patched through to base. “Sergei! Sergei, answer, damn you!”
A few moments later he picked up. “I'm here, Esther. No need to be rude. What is it?”
“We've got a contamination event.”
When he responded, Sergei's voice had acquired a sudden seriousness. After all, the entire world's pure, untouched ecology hung in the balance. “How far along?”
Esther looked at me. I held up a hand.
“Jonathan thinks twenty minutes.”
“Okay, there's still time. And remember, Earth microbes aren't likely to last long in Zarmina's crushing atmosphere. Now here's what you're going to do.”
Moments later, Esther found the frequency used by their comlinks. “This is Team 2, IFEDS Insertion Unit, HO-Librae-IV. Do you copy?”
The three of them turned to us. I could tell from their body language they were having the time of their lives. “Howdy, neighbor!” came the jolly reply. “We saw your camp on the way in. Fancy dropping by later? We brought beer!”
Esther grated her teeth. “I don't think you understand. You're endangering the environment.”
They laughed. One of them started to approach.
Esther drew her blaster. “Stay where you are.”
The laughter stopped. “Listen, sister, you have no right to threaten us.”
“You will go back to the ship and discharge the membrane. Then you will get your cybers to start setting up the Biological Safety Zone. Once it's completed, you will go inside and stay there. And make sure to strip all your equipment in the outer lock and –”
“– take a sterilization bath. We know. We're not stupid newbies or anything.”
“We'll be watching to make sure you do it properly.”
They didn't like it, but they followed Esther's instructions.
An hour later, we took took out our scanners and approached their camp. The three of them were inside the Biological Safety Zone, glaring at us unhappily through the transparent walls, two young men and a woman.
The sheets of fungus stirred uneasily around the ship. We focused our efforts there first.
“Yep,” I reported. “There's terran bacteria all over the place. Some of it's gone pretty deep.”
“We'll have to burn it,” Esther said.
I looked at the blasters. “We can't do much with plasma bolts.”
Fortunately, our Level-II programming would be enough to override the cybers' security systems.
A few minutes later, they brought us a significant quantity of nitrogen tetroxide and hydrazine. Using spare parts from the cargo bay, we were able to fashion a crude flamethrower.
We took turns. Bright yellow flame belched forth from the makeshift device. The fungus beds blackened, shriveled and broke apart. The flamethrower kept overheating and we had to shut it down from time to time, but eventually we managed to expose the bedrock in an area one meter around the ship. Tiny, bright yellow deposits of sulfur dotted its suface.
When we tried our scanners again, there were no traces of terran life forms. Nor were there any in the vicinity of the Biological Safety Zone.
Esther got back on the comlink with the amateurs. She lectured them briefly on the importance of sterilization, reminded them that they had put down in the middle of an alien biosphere, and pointed out that there was ongoing scientific research in the vicinity. If they wanted a party, there were certainly less volatile and more spectacular star systems from which to choose.
The rain had resumed. Large, flat droplets struck the fields all around us. The dark, burgundy sheets vibrated angrily.
We marched back to base in silence. I was exhausted. Each step was a determined struggle, as if the fungus were latching on to my feet and trying to hold it down.
After the sterilization bath, Esther and I went immediately into suspension. Hanging upside-down like bats, much needed blood rushed towards our heads.
The gravpads were excellent for aiding skeletal muscle, but the strong gravity of Zarmina worked on bones and circulation, too. Our hearts had trouble pulling the blood out of our feet.
“They got in touch with us while you were away,” Dalia reported. “They were apologetic, but they're staying. At least for now.”
“Which means we'll have to check up on them,” Sergei added.
“It will interfere with our work!” I said.
Sergei shrugged. “Perhaps if we keep showing up, they'll get sick of us and move on.”
The next day, Dalia and I set out for the newcomers' camp. Perhaps by way of compensation, Sergei also took up my suggestion and sent a scout down to the beach. “Perhaps when you return we'll have some data to chew on,” he told us as we suited up.
The going was even slower this time. Our feet kept getting stuck in the fungus. And Dalia wanted to take samples.
“So far I haven't had much success identifying specialization on a cellular level,” she told me as she tucked away a tiny vial. “But I think I'm getting close.”
“How does the fungus absorb moisture? Does it have roots?”
She shook her head. “Directly through the cell membrane. It's almost as if each cell were it's own individual entity, and they all work together.”
“Well, maybe they do!”
“I suppose there's no reason why not. But look around. The stuff isn't some formless jelly. It has shape. The surface is smooth.” She squatted and pulled the top layers aside. “There are stalks, see? But their purpose is merely to root the macroorganism to the bedrock. The individual cells are indistinguishable from the ones on top. And look how orderly they are! Rows of soldiers from the twenty-first century.”
“That reminds me,” I told her as we continued on our way. “The reeds didn't come up while we were sleeping. That's odd, isn't it? I thought we had established a regular pattern. What was it, twenty hours or so?”
“Nineteen hours, forty-six minutes. Give or take a few.” She bit on her bottom lip. “I guess we'll have to throw that particular theory in the recycler!”
We rounded the finger of rock and came upon the amateurs. As it turned out, they were on their way to pay us a visit at our base.
The couple, Yong and Priya, were leading the way. Behind them was Chan, Yong's older brother.
Yong and Priya apologized for being such a nuisance. They assured us they'd been following the sterilization procedures to the letter. I reminded them that they were meant for their own safety.
Chan remained in the background, scowling at us through the visor in his helmet. But when I inquired how long they would be staying, he laid into us.
“You argonauts don't have a monopoly on scientific interest! We're intelligent people. We're conducting experiments of our own.”
Yong looked embarrassed, but the young couple didn't disagree with him, either.
I had to choose my words carefully. “It's not a question of intelligence. It's a question of training. Don't you remember what happened on Mars?”
Blank stares in reply.
“You know there used to be life there, right? Bacteria deep in the Martian crust. But they were destroyed by microbes carried along by the first colonists from Earth. No one ever got a chance to study them. We don't want that happen here, too.”
“We'll be careful,” Chan told me and then motioned to the others. “Let's go down to the beach. Have you ever seen an alien beach before?”
We watched them go, more than a little jealous that neophytes like those were going to set eyes on the Zarminian coast before we did. Then we took a moment to examine their camp.
“Look!” I pointed in astonishment at the ship.
The fungus had grown back entirely. There wasn't a trace of the area we had laid bare just twenty hours previous.
A new shade had appeared among the burgundy swirls. Thin, unmistakable trails of purplish blue arced away from the ship like star flares, reaching for the Biological Safety Zone.
Dalia took a few samples and we headed back to base.
For a little while at least, we forgo
t about the beach. Dalia spent the afternoon in her laboratory, a corner of the Biological Safety Zone crammed with beakers, cookers, and box-shaped analytical devices. The rest of us spent time in suspension, cleaning, and resting. The scout down by the coast sent back a vid feed, but we waited for Dalia before watching it.
“Another breakthrough!” Dalia announced, smiling broadly, as she signed off on her report. “I think I'm finally beginning to wrap my head around these organisms.”
The newest samples exhibited an important behavior that had been mysteriously absent in her previous work. “I've found cells that use the hydrogen sulfide in the air for energy!”
“Don't purple sulfur bacteria do the same on Earth?” I asked.
“Yes. And guess what else I found? This sample has a slightly different genetic makeup! Almost identical, but certainly distinct.” She swallowed hard.
“You're talking about two different organisms,” Esther pointed out.
“That's right. Until now we've assumed the fungus was singular. But there might be several varieties out there.”
Sergei had sat silently, listening intently, but suddenly he perked up. “Slightly different genetic makeup?” he repeated slowly. “And you found it in the vicinity of their ship?”
Dalia nodded. “I know what you're thinking. But there were no traces left of terran microbes. We checked.”
She glanced over at me as if for support, and I nodded.
“All it takes is one.”
“You said it yourself, Sergei. Terran bacteria couldn't survive in this surface pressure!”
“That was a hunch. Anyway, don't you think the location is remarkable? It's likely the result of genetic mutation caused by