11
The naked man, running frantically down the side of the slope,disappeared momentarily under some taller growth, came out the otherside of it still running. He leaped over a small ravine, stumbled,recovered himself, and disappeared again beneath a larger growth oftrees. Below him, on his side of the ridge, there lay another valleywith its own stream.
They caught one more fleeting glimpse, a mere flash of sunlight on tanskin. He was still heading downward in the direction of the stream. Itwas their last sight of him. They watched for a while longer, but he didnot reappear under the green canopy of forest.
"Just a guess," Cal said. He spoke matter-of-factly in the hope thecasualness would wash the fear and awe from Louie's eyes. "That'sprobably one of the dissident men who broke away from the main colonyand set up housekeeping in this adjacent valley. Apparently the samethings have happened to him as happened to the main colony, whatever itwas.
"I'd guess it came as pretty much of a shock and he's just now worked upcourage to scout the main valley. From that I'd say whatever happenedwasn't very long ago, not more than a week. Just a guess."
None of the crew answered him. It was obviously not the case of a voyeurspying on others--not with the kind of excitement the running man hadshown. Running away--that is.
"Let's drop down into the atmosphere," Cal suggested. "I'd assume it isbreathable from the fact we've seen earth animals and a human being.Still we'd better make tests."
"Yeah," Louie said unexpectedly. "If the man isn't making any footprintsmaybe he isn't breathing, either." He tried to make it a joke, to fighthis fear with self-derision. He didn't succeed. Nobody laughed. Heswallowed hard and studied the charts again for no apparent reason.
Cal glanced quickly from Tom to Frank. A look at Norton's face showedhim Frank wasn't very far behind Louie in the progress of shock.Perhaps, as with himself, it was Lynwood's sense of responsibility forhis crew that was helping the pilot to maintain a better control. Butthere was a white line around Lynwood's mouth, running up the line ofhis jaw. Caused by clenching his teeth too tightly? Clenched, to keepthem from chattering?
However experienced a man became, however dependable the reactions, onenever knew how to predict reaction in the face of the completelyunknown. Yet Cal knew that even if he asked any of the men if theyfeared to take him down it would be an insult never forgotten. It wastheir job to take an E where he wanted to go. It wouldn't be the firsttime they had gambled their lives on the judgment of an E.
"Oh-oh," Tom exclaimed. "We have company." He pointed to an indicator onthe panel.
They swept the space around them with the scanner, and hovering off toone side they picked up another ship. They watched it for a while, as ithovered there. It made no move to come closer, no move to communicatewith them.
"From its markings," Tom said at last, "I think that's a specialinvestigation ship from the attorney general's office. Wonder whatthey're doing here?"
"To make first-hand observation of my failure," Cal said shortly. "Let'sget on with our work."
Perhaps it helped the crew to realize they were not alone, thatwhatever might happen to them would not only be heard on the E.H.Q.channel back to Earth, but would also be seen by these specialobservers. Perhaps it bucked them up a little to know that they werebeing watched, that faltering uncertainty would be noted and scorned.Perhaps it was the mechanical routine of air sampling and testing asthey lowered the ship by degrees.
Norton grew more relaxed, more sure of himself. Lynwood handled the shipon manual control with ease, almost with flourish. But Louie's hands,gripping the edges of the chart table, still showed bloodless white atthe knuckles. Perhaps because there was nothing for him to do at themoment, he alone wasn't snapping out of it.
The tests showed normal atmosphere. It checked exactly with the readingsfor this altitude established by the surveying scientists. To completethe record, Cal repeated them aloud each time so the open communicatorwould carry the information back to Earth where, by now, not onlyMcGinnis and Hayes would be listening, but probably a group ofscientists as well. Perhaps their hands, too, gripped the edges oftables, showed bloodless at the knuckles?
To wait, helplessly, eleven light-years away might create more tensenessthan being right on the scene. Yet no voice came through the ship'sspeaker, either from Earth or from the observer's ship.
Perhaps McGinnis, forgetting his eighty years, wished now he were atEden instead of Cal. Perhaps, mindful of his years, he didn't. He madeno comment.
Tom dropped the ship lower and lower, each time pausing for an airsample. Each time they scanned the valley where the village of Appletreeshould be. There was no change. Now the unlikely idea of a superimposedmirage was dispelled. The disappearance of the colony was no trick ofvision. The ship hovered, at the last, not more than fifty feet from theground.
"Let's set her down, Tom," Cal said quietly.
Tom shrugged, as if that were the only thing left to do.
"You're the E," he said. His glance at Louie showed he was placing theresponsibility not so much to avoid consequences for himself, nor somuch to assure they were willing to follow an E's orders withoutquestion, as to remind Louie that there was, after all, an E with them.And if he were willing to face this unknown, they could hardly do lessthemselves.
But Louie's eyes were fixed in unblinking stare upon the ground belowthem. He was frozen and unheeding.
The actual landing was so flawless that Cal, involuntarily, glanced outof the port to confirm that they were no longer hovering.
"Might as well open up," he said. "Nothing has happened to us, so far."
Norton pushed a button. The exit hatch slipped open and the rampunfolded and slid down to touch ground. Cal, flanked by Tom and Frank,looked through the opening into the woods beyond.
And while they looked, a man came from behind the screening protectionof some shrubbery. He was followed by two other men. All of them werecompletely naked.
"You three stay inside the ship until I signal you to come out," Calinstructed. "If anything unusual happens to me, stand off from theplanet until help can come from Earth. Don't be foolish and try to helpme."
"You're the E," Tom repeated. When a man is outside his own knowledge,heroics might do more harm than good.
Cal stepped through the exit and walked slowly down the ramp.
The three colonists seemed in no panic. They walked toward him, alsoslowly, obviously in attempt at dignified control. Yet their faces werebreaking into broad grins of relief and welcome.
Cal stepped off the ramp, took a step toward them, then it happened.
He heard breathless grunts of surprise and pain behind him. He whirledaround. The three crewmen were lying awkwardly on the ground. There wasno ship. The three crewmen were completely naked.
Cal felt the stirring of a breeze, and looked down quickly at his ownbody. He also was nude.
He turned back to face the colonists. They had stopped in front of him.Their joyous grins had been replaced by grimaces of despair.
Behind him the crewmen were in the act of getting to their feet. A quickglance showed Cal none was hurt. Louie looked around, dazed anduncomprehending. There was not so much as a bent blade of grass to showwhere the ship's weight had pressed. Louie sank down suddenly on theground and buried his face in his hands.
Tom and Frank stood over him, in the way a man would try to shield somewounded portion of his own body, instinctively.
A fact obvious to all of them was that their own communication withEarth had been shut off. In this daylight they could not see theobserver ship hovering out in space, but its occupants had no doubt seenthem, seen what had happened. It, no doubt, was telling Earth what ithad seen--the attorney general's office, at any rate. Doubtful that itwas including E.H.Q. in its report. Problematical that the attorneygeneral would tell E.H.Q. what had happened.
Cal hoped the observers would have enough sense not to try to land.