The tractor moved. It charged the wall, colliding. The stone face collapsed, and when the taste of dust cleared somewhat, Heem perceived the flavor of confined air escaping from the ground. There was indeed a cave there.
Still, Heem had doubts. "You have demonstrated your geological expertise," he sprayed. "But I have had bad experience with your kind before, and an Erb sabotaged a bridge I was about to cross. How can I be certain either of you are better than these?"
"Sabotage?" the Erb flashed. Jessica had finally formulated an image of this: the creature angled its leaf-vanes at the primary source of light, reflecting and concentrating beams to make the meaningful patterns. It could direct a beam at a specific receiver, such as the Squam's translator, or across an arc to include several entities. "Provide the identity of that individual, and he shall be subject to retribution of law."
"He occupies the last tractor on this trail," Heem jetted.
"What was the nature of your experience with my kind?" Sickh inquired.
Now Heem could not describe this without revealing his illegal memory. 'To hell with that!' Jessica exclaimed. 'Squams don't care about HydrO metamorphosis!'
True. Squams were of the more primitive species who did not metamorphose. "A Squam came to the valley where my prospective mate resided, and preyed on her sisters, and slew her."
"Squams do not belong in your valleys!" Sickh protested. "The Covenant of Impasse is most specific."
"This one came—and is now a host in this competition. We call him Slitherfear."
"That designation does not register with me," she said. "But I assure you, if I encounter that individual, I will seek a reckoning. We are civilized; we do not violate the covenant, or tolerate those who do."
"I find this credible," the Erb flashed.
'So do I,' Jessica said. 'I vote to trust her, Heem.'
"Because she is female?" he asked her cynically.
'No, that is no recommendation. Not all female Squams are alike, you know. It's just an intuition of mine. It makes sense that a sapient, technological species has ethical values too. There will be outlaws, of course—you are one yourself, and I am too, really—but mostly the individuals will be civilized, especially the highly educated ones. For us, this is a much better gamble than it would be not to cooperate, and wash out of the competition. So let's trust these ladies, and treat them fairly, following the golden rule.'
"Metallic law?" Heem inquired, not quite grasping the concept.
'Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.'
"I accept this," Heem sprayed externally.
"Then let us agree that we shall navigate this passage in company, and that no one of us will seek access to the Ancient site until all three are through the mountain ridge," the Squam said.
"Agreed," Heem sprayed and the Erb flashed. The Squam removed a length of metallic line from the Erb's tractor and wrapped it about the central portion of her body. Heem had to admit that this ability to grasp and carry things was a great asset in a situation like this. The Squam slithered into the aperture first. Heem was aware of the vibrations she made, scouting the interior by sound emanations and echoes. Heem followed, rolling down the slight incline, tasting the air in more detail. The Erb followed him, scuttling on her roots.
The air was moving. That meant the cave either had an exit elsewhere, or was so extensive that the natural processes of heating and cooling caused expansion and contraction of the air inside, therefore motion. Heem could not be sure from the flavor; it was all earth-interior taste, but with a certain strangeness.
The passage slanted almost directly into the ridge, then intersected another at right angles. This was odd; caves normally curved and changed without such precision.
The Squam halted. "Does the suspicion occur to you, companions?" she inquired, the translator spraying and flashing.
"This is no cave," the Erb flashed back. The translator emitted a steady interim glow that she could use for reflection, and this also helped her to perceive the cave. Heem knew this by the way she moved and reacted, and Jessica obligingly filled in the picture this way. The technical absence of light made no difference to Jessica's images, since they were recreated from background information and his taste-awareness. "It is artificial, but old, very old."
"Perhaps as old as the Ancients," Heem agreed.
"Had the map been accurate, I would have recognized its nature," the Squam said. "When I approached it in person, I became almost certain the ridge was artificial. It is possible that this entire structure is a monstrous earthwork thrown up by the Ancients. Do you agree?"
"The Ancients were great earthmovers," Heem agreed.
"My geological expertise becomes suspect, here," Sickh said. "There could be danger of collapse, in an unnatural structure."
"It has remained intact for three million years, it should remain a day longer," Heem sprayed. "And if we have here access to the Ancient site—an access the Competition Authority is not aware of—"
"It would not be valid," the Erb flashed. "This is not a competition of discovery, but of dominance. The Star who first reaches the designated site will assume legal control of it. We must strive for that spot." She paused. "In addition, this is not a true Ancient site. The structure is not typical of recorded examples. I could detail this—"
"No need," Heem sprayed. "You are the expert on the Ancients."
"Then let us continue," the Squam decided. "We may have a more ready access than we had hoped."
They continued. After a time the passage leveled out. Then it debouched into a huge chamber, larger than the lava-bubble, level on the floor and vaulted in the ceiling.
"This place is considerable," the Squam said. "But barren."
Heem agreed. His taste detected no boundaries to it other than the near one. 'Must have been a storage room,' Jessica hazarded. 'Maybe a barracks for their troops.'
"But if this is not of Ancient construction—"
'But there is an Ancient site nearby. Maybe the Ancients took over a building built by a prior species.'
"A species prior to the Ancients?"
There were other creatures! We just call the highly technological one the Ancients, for convenience.'
They continued across, and in due course found a passage leading away from the opposite wall. But it slanted down, not up. "I distrust this," the Squam said.
So did Heem. The competition objective would be on the surface. At this rate, they could pass right under it— and lose the competition.
Yet where could they go, except on? To backroll and follow the tractor trail now would be ruinously slow.
Then the passage slope increased, dropping abruptly into water. 'Oh, no!' Jessica moaned. 'The sewer system!'
"This appears to be a drainage conduit," the Erb flashed. "The Ancients did not employ such devices."
"My transferee agrees," the Squam said. "Many older civilizations have employed such systems, but the Ancients do not seem to have utilized liquids in sufficient quantity to require any drainage system. However, this seems typical of a configuration we recognize, in which case there should be access vents on both sides of a submerged conduit."
"I will investigate," Heem sprayed. He rolled past the Squam and into the water. The taste was old, yet not stagnant; there was some circulation, and enough dissolved gas to sustain him. This water had originated on the surface not long ago; perhaps it was the residual drainoff of a recent storm. Into what lower chamber it might flow he could not guess.
Then he encountered a network of metal. It was a grate, preventing access by large objects. He shoved at it, but the thing was secure. No passage for travelers here! He himself might squeeze through it, slowly, reforming his tissues on the far side, but neither Squam nor Erb could do that. 'And we are not going to leave them stranded,' Jessica reminded him firmly.
He rolled back, emerging into the air passage. Jessica, filling in illumination in her mental image where there was none, showed the Squam and Erb, waiti
ng expectantly for the news.
"The way is barred," Heem reported. "The flavor of the water indicates access to other air passages beyond, but there is current and the taste of other grates. I might pass, but you cannot."
"My sonar indicates no more direct route toward the Ancient site than this," Sickh replied. "We must force passage. Windflower, are you able to function beneath water?"
"I am," the Erb replied. "In fact, my roots are dry, and in need of immersion. I will force passage through the gate."
"Then if you will accompany Heem to that grate, he will lead you beyond it to the next exit to air."
'Know what?' Jessica remarked. 'She is using our given names, and that makes us seem more like people than like alien creatures. That Squam is really trying to get us to work together.'
"I do not like being alone with the HydrO," the Erb protested.
"Heem's needles can not harm you in water," the Squam pointed out.
"True!" Windflower flashed, surprised.
"If you will also carry the end of this cable, you can draw me through to air," the Squam continued. "I am unable to function effectively or endure long immersion. I must inhale oxygen and other gases to sustain my life processes."
"In addition to eating?" Heem inquired.
"We all have our failings," the Erb flashed tolerantly.
The Squam accepted these remarks with excellent grace. "My life will be in your care."
The Erb, encouraged, fastened a loop of line about her main stem and moved to the water. Heem followed.
At the grating, the Erb twined her roots into the sediment below, anchoring herself more securely than any animal could, then closed her petals into the formidable power-wedge. The drill rotated and shoved forward into the grate. There was a skin-shocking vibration, and the bars ripped out of their moorings. No wonder Squams were afraid of Erbs! Heem had known intellectually that the plants had good torque, but had never imagined the extent of it personally.
Windflower dropped the twisted grate into the deeper water ahead. It sank down into the crosschannel, and Heem tasted the flavors of the sediment it stirred up. Soon he had a clear picture—Jessica's image was helpful again —of the whole local section of this intersection. He rolled himself down into the other conduit, flattening himself against the current, and came up into the mouth of the pipe on the opposite side. The grate here was firm, too.
The Erb joined him. But now there was a problem. The gate was too high for her to reach from the floor of the large conduit, when her drill was formed. Heem could not communicate with her linguistically, in the absence of the translator, but tasted the problem clearly. They were balked again.
'Could she stand on you?' Jessica inquired. There it was! Weight was not much of a factor, here in immersion. If the timid Erb would trust him enough...
Heem nudged down beside Windflower's roots. She yanked them out of contact as if burned. He flattened his base, fitting it to the caked floor of the conduit, and humped his body. And stayed there, motionless.
The Erb was intelligent. Soon she realized what he was offering. Tentatively she touched him with a root. Heem remained firm. She brought another root. Finally she climbed on top of him, anchoring her roots uncomfortably in his soft skin. He did not like this contact any better than she did! Yet there was an alien delicacy in Wind-flower's touch that had a strange appeal.
'She's female,' Jessica said. 'Males like the female touch, and you are a soft touch for—if I were only physical—' She stopped, having reminded herself of the futility of such speculation.
"In Solarian hosts—people touch closely?" Heem inquired. "Not merely jetting each other from a distance, but making tight contact—like this?"
'They do. Not precisely like this, as we don't have physical roots, but close, yes. It is called an embrace.'
"Disgusting!" Heem said involuntarily.
She laughed. 'It really can be a lot of fun, Heem; you'd know that, if you could ever try it.'
"Perhaps," he agreed, becoming curious. After what he had learned about the alien sense of sight, and about cooperation with assorted alien creatures, he was becoming more liberal about alien values.
Suddenly his whole body was shaken. The Erb was starting her drill. Heem braced himself despite the cruel grip of her roots in his flesh. There was a terrible wrench that half tore him from the floor. 'Hang on, Heem! She's drilling the grate!'
He knew that. Heem hung on. The wrenching seemed intolerable. Vegetable fibers were really tough, to absorb this kind of punishment. Then, abruptly, it eased. The grate was free!
Windflower cast the grate away. She extricated her roots from Heem. This, too, was painful. But he had survived the worst, and his skin had not really been damaged.
They proceeded up the passage until they emerged in air. They were through the sewer system! Windflower still dragged the cable after her. Now she anchored herself in the dirt of the new passage, but was unable to draw in the cable. Her upper tendrils were adept at holding, but not at hauling.
'We can handle that,' Jessica said. 'Put the line on the floor, and roll along it, drawing up the cord in a pulley action—know what I mean?'
"No." Heem had not used such a cord before.
She formed a picture, and suddenly it was clear. Heem positioned himself atop a slack section of cord, then rolled it along until it entered the water. Here there was a loop where the weight was off it. He inserted his body into that loop, formed a crease the length of his topside, and let the loose cord fall into that groove.
'Like a yo-yo,' Jessica said, flashing another image. 'Now curve around, hanging on to that string, until you can draw it away from the water.'
Following her image-instructions, Heem did. He was able to turn, carrying the cord along with him in the groove. When he rolled away from the water, the slack was taken up. Now as he pushed forward, the taut line had to loop over his body getting pushed down to the floor, where his weight held it in place. He was, indeed, like the pulley she visualized, drawing on the cord without ever truly grasping it. Or like the tread on a tractor, passing around the forward wheel. This was hard work, abrasive on his skin, but he knew it was necessary. He heaved, and heaved again, and again.
Finally the Squam emerged from the water beside the Erb. One set of pincers were clamped on the end of the rope; another grasped her translator. Her front and rear extremities dragged behind. "My appreciation to you both," the unit sprayed and flashed, none the worse for its dunking. "I could not have navigated that water alone. My sonic orientation is completely unreliable in fluid."
'Which is one reason your accurate needles can mess up a Squam,' Jessica remarked. 'Squams depend heavily on hearing, and water in the wrong place shorts them out.'
The Erb withdrew her roots from the floor and stretched her limber stem, relaxing. She had been detectably nervous the whole time she had been alone with Heem; now the presence of the Squam gave her relief. The two of them, Erb and HydrO, had worked well together, but without the translation unit and personal reassurance of the Squam, the Erb never would have done it.
'Compliment her,' Jessica advised. 'Make her like you. All females like to be complimented. It will make her easier to get along with.'
Heem decided to accept the advice of the local expert on female nature. "Windflower was primarily responsible," he sprayed. "She tore out two grates and anchored the line, despite hardships."
The Erb did not comment. 'She's paying attention, though,' Jessica assured him. 'She knows you did a lot of work, and gave the credit to her.'
Sickh rewound the cord about her body, and they moved forward. The tunnel now tended upward. Were they near the end?
"I hear something," Sickh said. "There is a living presence in this passage."
'Oh-oh,' Jessica said.
Heem concentrated. Yes, the drift of air carried a sinister flavor. "Animal, not plant," he agreed. "Yet I had understood there were no dangerous animals on Eccentric."
"Oddities occur in
the depths," the Squam remarked. "Small creatures, feeding off fungus, could exist here, their eggs protected somewhat in winter."
The proof was not long in arriving. A swarm of furry-bodied little things came down the tunnel. Heem tasted the hairs of their torsos and the calluses of their feet, spreading out before them.
"They emit light," the Erb flashed. "They are vision oriented, but unlike my own kind these produce their own beams, though these are faint. There are many of the creatures, perambulating on three appendages with a root behind that assists in balance. They appear to be an eating species."
'Bad news,' Jessica said ominously. 'Those eating species are in bad repute in this neck of the Galaxy.' Heem had no doubt the other transferees were remarking to their hosts similarly.
"Perhaps they merely pass through, on their way to water," the Squam said.
Forlorn hope! In a moment the horde was upon them. "They have weapon-orifices," Windflower reported. "Cutting edges formed of horn or bone."
'Teeth!' Jessica said. 'I believe these most resemble what we call rats. We're in trouble!'
There was a flash that translated into the taste of pure horror. Heem could not perceive the Erb's reflections directly, but Jessica's image made it seem real. "They feed on me!" the Erb screamed.
Sudden pain struck Heem. "And on me!" he sprayed. A rat had used its crude toothed orifice to puncture Heem's flesh.
'Don't just sit there hurting; needle it!' Jessica cried.
Heem needled it. The creature made a vibration and drew back, wounded. Its companions pounced on it and tore it apart with their own teeth. Heem tasted the tearing of flesh, the spilling of juices. "This is worse than what Squams do!" he sprayed, forgetting the undiplomatic nature of the remark.
"They are consuming undigested flesh!" Windflower flashed.
"Appalling," Sickh said. "Digestion should always take place outside the body so that the waste products can be eliminated."
Two more rats came at Heem. He needled both, destroying them. Meanwhile, the Squam slithered to join the Erb, who seemed to be largely helpless before this attack. Sickh's pincers clicked; Heem felt the vibration, tasted the squirting rat-juices, and knew that the Squam was protecting the Erb's tender roots.