejected them as unamusing?
I solicited, " Hey? No snakes and no mammals, Spider. What do you think?" Need to show her I can be serious.
" Your conclusions..?" Her voice sounded snotty.
      Show her. " Birds can afford to live close to the ground as some seem
to. No snakes and no mammals. Lizards a hazard, but small, delicious, controllable. We haven’t much of a handle on the eve life, remains to be seen what-all comes out then."
Spider opined, " Oh, No! Yes! Golly-gee slithery Wobblers and fearsome nocturnal Perving-verts, all come out - no doubt! Dont’ be sil-Lil. Nothing shows on the IR detectors. Oh sure! You’re going to say: ‘fear the Ghost Wobblers and tomb chilled ex-P-vert Zombies’? I don’t think so. If it’s cold, it’s old. Or reptilian and dormant in the nighttime chill. No moving pin-pricks of IR-rad appear in the surveys, none have been picked up during on-ground checks at our camps. I don’t expect we’re going to find much night life." She came to a halt, then added, " Speaking of night life, I do miss the bars at Honolulu. Ha, ha. Ah, a moment. Yes, speaking of overhead, I forgot to tell you. Alice is moving into orbit around Le G. To conduct a comprehensive survey. She’ll drop off commsats at the LeGrange points, coming in, thinks it redic to hold back under cover of the L-star’s radiation when all we’re finding is life that lives for the present. Animal life and plant life, animal as they used to term mobile-more-or-less non-self-aware bio-orgs on Earth. Plant life, as in planted, non-mobile.   Used these terms even after they realized HS were animals too. Hysterical."
Philos asked, " How could you forget something like Alice’s impending arrival?"
Spider gave a kick with her feet to keep her raft moving, drawled, " Easy, it was classified info ‘til she confirmed her move. Which she has done, as you’d know, if you’d had your HF radio turned on." She thumbed her non-nose at him in derision.
Pax!   I inquired, " She’s going to come. Decided to come, just recently?"
      " No, she’s already started in. I just happened to catch a hint she
was thinking about it from Polly while we were unloading. She let it out, by mistake. And I promised not to tell."
Philos accused, in cold tones, " Oh great! That was days ago! Now they keep secrets from the organics. What’s next? Have us combing your bloody carapace or we don’t get fed?"
Don’t let them get wound up. " Be nice, you two. Sometimes I think you both need a spanking."
Philos shot back, " Mmmm! Anytime, I’d enjoy that."
      Spider said, " I’m sure he would. Ergo, don’t, Lilly. Go ahead, strike
me, if it makes you feel better. I don’t mind. Everyone.. "
Please Spirit of the Reality Principle, have mercy on me. " I beg you, let’s just explore, not squabble. Please?"
The north&west trip overland through the undulating countryside, across hills that formed a perimeter that far-bordered the large bay we’d been circling earlier was going to be a doozy. Hot, hotter; dry, drier; dusty, dustier; with heaps of large rocks to avoid and inclines throughout.   Inclines up. Inclines down. My aching back.
But.. there wasn’t much sense retracing our steps, or paddling further away from base. Score was still: many birds, lots of lizards, no snakes, no mammals, marsupial or otherwise. Insects, yes, but none interested in us. Thank you, Le Gentil the Good.  
Alice had found an interesting formation on her passes over us. Close to the likely location of the trail we’d be blazing was a water worn valley with caves. Caves, perhaps, shallow or deep, she couldn’t tell. But, once close to them, we planned to divert and check, assuming that could be done safely. She’d topo-mapped the terrain along the proposed route and copies of the maps would be delivered to us enroute. Our entrepot of those and other parachuted goods would be at the point on our track where we could best turn aside. After a short jaunt, we’d return and reprovision before pushing on NW for the port. In addition to Alice’s overflights, Molly, Polly and Dolly, now mostly refueled, made day&night surveillance trips on our behalf. Without results, as far as locating life forms other than those we ‘d already seen went.
None of us had expected anything as we’d plunged into the jungle at the shallow end of the tributary that reached closest to the caves, leaving our boats to become one with the land. I’d buried the power source and motor for my boat. It wouldn’t be long before any disturbance we’d made/gear we’d abandoned was no longer noticeable. It was a slow growing jungle, but still, a jungle. For this planet: Jungly.
As anticipated, the indigenous forms tapered off as we ascended the sparse-bushed arid hills past empty brooks that, in the wet(?), would hold rainwater and feed the main river. At this season the water for the stream we’d followed away from the Pax seemed to be coming from underground springs along it’s course. The last one of which we’d encountered, as it turned out, we’d used to top off our canteens. Maybe there were hydro-caverns far underground. But that possibility would be left to be investigated another time. Waterfilled cavern excursions were not on the present agenda.
Getting back to base for a conference on what to do next was.   Decisions, decisions. Continue as planet explorers, go on outwards to other stars, stay and settle? Philos and I would age, die. Unless we slept in stasis for lengthy periods aboard Alice, put off the biological clock’s ticking, while the others did the work. No one on Earth had thought through what being at the other end would be like, or so it seemed.
Spider leading, the midday star hot, we stomped our way out of the last of the brush onto a desolate brown rolling plain and headed for the ends of the ridges that projected from the larger hills to the northeast.   As on the way to the river there were no paths, no indication life had come this way, except as wind driven seeds, life-packets that had given rise to the sporadic vegetation. No snakes, no mammals, no soaring birds. Would have been interesting to see a six-legged mammalian. Or vulture with clawed hands. Brrrrr.. Maybe not.. a vulture. Picking white Lilly-meat off ghastly bones?
Alice was being amusing. At twenty-hour intervals she’d swap from sending us one series of basic tones to another. Today she was in beep-beep mode. She claimed she was pretending to be an early-type satellite. I’d surmised she was trying to annoy us. Irritate us to the point where we’d insist she leave a portion of her fuel in orbit and, using her two engines plus the one she could salvage from the Probe, come down to the planet’s surface. It might be that even pure A-AI types with no organic/semi-organic background hankered anyway to experience planetfall. And, besides, she might not want to let her glide-lasses have all the fun.
Not that Alice couldn’t have made a decision like that on her own, but she’d casually floated the idea of her coming in, doing so recently, doing so because she wanted some sort of consensus on the matter, apparently. For my part, I was content with her landing. Spider and Philos were ambivalent. Far as I could tell from our comms, the three glideships had yet to make up their minds. For certain, it would put all our eggs and egglets in one place and allow for their scrambling, if intelligently directed forces attacked or natural catastrophe befell. There were known dangers. For ex: minor earthquakes and residual (?) volcanic activity from the stresses the star put on Le Gentil. Nothing in nature is ever wholly benign. Lilly’s First Law.
I called ahead to Spider on point, as she was more often than not.   " Want to try that cham-cloth drape that was salvaged from an old surface suit?"
" Maybe later, Lilly. I have a feeling it will impede my movements and I don’t want to think about it being in the way. I don’t care if I stand out. I must say, had I not infra-red to fall back on, you and Philos would be difficult to detect. If you pulled the flap over your beige backpacks? Even harder."
She means hard to see, except for our red faces, faces that peered from under protective hoods. One thing, I was getting some tan. Except not.. from toes to neck. Great.
Philos, to my rear, took up the conversation, " We’re just trying to get used to them. Not hide. Alice had a good idea here, for us to wear them. V/handy, what with their electronics linked to a flat plate camera on a packstrap, they’re continually adjusted to our surroundings, simultaneously (!) our track is recorded for pist-ority on micro-disk.   Embedded water-filled capillary tubes and the belt mounted cooling packs help too, keep the bod-temp down."
I added, " The fibre optic sub-surface net with it’s red, blue, and yellow phosphors at it’s junctions comes pretty close to reproducing the Earth octo-chromatophore system, Spide. Eight leg types, of course!   Superior life forms. Always innovative."
Spider preened, " Glad you finally acknowledge that, Lilly. And don’t forget you can take conscious control of the web as well as adjust the suit temp by mind-contact w/the micro-comp. Go white, black, be a great material for a prom dress. To change the subject, on multi-legs? My view? I dig those sixers, expecially the lizards with their centaur stance. Pretty efficient, four on the floor and two to rip apart flies. Basic two eyes.   Must be enough.. odd numbers of eyes, or more than two.. did not seem to catch on here the way they did on Clairaut."
I replied, " Seems so, but we’ve not examined the ocean sufficiently to be sure, lots of room there for oddities, oddities to us. counting the sea on the other half, one-quarter of this larger planet is water versus ten percent of C. Alice’s surveys show a variety of depths, to at least several K’s in places. Microwave and magnetometer, gravity sensors and visual checks show up peaks and deeps, an interesting under sea geology.   There are other land areas too, that might be of interest. Both dry land&sea floor show extensive vulcanism at least in the past. Much if not all of Le G’s seismic activity must be due to the closeness of Lalande 21185. Sliding through Lalande’s gravity well must be difficult."
A deep voice broke in, coming from the aft end of our party, his contribution? Wait for it.
" Ahem, ah, you two?"
We stopped and let Philos catch us. Become hot if we stood too long,
useful as the suit might be, it won’t be able to take on my heat plus the IR from   the star for long. Run down the strings of solar cell/batteries woven into the seams.
My response was, " Yes, Philos. Don’t mind interrupting, of course, we weak and trembling girls must be ready at all times for the Master’s Voice." I let my knees loosen and half-fell to the sand. Rolled over and lay looking up at the gray-blue&cloudless empyrean.
He nudged me with a booted toe, smirked, " Excuse me for not rolling on the ground in helpless laughter. What I wanted to say is: do we have any more suggestions for what a glideship is to air deliver to the point nearest the caves it can reach and still be sure the drop has a good chance of making it down safely?"
Spider answered patiently, " Not I. I think we’ve done well. Two resupplies only on this long a trip? One at the river mouth, the other ahead. Not bad. Spelunking gear, as requested, they’ll bring, yes?"
Getting back on my feet, I said, " Sure, confirmed by my last converse with Mol, line, helmets, lights, a couple of radio relay packs, one we can leave at depot two, the other at the mouth of a cave. If cave or caves there are. Might just be rock shelters with serious overhangs, be only a handful of meters deep. Alice can’t tell, not without laser ranging, and we’ve asked her not to make any moves like that, in case something is there."
Philos rotated one-eighty to gaze over the monotonous scene that stretched behind us. In a neutral voice he stated, " Gals, I have to say, my hopes remain reppressed on that. Granted early HS took advantage of natural openings, but..        Well, here we have no indication of constructed-artifact use. We’ve seen birds use twigs to dig into holes in trees. Tease out insects, ants, we’d call ‘em. The majority of birds appear to construct nests for their eggs, that repro-mode seems popular. We assume the lizards use it too. As for more? No thing, no things. Nothing. We three, we three along with the glideships, six therefore, may be the only intelligences on the planet. I think we should give up ambitions about finding Who-What did the Wolf object. Whatever it is."
Pessimist. " There are the moons of Hortense and Sophie, her companion gas giant - further out." He’ll not get me to give up the dream of finding others with which to exchange ideas that easily.
He looked at me, amused, " Life? There? Possibly, Lil. For I or AI, nein. No space stations, mining colonies, orbiting commsats, explorer craft. Not one thing."
Spider began moving away, called back, " Can you two walk and talk at the same time? We’re getting behind sched."
I raised my voice as she passed out of sight around an outcropping, " Want us with you? Afraid of a Giant Super Bletch ambushing you, you rambling jumble sale? Serve you right. Tied and taken to a Bletch cookout.   Eaten? I doubt. But parboiling or grilling should do in your circuits."
Her rapidly fading voice echoed at us from around the corner of the low ridge we two were approaching. In hollow tones it exclaimed, " Come on, come on! I fear nothing. But we should stick together, looking for a lost soul in the rocks&rubble at the foot of these hills would be a nightmare.   Especially if someone fell and smashed their radio at the same time as themselves."
The land was starting to rise more rapidly than I’d expected. Have to pay more heed. Not that there was much to pay attention to heretofore. Now?   Boulders getting bigger, a few head height. Junk underfoot that could put the unwary on their face, shattered bits of shale. Sedimentary rock of some sort. This place underwater way back.
Her words came again, thinly, " I’ll advise Molly to go ahead with the drop. We don’t have to be there. The packets will have transponders keyed to our comm-freqs. She can drop to a hundred KPH briefly to let them go, ‘chute down. Will aim for the V in the terrain that leads to the three what’s its, caves, if you will.. "
Her voice faded. Probably being funny by turning down her speaker output, make us think she’s further off, then she’ll jump out at us. Juvenile.
Dust rose from our boots as we scrambled to catch up. Truth is she was the only one of us who could be considered armed, and this seemed like Indian country. Or had I been watching too many westerns? As Alice seemed to go for SF, so did I for Old West stuff. When men were men, and women wore discouragingly long dresses.
Once around the ridgelet we could see Spider as a large black dot half way to the next one, hastening across the saddle between them. A taller outcropping rose inland, one just as arid looking as the one we’d got by. Boring, boring, boring.
Philos prompted, mystified, " Say, Lilly? Is Spider leading us straight to the depot rather than by an easier route - the one we agreed on that Alice picked out?"
Panting I said, " Seems so, she must be eager to plug into a charged pack, having to work off photovoltaic cells all the time must be nervous-making. Once charged off the batteries dropped in, she can move around more at night. She said they’d provide enough chow - her type chow - for a weeks uninterrupted ops."
Keeping up with my striding, he maundered, " Some fresh freeze-hydrofood   packs would be nice. This dried fodder is a bit off-putting, after a while. Not that I mean to complain."
I pushed on ahead of him. Our suits were basic tan&brown at this point, reacting to the background. A flicker of green ran up my left side as I walked past one of the few bushes that had managed to gain purchase on the broken gravel along the route. After a few steps the suit returned to beige with brown blotches. Doesn’t do much fashion-wise for me.
Philos seemed content to trail behind. With luck we’d arrive at the depot before nightfall, even at the current rate of progress. Why no vultures to follow our movements? Nothing to eat out here, I guess. Forget about vultures will ya, brain?
Most of the bird life on Le G seemed to be hunters or gatherers, hunt or be hunted. Hunt lizards. Break open located seed pods. Or kill&eat the lizard&seed eaters. Neither large soaring scavengers, nor on-the-hoof&claw/winged hunters of any size, seem to have evolved. Perhaps because of the limited extent of food producing regions, those that existed being jungles, restricted environments = no large warm bloods? Presumed warm bloods. Like the birds we had on Earth.
We being HS. How it can be we as in ‘us’, as in me and the Earth-born one, it was hard to know. If/when Philos dies, I’m it. And I was born an AI. Originally.. pre artificial womb. My first HS memories fluxed into my mind by electrical fields keyed to the regions of my developing brain. From Spider’s recollections. How HS was I? I bleed therefore I am?
Space-virgin of the outer limits! For good? Possibly. Unless Earth

has gone to larger ships, and, using them, risked voyagers encountering

more debris than we had, ramming it at faster speeds, faster speeds because

more fuel could be carried. Had they come up with a workable

matter-antimatter drive? If not? I might be the furthest out
fem-from-Earth. At a guess, Lalande would receive a second expedition somewhere in this century’s launch cycle. It was too good a bet to miss, if we had failed. Which they could not know. We’d thought of breaking up the photon storage units and thus, maybe, signaling we’d arrived. But hesitated, thought, that if the destruction of the units could be detected, it might be concluded we’d also been destroyed.
Light blue pale-sky edging to pinkish-green (!), still no clouds, red-orange L-light descending. Way past local noon. Eat on the march. I hauled out a meat&bread pack from a waist pouch and began to munch as I moved along. Took a squirt of liquid from the neck tube that led to the large water bottle in my pack. Nothing to it. This exploring. Boring though. The jungle had been interesting, always something to see. Here, dullsville. West Dullsville near the ocean, over the hills? East Dullsville. Between them, Dull Valley. Caves of the Bored? Caves? Leftover water-cut sinkholes likely. MIght be H2O deep inside. That would be a useful find.
Stretch out, move the pace along! Can’t let Spide show us up. Step over the debris on the uptilted surface. " Not a bad site last night, Spider, and hey.. let me assume the lead a while, eh?"
She let me pass her, " OKE, Lil. I’ll tag on, be out the back. Philos can waddle along midst us. Keep apart, don’t want one machine gun burst to get us all. Or a mortar round."
Philos, moving slowly while we rearranged our troop, suggested, " I think the entertainment viewer Molly left wasn’t a good idea. You two will either get - laugh, laugh - funnier or.. more paranoid after staying up watching reruns."
" They would include " A Bridge Too Far" and " The Longest Day" in the same shipment," Spider complained, " I’m a sucker for 20^th century war movies. Not the wars, just the movies, and, say, if we do encounter aliens, let’s not share those with ‘em. They might think we’re a bloodthirsty lot."
I said, " Yup. Just dig out and show ‘em the scenes of the Great Die Off. That should please them? Be informed that we might overpopulate any planet we came across, have to be weeded out from time-to-time? Might suggest to them that they thin us out before we become a threat."
Philos protested, " Aliens, Ishmaeliens, you two. About as much chance of finding anything around here as of my getting a chuckle out of you with my jokes."
I moved ahead, speaking more loudly, " Ah, is that what they are? I did wonder. Is that how you plan on communicating, by telling Adam and Eve funnies, supposed funnies? If so. Allah help us."
He fell in behind me a few meters back. " Talk about jokes, that latrine must’ve been one of yours. Back of a rock above a sand slip. Wonder I’m not under a pile of.. "
" Rubble, Philos, rubble." Spiders smooth voice overrode the rudeness I was about to utter in response.
We wandered on in silence. The V-shape of the valley we were approaching was gradually taking form from the shallow water&wind worn depression we were climbing. If I turned I could still see our last campsite on the end of the ridge to our left, near the drop zone. The twin of the ridge to our right. Boring. No!   I promised myself I’d not go mad, at least not that way. By repeating the B word. Whenever I was.. Stop..   and.. don’t scream. They’ll order up the fancy jacket with the buckles in the back the next supply run.
After a few K’s the sandy&broken burnt sienna terrain was replaced by the shoulders of dark caramel hills, behind us, westwards, the land dropped away to a sea we could not observe from this altitude. Ahead, rising to a max height of a six hundred meters, were the buttes that hid the three caves.
Rivulets of dust cascaded from around rocks, wind driven, gravity..   smoothing the slopes. Some of the sand was as fine as talcum, it shifted in the slightest breeze. Be nice to have a cool wind. This far from the ocean, they were absent. I missed the campsites along the sea, though I’d not have believed it, if anyone had told me back then I would. Too dry on this planet, to dry for..  
      " BOO!"
      I jumped half my height in the air.   From behind!!
Spider had given her great shout from where she’d moved up close to Philosopher. Vented of her impulse, she proceeded to collapse after I’d become airborne. Had fallen down, begun roaring with helpless derision.
I managed to land upright but with little pride left. I swung around and ran at the wavering tangle of legs, nearly bowling over Philos.
I howled   as I shot past him, " You bitch. You black souled ambulatory catastrophe, you monster-multiped. I’m going to KILL you!" I fumbled out my geology hammer-tool as I ran.
Spider rolled over and leaped to her feet when I was almost on her, ran off down the valley shrieking with amusement at my temper tantrum. In seconds she was beyond any distance I could have covered at a dead run.   Damned octo-legs, they can travel.
I turned in depair to Philos, he was trying not to smile. What with my having my hammer out and all - he’d better not.
I gasped, walked back to him, " Seriously, Philos. If I get a chance to bury that thing with a cave in, I’m going to do it."
He smoothed his smile into a leer of fake-concern, " Lilly, Lilly.   She’s just you-on-eight and thus knows how to yank your chain. Try to grin at her no matter what. She’ll give up after a while, if you don’t loose it routinely."
I holstered my hammer while shaking my unencumbered fist in his face, caterwauling, " Loose it you moron? My heart is going to seize up one of these days. Then you’ll have her and the AI’s for company. Only. Think about that. I may not be much, but I’m human. Well, more or less. More, I think."
Easy, it’s not his fault. Or... Perhaps it is? Who designed that THING? Na, he’s a humanist, not a techie, besides I believe it was someone from South Polynesia, formerly French-Poly who did the majority of the work. Not his territory.
He nodded solemnly, " Yup, have to agree. Human. A machine wouldn’t have lost their cool. I’ll bet your progenitors had tempers. And not necessarily nice ones. Guess we should have screened the donor-info more carefully."
I pouted, " I’m perfect. It’s the rest of you who are off the wall.
Nutso. On the edge. Over it. Some of you. Not you, of course."
He picked up my tribute, treated it as meant, " Of course not. That’s why I’m the Duty Philosopher. Anyway, let’s get on. Spider will catch up, her sense of duty won’t let her leave us for long. She thinks we organics too soft, literally, to take on the caves. She’s right, in a way. I’m not really happy about going underground. If that is.. if there are caves. But I’ll go."
I gave him a friendly push, " Yes, yes. Take the lead, I want to be here when that shitpile of synth&metal shows up. Give her what for."
" Don’t hurt her feelings," he said as he took up the front of our column.
Barely keeping myself from screaming an answer, I said, " She doesn’t have any! I’m sure. Once back inside a photon-split brain, she lost it! Her kind&caring me!"
He moved along up the valley, his voice coming faintly, as though he didn’t want me to hear, " Not so, Lil. She is you, all right."
We went on in tandem, continued up the shallow draw. It had obviously been a long while since water had flowed here. Dust ran over most of the places where rills may once have been, filled in the spaces under the edges of rocks. Can’t even have been much wind action here recently. A dead valley was Dull Valley. B.. no, don’t. Exciting, wonderful, spacious and beautiful valley. Valley of the Dulls, you mean.
Philos began drifting off to the left as we reached a higher part of the slot between the hills. Slot-slanted in the direction of the first of the three cave mouths. I followed. I could hear spider shuffling along behind me. Probably ten meters back, further than I could throw a hammer accurately. I reached behind me, unclipped the extendable hiking staff from my pack. Not for Spider-shafting, for support. The rubble along the cliffs near the cave would be hard on the legs.
The voice from behind me seemed contrite, " Sorry, Lilly. I couldn’t resist. You appeared to be in a brown&black study, distracted. Down. I wanted you to focus on the here-and-now."
      Without turning I gritted my teeth and growled, " SHUT UP - you - you
bag of bolts. Drape that cham-cloth over you and disappear, button head."
That should get her. New one.
She tittered, " Sticks and stones, Lilly. I’ll try out the drapery when we get to the cave. I can’t think it will make me look any less than a boulder with eight legs. Brown rather than black. I suppose that might be an improvement."
I kept moving, " Your having a twenty metric ton boulder drop on you would be an improvement. Or to have the ground crack open and swallow you.   You’re a monstrosity. Depraved, not comical at all."
" Your opinion, oh Silky One, Beauty.. "
Eyes front, hiking hard, I averred, " If I’m Beauty, guess who you are?"
A fake sob came from back of me, " You hate me!!"
I hurried more, kicked dust as I thought that one over, " Let’s see..
try, um: dislike, abhore, despise, detest, loathe, abhor - woops.. "
She snickered, " You’re repeating yourself. I gather you’re put out with me, just now."
" You could say that."
" I just did."
      I could hear the scuff/eight pitter-patter of little feet moving
closer. She was getting too close, I picked up my pace. The gods only knew what she might do next. Slap a web on me so I fainted with fear?
Philos hollered from ahead, out of sight around the barren hillside, " Looks good to me! Not a shelter-mouth. A cave. Deep. A real one."

‘Lalande 21185
Chapter Nine                                             Lalande yr 1
Following an overnight on the wide shelf in front of the thirty meter tall opening, after eating breakfast and setting up the transceiver that could reach   depot two’s relay station down-valley, we set off along the cave slope that would take us from daylight into darkness. The pitch lead into the depths, pulling us away from Lalande’s rubescent light..   gradually. One in ten, one meter down for every ten meters of marching, the going was easy. Climbing out would not be a problem either, if it didn’t get steeper. Lollipop. I pried rock samples from the walls at intervals, the usual, just your basic sandstone. Same as on the surface, medium hard.   Difficult to figure what could have made this opening.
I had to talk to her, ‘though I was still angry.
" Spider? " In the lead, again, as usual. Show off.
" Yes, Lilly?" She answered sweetly.
      Must mean she’s getting ready to misbehave. Being saccharine isn’t
like her.
I persevered, ignoring my desire to maim, " Any thoughts on this? That you’d care to share? If we were traversing igneous rock, I’d say a lava tube, like those in Hawai’i, the remnants of lava flows - flows that had run along with their outsides cooling and their innards oozing out, leaving a tube like this."
She shone a lamp Philos had strapped onto her upper body ahead, " Know what you mean. Aside from the fact this is sedimentary rock and that there’s no indication that vulcanism took place locally? Great idea." She eight-walked onwards, not pausing to give my thoughts more attention.
Smartass.
       Philos said from abaft me, " Not drilled or blasted either. There’d
be tool marks on the surfaces. Cracks and rubble, if explosives were employed. Presumably even primitive tools would’ve left evidence of their use. Unless a great deal of patient smoothing was done. Seems natural, but how Ma Nature did it. Beats me." He moved up alongside and we continued traipsing, follow the leader, Spider taking us onwards.
The tunnel darkened, Philos and I put our helmet lamps on low as we progressed. Besides our white hard hats, hiking boots and cham-suits, we were wearing heavy gloves. We were still lugging our packs, packs that had accumulated weight as a result of the new gear brought us by Molly.
I spoke to Philos, " At this rate we can keep in comm with the port full time. What with the relay station at the entrance being line of sight from us."
He inquired, " Spider! Still no bounce from sonic checks ahead?"
       With echoes added gratis, she explained, " Nope, it goes straight for
a long ways. No end in sight on any wavelength, amplified return from my lamp shows a black hole. Still."
Philos joked, " Not Black Hole with big B and H, Spider Lady?"
That’s no lady, that’s Once-me.
" Nope, oh Magnificent Male Malefactor."
At least she’s consistent, obnoxious to everyone.
      He replied, " May be a bat-thingee cave. Something flew out last
night, remember. The proximity chime on the relay-transmitter went off while we were sacking out. Spider? Watch your step, may be another guano source. Be good, useful. Lugging it far might be a problem, however.   Perhaps be worth running a road to here?"
She reminded him, " No mammals, chief. Thus? No bats. Something in that ecological void? Night flying lizards? We saw some that could glide.   Perhaps one species evolved to full flight. Something like Earth’s Pterodactyls. Smaller though, there was no noise from the wings overhead, if such there were, and it wasn’t a machine malfunction. But, assuming no machine-glitch, perched on the ledge at the cave mouth as we were, whatever it was had to have been airborne. Couldn’t have gone by us on foot."
Spider was getting further ahead. We hustled and caught up, walked on either side of her. Easier to keep an eye on the devil that way.
She soliloquized, her tones pedantic, " We can do with a single light folks, one of you leave theirs on. I’ll save mine. Keep the power low. Let your eyes adapt. Some illumination is coming from the entranceway still. Be available longer, if we’d started earlier. Does one of you have a fear of the dark? It took us hours to get going. And we’re not making a great deal of progress.. "
I brushed the brim of my safety helmet with one hand and my light went out. So did Philosopher’s. We could see, dimly. The entrance to the cave was facing due south, mid-day light was still getting through.
The cham-suits shifted to gray-black as the darkness closed in.   With the lights on they were mottled brown and black, patterned according to how the shadows were positioned in relation to their sensor-cams. A musty smell rose from the depths. Not unpleasant. The cave smelled old, that’s all.
Spider’s black-on-black is perfect for this sort of patrol.
      " We’re moving along as fast as is prudent, Spide. Got started as
quickly as possible." Philos had said his piece lazily. He touched his cap to turn his lamp back on. The wide beam he’d selected spread out over the flat ramplike surface and reflected from there onto the arched rock overhead. Shadow-shapes swayed around us. Our HS faces were lit fitfully by the weak rays. He continued, " We’re not as self-contained as you are. Food, tools, ladders and lines all had to be double checked. We can’t scuttle up and down vertical surfaces the way you do. Besides, once we get well in, it won’t matter whether it’s day or night outside. We can set our own times to proceed."
" Besides, Spider," I said, lifting my pack higher on my shoulders, " What’s the rush? We can go a week on what we have plus draw on the cache at the mouth.   This may dead end in a hundred meters, or narrow.. we shouldn’t proceed beyond.. "
She managed a wry tone, " I sense no termination or slimming, Lady L.
And I know you aren’t afraid of the dark. Must be Philos dragging his feet?
I can go on beyond what you might think safe. A cave-in might stop me though."
My chance for a shot. Gleefully I exclaimed, " Permanently!"
Spider declared, " I didn’t mean one taking place with me under it.
You noted the rubble here and there near the entrance and the spaces in the cave roof where rock has fallen out. Could be closed off up ahead.   Earthquakes could’ve caused the falls. Not that we’ve felt anything serious, but the L-star’s gravity warping the planet does cause ‘em in this back country, it seems. Miniquakes appear to occur off and on   about local noontimes, if our experience to now is anything. Over eons even small tremors could’ve brought down chunks of sandstone, sealed this. Not the strongest rock around."
I answered, " This is pretty solid, takes a good smash to break out a piece. And.. I’m not going to gather much. None going down. A few samples coming out."
Philos asked me, " You assume we’ll be coming out the same way? I don’t, might be all sorts of exits. If this is a cavern created by running water, it could have produced multiple openings. Not that I see signs of water moving through, I don’t. But the valley out there was worn by water.   Why not here? Perhaps it exits via one of the other caves? Or caves elsewhere?"
My turn again. " Possibly, Philos, possibly. But neither Spide nor I have seen signs of water wear in here, any more than you have. And this goes straight in. No gradual curve off in some direction that might connect us to another opening. Whole thing’s a mystery to me. Actually, lots of things are a mystery to me. Including: Why nature likes sex."
Spider answered that one, " Easiest way to mix genetic material, Lilly, you know that. You’re just trying to amuse us."
" I just think there might be some other solution, Spider."
      " Not on Earth nor in this system, far as we’ve found. Two sexes
unless you are a bacteria, a blue-green algae or an amoeba!" She stopped talking and trotted ahead. We tried to keep up.
Philos wheezed, trying to catch his breath, " Easy Spider. Save your juice and our muscles. Let’s assume we have to climb back up out of here and go easy?"
Spider halted, we caught up, she folded her legs and settled onto her underbody. " Take a break then. And think! Nature rarely operates along straight lines. I’d say a meteor strike made this, if there were any sign of space rock or shocking of the sandstone. But there isn’t. Not tooled, no meteor dust, no lava. As you say, Lilly. A mystery. Spoooooky!" Her voice was swallowed by the dimness.
Renewed thoughts of arachnicide perfused my mind. " Don’t get started on your stunts again. Remember, you agreed to go twenty hours without a, so-called, practical joke."
" I had my pinchers crossed."
      Was that a subsonic titter? " Oh, no you don’t, you piece of
plas-metal merde. You agreed, in return for which we promised not to turn you into a pretzel. So, lay off the waggery. For a while?"   I was pleading.   I hated to.
She put her lamp on high and played it idly over the brown walls, " I’ll see. There are these, uh, randomizer circuits that sometimes get the best of me, then I can’t control myself." She gave a twitch, then another.
" Quadruped hockey. Watch out, Philos, the guano is getting hip-high and we haven’t even reached the end of this."
He spoke soothingly, " OK, you two. Time to snack and cool it. Cooling it should be easy, pleasant in here. More so than on the surface, I could get tired of the constant warmth above ground." He dropped off his pack and sat on it. Handily, the apparatus was made to serve as a mini-couch as well as a carrier.
I removed mine and unfolded it’s padding to make a larger surface on which to half-recline. Come eve these would form the basis of our sleeping platforms. In here or.. back outside, should we turn around soon.
Spider was playing boulder again, her indrawn legs sticking up like kindling around her shell. She mused, " Hum. I think this is getting slightly more spacious, the roof is higher now. Let’s see." She paused a moment. " Yup, echo sounding gives me thirty-two meters. Odd. I’d have expected it to slim. Extrapolated? That would be, ah.. forty meters by the time we camp, say five kilometers in. If I trudge out for more supplies&water, we could stay here for days with proper amenities. Put together a comfortable base camp. What say?"
Philos responded for both of us, " Sort of dreary place. Buff walls, tan roof, dark brown floor. The pieces of stone-fall strewn about near the entrance added some interest, not much, though. Bland here. Why stay over?"
Annoyed, Spider explained, " How many chances are we going to have to get under the skin of this planet? Granted, Alice has spotted a few more of these valleys, rift valleys perhaps, water worn volcanic or plate-splits in the planet. But they are hundreds of klicks away. We’re here, where there is something of interest, no matter what you claim. She’s also surveyed extensive surface volcanic hot spots, south of here, near the equator.   There are many regions to explore. For now, if this tunnel goes on, we need to examine it. And, I’m holding info back here, sorry, sorry. Ahem, I believe I saw a white lizard of some sort scuttle away, it was ahead of us.   Didn’t get a good look. Blowing up the image I obtained doesn’t help much, but, at a guess? Blind - could be lots of unusual things here. We’ve seen the desert and the jungle, observed a bit of the water area. This should be interesting, even, unique, perhaps, for this planet."
I added my opinion, " You’ve a point, Spider. We’ll consider it. Go to five and set up a base, we’ll stay there, you can wander on while we rest.   Get some sleep. Perhaps you’ll want to trot out and recharge? Use one of the power-packs to fill up your cells?"
" Good, Lil. Good ideas. So, HS, stuff up yo’selfs with mini-snack-freeze-its and let’s slide on down. Yaha!"
She’d been right. We currently had a higher ceiling above us. Close to forty m’s. Spider’d taken my suggestion and gone back to lug some more gear down as we fl&bl chatted and supped. Said she’d sledge a charged pack down behind her to give herself a couple of days energy. Reconstituted beans and gravy, synth-semisteak w/shrooms - not bad. Hope there is plenty of ventilation here.
I wonder.. " Philos?"
" Yes, Princess Lilly?"
      " Does it seem warmer to you? We’ve only Spider’s temp sensors to rely
on and she hasn’t said anything. Afraid of reminding us Hell could be hidden in the depths? To me, it does seem warmer."
" Could be. I hadn’t noticed, but you’re right. I feel less cool, even when I’m sitting, than I did last night outside. Needed two foil blankets, besides the cham-suit, to be comfortable when not moving."
" What is your guess about water? I could use a wash." I sniffed, nothing. But..
He passed over the possibility, " Nope, hate to seem pessimistic.. "
     " No you don’t! It comes naturally, but I suppose someone has to damp
the fires of youth, mine and.. Spider’s fires."
He guffawed, " I thought it was just orneriness, but, perhaps not. You get along like a mongoose and a cobra, I must say. It’s a bit wearing."
" Sorry, I guess. At least she responds.. " Don’t let him think you crave his company.
On a mild note he said, " Yes, but my job is to be quiet and ponder.
Not allow the Expedition to rush into things. Thinking, that’s my trade." He tapped his forehead with a finger, " You should be used to my silences by now."
" Perhaps in another fifty years. Ahem.. May we have another fifty together, of course.."
From what I could make out in the glimmer of light from my low-turned headlamp, the only one on, he was frowning.
Not nice, Lil, I’ll be as bad as Spider next. " Hey, I didn’t mean anything. May your shadow never grow longer, Philos."
He sighed, " Not likely to down here.. Spooky? I’ll buy that. I’d rather it writhed around, slanted up, then down, this steady depression-slope has got to me. Not natural. Un-natch. Weirdly. Too easy to.. "
There was a light swoosh, we sensed air movement, instinctively felt, rather than saw something go by overhead.
Wow!   I finished his sentence as I thought he was going to, " Too easy to, get bored? Uninteresting? No, quite otherwise, Philos! There’s something, are some things in here with us. We don’t need a proximity detector to know that. Maybe Spider will get a look at what it is this time. Her infra-red should pick it up, now that she’s alerted to flying beasties."
He warned, " If we don’t watch out she’ll set a web and catch it. We managed to discourage that idea this morning as we were moving on from our topside rest stop. Pointed out we couldn’t watch a net-set. Tonight? That excuse won’t do. We’d better find her lots to occupy herself.."
Back to Ethics 101.   " You really think it’s against our mandate to catch and release? Don’t you think that’s going too far? After all, we are here to do science. Not just observe."
Peeved, he repeated his usual argument, " If nothing else serves, we might capture some of the most common denizens of the planet and keep them a day. No more. Even that is threatening. Or would be were someone to do it to us. Remember that guidance, don’t do unto others as you would not wish done unto you."
I rose and stretched, " I still think that’s unreasonable. But, as you’re senior member of the Expedition, I’ll go along. For now."
" It may be unreasonable, your term. But ethically? It is correct."
      A scraping sound from up-tunnel interrupted our debate. Spider or a
Great Clawed Gotcha!
She called out from the dark, from a distance, " Oii! Did you see the critter?"
" No," replied Philos, " heard something go over, near the roof. Get an image?"
" Sort of. Bird. Brownish, as might be expected. One. Big, big as anything we’ve seen. Meter and-a-half across, more perhaps. Wing tip to wing tip. Meter long body. Moving right along. Warm blooded, good infra-red response."
I asked, " Fat bodied, trailing tail, what?"
      " Ya on the body, somewhat chunky. Tucked legs, broad tail, for
maneuvering, I suppose. If we were in an Earth cave I’d say owl, deep-cave owl? New one on me. Why not? Especially if it developed some bat-like abilities, like echo location. Seemed to be emiting supersonic peeps, super-your-ears sonic, thirty thousand cycles. Thereabouts."
" Hey, team!" I said.
" What?" Philos replied.
I hissed, " I’m not bored anymore!"
      The grating noise got louder, Spider appeared in the light. I’d
increased my lamp’s brightness when I’d heard her approaching.
She said, " Oh goody, not bored? I can stop jumping out at you then?"
      " Oh, no. Please, it wouldn’t be a full day on beautiful Le Gentil
without your trying to scare the piss out of me at least once."
In a bright lilt she answered, " That’s what I thought. And fellas and gals, or galls, we do have a heart pumper here! Mystery cave and mystery avians."
" Plural?" Asked Philos.
      " Must be two. One of each sex, Thinker. Figure it out. Nesting site
somewhere ahead. Two, or.. more."
Ah. " Guano."
      " Poo-poo to you, Lilly. Bird-do. Nitrates. Bitty bones of small fuzzy
wuzzies. Bloody spatters on floor and walls, dripping gore and all, and all.. "
Ugh, nasty. I put my hands over my ears, " Stop, stop, I don’t want to hear it. Let’s get some rest, you poke around, feel free. Let us nap."
Spider dropped the lines to the plastic packsled she’d dragged behind her and put down a backbag of food. Without further immediate response, she headed off down the tunnel.
After a half min, I believed I could hear her go back to reciting drivel, or was my imagination working overtime? I thought I made out, " Dripping red gouts of sludgy stuff slapped on.. " before the sounds faded.
I turned to my senior partner, " Philos, if I put that beast in Ship’s trash compacter one of these days, you surely won’t blame me?"
He assured me, " There’s no need for drastic action. Just stand easy.
Remember my words of wisdom? Chuckle or ignore her."
I griped, " Easy for you to advise. She’s not your evil twin."
     " Evil is going a little far, isn’t it?" He’d settled back on his
chaise-pack, was contemplating the ceiling.
" NO." I said.
      Adjusting my lamp to low-low, I stretched out and pulled a
spaceblanket over me, .
Still in the cham-apparel we’d slept in, on our feet, at, what would have been daylight, had we been above ground, we crammed a day’s rations into packlets, slung on a couple of full expanding soft-canteens each, joined Spider at her lookout, the site she’d chosen to nest in, further down the tunnel.
Our burdens would be kept light, if we needed more gear, Spider’d zip back for it. Two more Spider-loads from above and we’d have enough to set up a second in-cave camp further on. If the tunnel continued. For tunnel it appeared to be. Not a cave. Or, at least, it didn’t feel like one. No offshoots, side passages, deep cracks etc.

" Spread out, group," Spider suggested.

" I’d feel better close to you and your laser, Spide," I said, but
moved away from her anyway.
" But a rockfall could catch us all, all at once. So.. why not keep slightly apart? Eh?"
Philos agreed, " She’s right, Lilly. And there seem to me more falls here, the increase began at five K, thereabouts. And the cavern is opening out more. Maybe the roof is weaker, less rock to hold rock in place?"
" At this rate," I said, " a few more klicks and it would be possible to fit a good sized building in here. Forty-five side to side and top to bottom? Forty-five meters too. Extrapolated to? Spider?"
" If it reaches ten kilometers? A cathedral, if it continues to enlarge. It’s getting warmer. Initially it was cooler, that trend has reversed. Geological heat, from the planet’s core. No radioactivity, though. Nothing on my sensors, it’s not from that. Geothermal energy. Some residual warmth from the planets molten era and.. there might be some radioactivity further on. We can’t rule that out. My opinion." Spider had delivered her info as a monologue. Keeping something back?
I have to know. " And?"
" And. I smell something. Trace of something. Smoldery? Warm smelling.
Just a trace, a figment of my imagination, possibly."
Philos asked, " And perchance.. not?"
" Could be, Old One. Lets scridger on here. Scoot, ride and mov’er on.
Miles to go before we sleep."
I asked, " Frost?"
" No, I don’t think so. Too warm."   She responded.
      Got me again. Ignore, ignore. " What’s your best guess, Spide? Upside
down boids a-hangin’ from the rafters? Deep piles of do-dee-do? Dead.. no.   But young twittering in the ledges where rocks have fallen away? Guess..   from what we have."
" Not much data. Too early to make guesses. Let’s just move quietly.
Keep the chitchat down. Lights low. Rely on my augmented sight. And hearing."
Bossy bitch. Keep traipsing, Lilly. We’ll get to the bottom of this.
With luck.
Our trio wandered on into the depths. Gradually increasing our distance from five K-camp, cave mouth base, depot two at the lower end of the valley, the Spaceport-on-the-bay and overhead.. Alice-point. Ship/Alice in geosynchronous orbit not far from the depot in the Valley of the Dulls.   Cave of the Interesting, as it’s turning out. Predacious birds, a few?
Couple of pairs? Making sorties after dark to seek live food? One pair?   Mated for a lifetime. Mated? Whatever that means. Philos and I linked for life by proximity. Not mated. Good or bad? Hard to say.
We hit six K, seven. Nothing, cave bigger. Tunnel.
      Spider stopped just beyond what she’d signaled was seven K, by
raising three legs, then four. Seven kilometers from the L-stars light.
Lucky seven from the crimson out-of-doors.
Eight-leg spoke, " Illumination ahead. Just a bit. Photons from.. I think.. phosphores. Cold light. Bluish. V/blue. Move more slowly, I suggest. Linger while I scout?"
I switched off my lamp. It was Philosopher’s turn to run his anyway.   But he might not have to, for I could see a glow ahead too, unless it was because Spider said something was there and I was imagining it.
We tip-toed forwards, none of us willing to delay. Spider was planting her four walking legs carefully, keeping the others tucked up clear of the floor. She veered towards the left wall and we followed. Me in the middle of the pack. Philos rearwards.
We stopped after another half K and squinted into the growing light.   Blue, yes. But odd. Steady.. bleak? Smooth, that was it. Seamless. No shadows ahead. A general illumination. Cave light from biological reactions?
Spider let a whisper escape her, " More than light. Shhhh. I see movement. Shapes. Geeze."
I can see nothing, but then I’m not an artificial, anymore.
      Philosopher inquired in a hushed timbre, " Animals, birds? More
six-legs? Blind lizards. You say you’ve seen more. We haven’t. Don’t like light? Then what.. "
" Shhh," she repeated, went on softly, " just listen, smell, taste the air. Shhh." She let her fore legs down and went statue still.
I lowered myself to the floor into a position where I could see around her, sat w/knees up, chin resting on them. Philos knelt behind me.   Our suits would assume the color of the cave walls, take a bluish cast.   Spider was in black, as usual. She’d refused to use the cham-cloth tarp, was, even-so, nearly invisible.
I considered Plato’s grotto. With shadow figures backlit by SOL, projected on a cave wall. What was real here and what did we just think we saw? I would have said; upright figures, walking, moving. A faint twittering ascended to us. Sonic, not ultrasound. Like birds at evening.   Going to rest. Calming.
Something separated itself from the indistinct grouping I half-sensed, headed up the tunnel. Jesus and Mary and all the saints, begorra. Is this weird or is this weird?
It’s shadow grew before it. Front in the shade, blue beyond. Slightly below us, it looked short. But, maybe not. Bulky though. Head? Stumpy, set low on the body. Walking? Two feet, pseudopods, tentacles, stumps?   Bizarreness.
It stopped fifteen meters away and whistled softly.
Spider whistled back at the same frequency, in a steady tone.
I could swear it jumped a little. Startle reflex?
It turned and shot back a couple of meters, spun and faced us again.
Glimpse of a flat face, short beak, two black-black beady eyes. Feathers.
" Feathers!" Woops. I spoke! Bad me! I’d almost yelled. It moved off some more. Twenty meters away, further. Hard to see.
Spider admonished, " Shush, Lilly. Control yourself, I was trying to communicate. Be still, please."
I put my hand over my mouth and froze.. assumed immobility, barely breathing. Philos touched my shoulder. I didn’t jump, not much. Stayed mute. He slid to a seated position alongside me.
Spider whistled, softly, in a lower register. Sexy? Come on over big boy/bird?
The bird, if such it was, slowly shifted back to it’s original close-in spot. Whistled in imitation of Spider’s call. This could go on all night. If it was night, seems it must be close to it outside.
I thought of all the different kinds of creatures we’d spotted on this planet. None were eight legged. In the sea? Perhaps. How alien would Spider appear?
I rose slowly and stood beside her. She got to her feet too, front four folded in a peaceful gesture, aft four set firmly. Flight or fight.   And for which species? A bird could take off straight up. Is that why it seemed willing to approach. It could see we were wingless?
Whatever it was stepped to one side and turned half away. The invitation was obvious, who says beings from different biological communities can’t communicate? We were being asked to come along.
Spider and I, with Philos a meter back, strolled slowly forwards down the slope. There, can see better, wicked sharp beak between two coal-like eyes. Nostrils high in the beak. Two, one on each side. Standard avian arrangement. A mouth opening, under top beak, lower beak below that.   Beak-nose. The upper bill movable. He’ll, she’ll, it will.. understand our faces. Nose, mouth, eyes. Basic Bio-One   model A..   
Fluffy feathers on chest, medium length on the head, longer and more dense elsewhere. Sex.. who can tell with birds.        Besides other birds.
We halted two meters away from the creature. Flight or fight zone. No closer. Not threatening.
Claws&legs I could now see clearly despite the faintness of the blue light. Two supporting talons forwards facing on the slim legs, one claw aft. It had rotated slightly more at our approach. Now it continued to turn, moved back down the tunnel. It’s tunnel. Obviously constructed, or improved. Improved water course? One of many, leading to a far underground river, source for the jungle river, even?
A sweet tremor of sound reached our ears. Running water, water preserved in long caverns, openings into time and space? Tinkling and welcome. Refilling our canteens would be first priority, if it seemed clean. To an extent the chlorine releasing plastic of our canteens would purify, within reason. What would it, them, make of Spider not needing water? Did they have artifacts, tools, weapons, household goods, pots and..   get ahold, Lilly.
With the OWL (?) in the lead, we tramped towards the group.   Illumination.. coming from flat panels in the walls. Panels that increased in numbers as we progressed. Blue light, as alien as we, if not red-sensitive? Nightflyers using artificially generated photons?   Long time residents, evolved here? Which?
We kept our voices muted as we brought each other’s attention to what we were seeing. Behaving as though some of us weren’t too bright? Ahead a half-dozen of the birds had gathered at a place where the cave leveled out.   Where the tilted tunnel stopped abruptly, gave way to a domed vault.   Another eighty meters beyond, the ceiling descended to or nearly to, the floor. I couldn’t be sure. Distracting me from the welcoming (!) committee was an object mounted on a tall sandstone block that was apparently part of the dead level tan floor. A shading tube several meters long pointed up the tunnel, inside, deep inside I could see the shimmer of a mirror. I’ll be damned, that explains a great deal.
Our guide stopped, we did too, keeping back several meters from the owl-like It/she/he who had commenced to twitter piercingly. The others responded and backed away then.. peculiarly.. wandered off, disappeared in low tunnels that led off this room, lead away in all directions from this chamber, this open space that was the termination point of the long shaft.
The grouped together four of us stepped out into the smooth arena and spread apart slightly. Our greeter took a hop and flew up to a shelf-perch on the other side of the space. Left us in the lurch. Whatever that meant, if this was a lurch, Lurch Junction? Wait for the lurch. One arrives every twenty minutes. Shut up brain cells, calm down.
Philos shattered the silence, " Not too excited about their first aliens, are they?" He’d kept his voice down, despite that, it bounced around the mausoleum. Our guide stirred.
Spider suggested, " Perhaps aliens drop in every month or so. Possibly there’s a stargate we haven’t found off Lalande.
Everyone comes by, says: Hi! Out of courtesy, departs. Grateful to the Keepers of the Gate."
Being amusing again, trying, very.. " Lets lay off the fantasy, Spider. This is strange enough for me." I meant that.
Philosopher wandered over to the central object on it’s waist high dias. He’d been keeping on his gloves. He removed them, unplugged them from the suit, put them away in a pocket. The cham-gear was having trouble with this blue - trying to get all their surfaces that color then, seemingly, changing their mini-minds and going to dusky aqua-gray in a mottled pattern. They’re right, hiding in this place would be difficult.
Philos exclaimed, " Has to be a laser transceiver! Receiver as a minimum. Pointed at, something. At an orbiting satellite? Alice has found nothing. But it might have been meant to be undetectable - except when sending signals down the tunnel. A southern exposure like that at the cave mouth would allow them to reach a geosync sat or a polar one passing over..   sending bursts of.."
I raised a hand to stop him, suggested, " Or pointed at where Clairaut will be sometimes. Or at a far distant artificial satellite under powered flight and designed to stay on a line drawn from here to eternity."
" That would be difficult," Spider interjected, " Very. I go for near and burst-comm. Off planet receiver-sender getting sigs from out by Hortense, further?   A satellite or installation on a moon? That is recording the signals from Wolf. Would work. Seems clumsy to us. But..   who’s to say?"
From a high shelf a fluffy brown shape I’d not noticed quivered, leaned forwards, dropped off, extended it’s wings and flapped it’s way into the tunnel down which we’d come. Our greeter fluffed and jumped a little then settled back to sleep, or, to watching us through heavy lidded half-shut eyes. I hope our paranoia doesn’t catch on. These unsuspicious types, leaving us with their prime sci/tech instrument, presumably, if Philos was correct. And it made sense. We’d tracked down the aliens. Our signals relayed to here? Aliens listening? They don’t seem that strange.   Strangely peaceful and unworried, yes, but.. perhaps there are automatic defense systems we don’t see or sense.
" Spider," I murmurred.
She answered, " Speak up, they probably have excellent hearing,
whispering won’t keep our conversation private. Not that they can understand it. My bet? They twitter-tweet-speak and.. it’s going to take a long time to learn it. For us. If we have time to."
" Why not time?" I asked.
      She aimed her turret at me, her red eyes glinted, " Our directives
are..   to back off from intelligent life. Let them come to us. And these don’t seem that interested. The assumption that all intelligence is super-curious, snoopy, may be unwarranted."
" Perhaps it’s sack time," Philosopher offered.
      " Na," Spider replied, " they’re nocturnal, by all indications. Might
be meal time. Perhaps they dine on ghost lizards, the blind white six-legs."
I asked, " As for sixedness. These are four, like us, Philos and I?
How come?"
Contradicting me, she said, " No, they aren’t Lil. With my video input magnified I caught a glimpse of slim arms - articulated like yours - tipped with four finger-like appendages, or three fingers and a thumb-claw. Tucked under the fold of their wings. Long, nail tipped fingers, but flex-jointed.   Tool makers and users. As one would expect. Four fingers and three claws on a foot with backward bending knees is odd, not the knees, that’s standard BIRD, the foot-claws. Not matching the numbers of fingers, I’ll bet one of an original four claws has devolved from use, is vestigial."
Philos wondered, " And the tunnel?"
      She expounded, " Cut a long time ago, eons perhaps. Expanded from a
water drilled passage? Why not? Or hewn from the raw rock. Tool marks, if any, long worn away by air currents. The place constructed so long ago that air has sanded the stone away. Plus, spalling from the walls would smooth things out. Probably - if we looked in a well protected location - we’d find gouges. Hand-claw or tool dug, excavated for burrowing Owl-types.   Protection.."
Philos broke in, " From what? There’s nothing we’ve seen that might threaten meter tall tool users. Weapons users, if it came to that."
Spider went on as though he hadn’t spoken, " ..from the elements, benign as they seem to us. In the past, otherwise? From something they’ve wiped out since. Flying lizards, snake-pythons who’d slip into a tree nest, devour in cruel hunger? The lizards we’ve seen could be egg suckers, some of them, it’s just not nesting season, we’d not observe.."
I noted, " And water below, if what I hear faintly is a stream. Stable environment, heat from the core, fattening pens with plant food for the live-to-be-deadstock provided by hydroponic farms? Power from water?   Artificial light for plants?"
Spider answered, " LIzard-stock pens? Sure. And hydro-food for the table.. perch. Omnivores now? Even vegetarians, though.. Well with those beaks, tearing something apart would have to be satisfying, a need to satisfy. Food growing caverns down close to the water table? Lots of questions. Some may forage outside, the flyers may scout for prey. And/or maintain contact with other caves."
Philos said, " Answers at twelve. We shouldn’t go beyond this meeting place, uninvited, that is. In fact, we should hang around a little while longer only. Then.. back to five K. Wait there. If no action. Out."
" Prime directive: Don’t appear threatening." I thought I’d say it before he did.
  " Hard to figure out these owls, for want of a better term: Owls." It was my turn to pontificate. We were gathered at five having strolled away from the main cavern after an hour of.. nothing taking place. As if going back to rest? Might be interpreted thus. We were sitting around.. resting and.. brain storming. Spider had just finished transmitting her memories&vid of the encounter to Alice by relay to the glideship base.
I wondered, " Has Alice any suggestions?"
      Spider rose from the crouch she’d assumed to aim her message
up-tunnel. Answered, " Nope, except she’s going to make a brief pass along the projected axis of the tunnel, go off and see what might be out there."
Spider waited, Philos remained silent, she added, " In a non-threatening way of course. Being careful not to interrupt any comms."
Philos stayed quiet. He knew we were trying to get a rise out of him.   Failing to get much from the owl-beings, Philos would have to do. Or so I suspected Spider and I were both thinking.
Spider said, " Why don’t I go down and laser-singe some feathers?
Blast ‘em. Fry their ‘scope. Blow up some tunnels.."
" Oh, shut up spindle-legs. Be serious for once." Philosopher wasn’t angry, or didn’t sound so. Just tired from all the excitement.
And it had been stimulating. Stopping back here had been a down. But, First Contact. So far as we knew First. Us. We three. In the history texts.   One Earth born, one genetic stunt, and a robo-spider with a twisted sense of humor. Great team.
I jumped in verbally, no sense having disputes at such a time-nexus, " Peace unto you. We’ve done well. They’re cool. We’re cool. No wild waving of weapon-tools, ferocious physical combats between gladiators from each species. No killing or maiming. Hey! What more could we want?"
" I could do," said Philos, " with a tinge of curiousity being displayed."
      Spider said, " They did come to view us. And our guide seemed to watch
as we departed. Didn’t follow, just watched."
I suggested, " They must know we’re in the tunnel. Intruders? Ones lacking   politeness? We didn’t knock, or twitter, for entrance. They probably just think we’re a bunch of mannerless low-brows."
" Fine," Spider said," tomorrow we’ll go back to the entrance and hang around a few days.. for them. If they want to communicate, they’ll come out. If not, we’ll leave a relay and cam set up. With a speaker for responses, so we can get back to ‘em if they come out and twitter-tweet. As for following Earth guide lines? I think we’re fine. These aliens aren’t in-your-face types as those words once were used. Or else.. inquisitiveness is believed to be de trop. "  
" Well, gals, I’m into the sack. My prime need is for water now, lots.
A bath. Maybe the gliders will drop some in. Bag it and ‘chute. Worth a try."
I rejoined, " Agree, Philos. I can feel a layer between myself and the cham-suit, and it’s not a layer of perfume, believe me."
Our HS ablutions at the depot two site were fantastically wonderful.   We’d taken turns bathing, going down&returning under Spider escort. Quickly transiting the few K’s between cave-mouth camp and the depot. The water?   Brought in bags the glideships had filled by landing and drawing fresh H2-Ought from the jungle river. Parachuting the multi-liter containers in to the depot as the last step in the process. The HS team member not tapping the water supply for personal cleanliness stayed on watch at the cave entrance.
We continued the watch as a group, once refreshed, energized by additional food/star power and revivifying connections with the rest of the Expedition.
Not that any of the shipettes could land in the terrain. We couldn’t have direct contact. Seeing them overhead was enough to make us feel we were back together. A few days walk was all it would take to be reunited.
Even dour Alice would be nice to see, when we returned to space. Or if she came in. Which she’d readied herself to do, just in case. I think her heart was in the endless realms.. but possibly even she would appreciate a change from the eternal. At the risk of being stuck here?   Probably not. But, if she could be sure of getting back into space, she might land.
We thought it could be managed. Our only fear was that her one-hundred million degree plus exhaust might be viewed as a hazard to the planet. Three exhaust fires operating at that temperature, splashing from the deut-engines, might well seem a danger to the environment! Wasn’t but..   well, we had yet to find out how our Owls got loads into space. If deut-fueled contraptions were used, they’d not feel at risk, or that their planet was, we believed.
Philosopher had said, " As for knowing how the Owls will respond, who are we to analyse alien intelligences? We can barely appreciate the underlying motives we ourselves have. How can we know anything about beings raised so far from Home. Evolved on a planet so different from the T&C of Earth. Tooth and claw.. for the uninitiated."
He was right. I hated to admit it. My insights into my personal drives were clouded by selfhood. I’d no idea what Spider-once-me was up to anymore, her motivations were obscure, most of the time. And as for Philosopher, forget it. Molly, Polly and Dolly seemed simple individuals, but that was because I had no concept of what sort of dialogue went on between them. Their worldview was separated from ours by bursts of encrypted traffic even Alice couldn’t break.
We hoped the Boids-in-Residence wouldn’t take offense at our temerity, but, each twilight we waited, we got a fire going at the cave mouth, using some of the fuel sticks dropped in an earlier supply trip to start it and bundles of local twiggy-wood we took turns gathering to keep it going. The cheery coruscations on the roof and walls of the opening served to enliven our imaginations. One hour, thereabouts, each night, we’d end our eve-watch with one of us telling a tale.  
It was my turn tonight. I leaned against the pack I’d set up, lounging at ease against the outer rim of the tunnel. Once silence had descended, and we could clearly hear the little snaps of sparking wood particles catching fire, I began to speak in solemn tones: " It was a dark and stormy night, mates. A dark and stormy night." I broke off, could feel my co-guards sighing, even Spider, who, in present form, had no lungs. Real spiders did, of sorts, lacy oxygen absorbing sheets strung under their bellies, but not our Spider. Engage brain-to-mouth, get on with it.
I persevered, keeping my voice low but penetrating, " A wet night, unlike this. As unlike this as anyone can imagine. Winged&clawed noctural six-appendigii in brown feather water-streaming natural cloaks worked at the face of an opening in the rocks. Sand-rocks and an entrance much like this, but smaller." I gestured, my bare hand red in the firelight, sleeve of fresh washed cham-suit trying to keep up with the fluttering light.   Falling behind, out of step, the suits surfaces flaring when the fire dimmed. And vice-versa.
I said, " The cave ran deep to water courses far below.. far below, to streams that led to the river in the south and whose waters from thence melded into the western salt sea, off in the direction of the rarely seen sunset... hem... Chutter-tweetle-chirp was working on her part of the wall when the mild earthquake struck. Handsome Cheep-cheep-chuttle-purr grabbed her and jumped over the edge of the cliff as the surface she’d been working on came down.." I paused for effect.
Spider broke in, " And they got married and lived happily ever after!   Poor Lilly. No mate. We have to grow you one. Tie Philos down.. or tie Philos up?"
I growled, " I was going to say, ‘hem.. they dropped, air-floating towards the upreaching tumble of rocks, rocks that had been shoved off the cliff. After a moment they broke away, reluctantly, from each other and spread their wings to the storm... But, you’re correct.. dear Spider, they married and raised a dozen clutches of eggs before old age carried them off and their bodies were consigned to the deep under-river - bodies linked by flower chains gathered from the slopes of the mountain that rose over the growing underground city."
Philos asked, " Flowers because the climate was wetter?"
I gave him a nod, " Yes, Oh Greatest of All Seers. You guessed."
      He said, " Your story is as good as anything. To explain these
denizens. Who won’t come and chat. Perhaps we’d better go back to depot two and squat there a while. A week here, then there."
The proximity alarm on the relay transmitter went off with a bong-bong. Damn, just when I was reaching the best parts of my tale.
" Spider," I inquired, " what think, another loner headed out?"
" Nope."
" Be helpful, or attempt to be," I said, trying not to sound irritated.
      " One bird out&circling." The front end of her body lifted as she
focused her eyes high up the cliff face, turned and scanned the area further out and still higher. " Coming down. Stay still everyone."
Sure, Second Contact with this species, this one on their terms? Or will they just fly back into the cavern without a ‘Hello’?
Some atavistic sense I’d acquired with my Earth genes made me swivel slightly and look along the line of firelight into the opening. Back in the near dark I could make out an owl-shape whose eyes reflected the leaping flames. Owls? What else can we call them? Lets hope that the low frequency sounds we make don’t annoy. Not that they’d seemed to mind what we’d said before in the cave, amongst ourselves. Our HS body language is probably more important to them, since both species are uprights. Best not to try much chirping, we’d agreed, who knows what we might say? Had they heard the names I’d given my characters and come out to indicate we’d.. I’d said something ultimately obscene. Like: ‘Your mother sucks rotten eggs’?
I purred, " Shhh. One in the opening too, Spider. Don’t look, I can keep track of her."
Philos scolded, " Assumptions, assumptions. Lilly, perhaps the female is the more curious of these, and the male is the one hanging back ob-zoiving, eh?"
I commented, " Don’t try to mix Brooklynese and Canadian-speak. I just have a feeling."
" Intuition?" Was that scorn in his voice? See if I got his breakfast together again.
" Prescience." Don’t let   him get to you.
      The feather duster that had been aloft slid down silently and landed
a body length from the fire, roughly between Spider, who was nearest the drop-off and Philos, in under the lip of the opening. Our tents were set well back in the covered space, not for fear of rain. That was unlikely, we’d concluded. In this decade, perhaps. No, not from an idea they might get wet. We doubtless hid them due to some unconscious wish for protection, security.
It’s the all-brown. Presumably, on little evidence, the other was the owl with a scattering of white tipped beige feathers besides the basic brown ones all the tribe seemed to possess, the OWL who’d stayed closest to the all-brown during the first encounter. This fact Spider had noted on review of her record of the event and passed on to us as something of importance. Wasn’t news to me.
All-brown stood tall, " Tweep, chit-chit-chit, warble," went our visitor. Since it (he?) was looking at me, I nodded. His companion, it was white-tip, walked solemnly around the lit patch and moved up near it/him while remaining in the proximity of the edge of the cliff. No fear of falling off, I’d not walk that close.
All of us stayed in place for a moment, the two standing, we three sitting, or half squatting in the case of Spider - who’d risen up slightly to fasten her attention on the incoming duster. Getting used to their appearance. Not to mention they seemed to radiate a Zen-like calm. Raptors, or had been. Fierce only when faced with a charging lizard? Brain? Stop.   No, don’t stop! Absorb, just stop playing games.
I leaned back harder against my pack. It was solidly set against a vertical wall of rock,   an integral part of the cliff. I could risk the mass would support me without slipping into the valley. I’m not that heavy, despite Philosophers derogatory remarks.
All-brown emitted, " Tweep-tweep-tweep!"
      Some urgency to that one. Earthquake warning? Or - we have some nice
lizard stew on, care to join us?   Shut up brain, or I’ll.. I’ll what?
Gee-ze-sus, why not just panic?
Philos said, in a quiet and extremely calm tone, " Do something Lilly, you are furthest away, probably appear less threatening over there."
Try anything once.
      From my sitting position I raised my hands and arms to chest height
and, opening my arms. raised the palms of my hands towards them. Indian meet Explorer around camp fire, Indian come in peace?
Both of our visitors copied my gesture, and dropped their delicate arms when I did. Don’t smile much, with beaks they won’t be able to interpret that facial expression.
We’d discussed, but not rehearsed my next move. And certainly hadn’t contemplated the charcoal on sandstone mode of communication I was going to try.
Carefully reaching out to the edge of the fire I extracted a piece of half burned brush that made a reasonably good stick-pencil. I rose slightly, turned and drew on the face of the stone a triangle with one short vertical side, one longer bottom edge, and a longer, of course, hypotenuse. Using the sides I’d constructed I drew three squares using each side of the triangle as a base of a square. Not so much something a kid would make, as a psychotic’s attempt to produce a folding box-triangle. An object which, if cut out, would drive someone ‘round the bend, if they tried to assemble the three squares linked to the center triangle into something.
With barely a pause I wrote down an x inside the short side of the triangle, a y above the bottom line, and a z alongside the hypotenuse.   Rising to my feet, I stretched and inscribed the formula x2 + y2 = z2 as precisely aligned to the horizontal, and in as close to the same letter forms as I’d used on the figure, as I could manage.
I sat back down, sweating. I think that was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Pythagoreans pray for us!
There followed a long silence. The campfire crackled, Spider gently added a chunk of wax impregnated fire lighter and a few twigs, what, on Earth, would have been some sort of mesquite.
Red-orange light flickered over the faces - all five - around the central blaze. After what seemed like a geological era, all-brown - All Brown.. moved slowly back into the cave with White-Tip trailing him slightly. He slipped behind Philos and came up near me on the other side of the drawn on surface.
With a tip of his stumpy head in my direction he lowered his body, stretched out a clawed hand and took a glowing stick from the blaze. Not afraid of fire then. Of course not. Brain, watch and shut the hell up.

OK, Lilly. Will do.

Please not a split personality at this point. Shhh.
My new associate rose and wrote above my artwork a vertical figure - something that looked like an inverted V with two squiggles beside it, a Beta on it’s back with two squiggles annexed, and - as far up on the surface as he could reach - something that looked like a warped R on it’s backside surrounded by a circle, with the two squiggles again at it’s right as were the others.
Well, I got that. The circle may mean the warped-R is the consequence of the operation below and simple math is done without signs, or plus is implied? Between the two lower level items? We, both species, may count one-two-three and use simple figures as addenda to indicate a number is squared, do so similarly - what a wonder. Maybe not.. so odd. No need to make more hand gestures. Except one.
I got to my knees slowly, ignoring the discomfort of the rock where it impinged on my kneecaps. With hands open I eased my arms out in front of me and turned my palms up.
He-it-she put the stick down carefully and, moving it’s arms, covered with fine down I noticed, extended it’s three+one configured hands out, palms down. It lowered them to touch mine.
The palms were bare, warm. A current of peace ran through me.  
      A brief touch, they were withdrawn. Was the feeling I got from
myself, or from the other? Both?
The two moved back, to a point behind Philos, who’d remained stock still for all this. The Owls did their a into-the-air hop together, flap-climbed briefly, flew back into the cavern.
      We remained silent for a long space. That was First Contact, the last
inside - had been first encounter.
Philos broke the silence. Typically, he had to intellectualized what had just taken place. " What do you think Lilly?"
I heaved a sigh, brushed off a tear, " I think they’re marvelous. To be able to fly with full self-awareness. Soar, glide free in three dimensions. As though gravity did not exist, as if free falling in space all one’s life."
Spider suggested, " But without the potential for loosing one’s lunch."
" Yes, Metal Monster whom I like a great deal but - well, how to
explain."
" Explain what, Lilly?" Philos asked seriously.
" They seem so - tranquil. I get subtle vibrations from them. Almost,
or.. actually, telepathic vibes. The touch was exquisitely gentle."
" I hope you projected beneficent feelings too," Philosopher chided.  
      " I doubt it, my mind was in a turmoil. Now, maybe, they know how
flakey our species is. Yikes."
Philos calmed me, " Well, you are at heart a peaceful person, so.. I’m not worried. Let’s sleep on this one. I doubt they’ll be back, at least not tonight. They seem to require short sessions when encountering idiosyncratics like ourselves. Remember they seem to never have had mammals on this planet. At least we have the acquaintance of birds."
                                   
‘Lalande 21185
Chapter Ten                                              L yr 1 con.
With no further voluntary contact Owls-to-us, after a week, we departed the dry region for the spacebase where we found Molly, Polly and Dolly bobbing in the wavelets as though we had never left. They nodded&pirouetted on their moorings, at ease amid red-orange star-rays and soft breezes. In an ambience that would have made this a prime vacation spot, were the planet not already settled.
We’d schlepped   most of our stuff back to base in one trip, burying the water tanks that had been airdropped and any other items or rubbish we couldn’t carry out with the rest of the gear. We could hope this wouldn’t cause offense. We concluded that for dwellers in the deep caverns, oddments shallow-buried at the surface would be considered inconsequential. In any case, the cave mouth camp and the second depot were abandoned looking as they were found. Good camping practice anyway.
While in comm with Alice as we packed up, with the three glideships interjecting their conclusions into our tele-conference, a decision had been made to abandon Le Gentil for the present. Leave a small marker at the base, probably a flattened boulder capped with gold metal-foil characters.   On the rock, preserved with gold leaf driven into every line, we would inscribe the figure and formulas made while in Contact. Last they would for an era or two. As long as the minute ice caps of Le G didn’t release their water, the boulder would remain beyond the reach of the tide. But not much above it. At the junction of land, sea and air, it would help preserve the memory of the event.
Once that was done, we six, three foot-mobiles and three glideships, would join Alice in distant orbit. Move to Clairaut and settle in for the long haul. There were no indications that the planet was of interest to our Owl-sistern and bretheren. Two reasons could be: C needed a thicker atmosphere and free oxygen before it could be used without   impediments.   Impediments, tanks and wing-extensions, for ex, that would make it impossible to fly free.
That could explain why they’d no base there. Planet-forming Clairaut until it had a Le Gentil-like environment might not within their desires or level of patience. One thing, certainly, they’d had little impact upon their planet of origin. Our guessing what they had underground was uninformed, mere supposition. Farms and factories? Likely. Production facilities for some type of space craft, Owl manned or automatic? Hard to imagine them not finding space flight pleasurable, however. Thus: Manned - Owled ships, small perhaps. They seemed not to congregate in numbers. But then they would assume that about   us also. Having encountered a team of two HS and a Spider. The only SPIDER, of which we were aware, anyway.
Alice would land on Clairaut once we’d prepared a site for her. The three fusion engines would give her enough power against the gravity of the smaller of the two inhabitable planets to allow for a future lift off. She promised six months of her time and the run of her workshops to get us settled. After that she’d be off, she thought, to check out the mining situation at Hortense.
Our considerations concerning H Moon-Three, and the mining ops that would give us interstellar capabilities again, involved a new factor, were complicated by the revelation Alice had installed additional AI capabilities in her mining robots. After deciding to leave them on their own, three of them, and to keep only one with her, for contingencies, she’d programmed Spider equivalent split-mind modalities into all four artificial brains.
Long silences from the direction of Hortense had got her worried, as a result? She’d shared her knowledge that something peculiar was going on, shared it with us.   I knew one thing, knew it   from long association with her. She’d be antsy for the whole six months, but.. that couldn’t be helped.
It was not until Alice had settled onto Clairaut, landed at the embayment we’d dug at the edge of the lake we’d first checked out, explored during our initial arrival on C, not until then, that we learned paranoia can reflect reality. With steam still rising from the pool surrounding her, we three mobiles were on-line with Ship to assure ourselves she was fine.   Spider was aloft in the thin stratosphere, embarked in Molly, Lil-myself, aboard Dolly, beached ten K away from where Alice had just dropped her fire spitting bulk, and Philos? Ten K the other way w/Polly. North of us, as it happened.
Molly and Spider had completed a final pass around the planet and were getting ready to land. Philos and I, clad in our planet down Tough-suits and helmets, were remaining clear of the hell-hole that Alice had created while staying ready to be of assistance. Easing our worry-phase by talk, once Alice seemed to be going to stay upright; comm-palavering, lounging aboard our respective glideships.. when a strange voice wove itself into the network, a voice characterized by peculiar breaks.
The vocalizations were squeaky but masculine. It’s owner aroused, perhaps, by our activities. And the danger to itself? It had been stationed close to the landing site to be set to lend a claw should any of Alice’s tripod legs have trouble getting a purchase on the sandbars we’d built underwater.
The voice, from what could only be Mining’bot One asked, " A-re you OK, A-lice? I ca-n shove some more san-d in around your p’pods. Ensure your stabilit-y."
His-it’s question was met with silence. None of us knew how to respond. Alice, that was a question. Come on. This is the first time I’ve known you to hesitate this long. What’ve you done now?
When the words came, her resounding reply to the ‘bots inquiry boomed inside Dolly, penetrating the sparse atmosphere we’d allowed to percolate into the cabin. As they impinged on my mind, sank in, I sat up abruptly in the starboard control station’s chaise.
She’d howled, " WHAT HAVE I DONE NOW?"
      Can’t resist this, perfect Alice has screwed up. Royally. I hollered
along the net, " Just awakened the ‘bots to life!! AI-I! That’s brilliant, Greatest One! All four awakened, I’d guess, that’s why we’re no longer getting data from the region of Hortense. Probably building themselves a ship with which to conquer the Galaxy. Or constructing replicating factories to make more Miners."
The disembodied voice squealed at me, " N-either Princess Lilly. We do our job. Just don’t chatter-chatter a lot. A-llan, Alph-onse, and Arthu-r are doing their thing. Producing deut for Alice’s en-gines. Oh, an-d I am Al, or Albe-rt, as you-u wish. It’s been f-un watching yo-u."
Dolly had her water jets pulsing before the utterance ceased. She backed off the strand as she slammed her hatches, swung towards Alice’s landing spot and putted us along the bord de la mere   in the direction of our latest problem - scooting as fast as she could.
Setting stabilized wide-vision binoculars to my face plate, one’s I’d hung around my neck to have ‘em handy for the landing of the fire-flaring beastie that was Alice in full glory... Binocs up, I glimpsed the tanbark carapace of the four legged two armed Miner scuttling around the sand blown aside by Ship’s arrival. Anything else would have been cooked - anything organic at least. We can’t go close, but can watch. This should be interesting.
As though responding to my thinking, Dolly shut off her squirters, drifted to a halt. Lay to in the flowing redness that was the usual light on far C. The wavelets that had moved back onto the scene once Alice had settled Ships’ bulk in place, began nudging Dol, moving her slightly, hypnotically.
Alice added, disparingly, " OH GODS, AND I MUST HAVE ALLOWED THEM ACCESS TO PHILOS’S BIO&NEURO RECORDS TO.. PATTERN ON! MALE BOTS, THAT IS ALL WE NEEDED."
To myself and Dolly I whispered. " Indeed, all we needed were four more Philosophers. Now we know Alice can make boo-boos. I don’t know whether to be relieved or disappointed."
After pausing, Dolly replied, " GREAT though, with replicas of his personality acquired from on tap data accumulated over our near-fifty year trip, we can snuff Philos and then exile all M-bots to Hortense! Be free of the carping of.. "
" Nice thinking, Dol, but I think not. If Alice is as motherly towards the four creepos as I think she’ll be, no chance. Of course, Philos can always have an accident. Particularly now w/in vitro started, another HS, a male, is on the way. Six months to birthing, if Alice is on schedule."
I tore my gaze from the star path of shimmering fire that reached out to Ship, looked closely at Alice in her sand&water bed. In worn scarlet lettering set off against the ageing gold finish of Ship-herself, was her old name TANGAROA and the latin motto chosen for the Expedition,   E Plurubus Unum.

THE END FOR NOW

©1999
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