“You may start reading whenever you are ready,” Emorra’s voice said. “Please do not stand on courtesy, as I am not present-this is merely a recording of my voice.”
All five of them exchanged astonished looks, and Ketan mouthed the word “recording” to himself, trying to grasp the full flavor of its meaning. But Lorana was less interested in the Oldtimer skills than she was in finding a cure for the dragons. Avidly, she opened the booklet and began to read.
“The dragons and watch-whers of Pern are modifications of the indigenous fire-lizards,” the booklet began. “It was possible to make the much larger dragons and watch-whers from the fire-lizards because all living things contain a set of instructions telling the creature how and what to grow to make a complete living being.
“These instructions are embodied in a genetic code,” the booklet continued. Lorana leaned forward and immersed herself in the wonders of genetic codes.
An hour later, she got up from her seat, stretched, and walked to the cabinets. She opened the one marked B, pulled out a tray of equipment, and returned to her seat.
“What are you doing?” Kindan asked, looking up from his book.
“Well, I’m ready to start the first experiment,” she explained. “You know, the one at the end of chapter two.”
“Chapter two?” Kindan said in astonishment. “You’re already done with chapter two? I’m still trying to finish chapter one.”
Before Lorana could reply, Ketan piped up, “No, don’t wait up for us, Lorana. If we don’t catch up soon, maybe you’ll explain it to us.”
Lorana nodded and resumed her seat. Immediately she turned to the beginning of chapter three and started working with the equipment.
The bulk of the equipment consisted of small colored objects, about the size of the tip of her thumb. They weren’t quite balls, being planed off and grooved on four sides-top, bottom, and two sides that met in a corner-the booklet said that they represented the fundamental genetic material. The blue object was for the A molecule, the red object represented a B molecule, the green a C molecule; the purple object represented a C-prime object, the magenta object was for B-prime, and the yellow object was for A-prime. There was a seventh object-a beige one-that represented the N or Null molecule. There was also a pencil and a tablet of paper, which she was to use to record her answers.
Lorana quickly assembled three of the objects-blue, yellow, and beige-into a triangle. In short order she had built another triangle-red, beige, and blue-and carefully slid the two triangles one on top of the other. With a gentle movement, she twisted the top triangle slightly and felt it lock into place.
Delighted, she gave a cry of joy, which startled the others. They looked up at her and then gathered around in wonder.
“What is it?” M’tal asked, eyeing the object eagerly.
“Are you building a sequence?” Ketan asked.
Salina craned her neck to get a better view. “Is it a START sequence or a STOP sequence?”
“Ahem.” Kindan cleared his throat loudly. “Some of us are still reading.”
“Some of us are slow,” someone-it sounded like Ketan-murmured in response. Kindan reddened and bent his head back over his booklet, pointedly ignoring them all.
The sound of footsteps outside heralded the arrival of Kiyary and several others from the Kitchens with refreshments.
“Is it lunchtime already?” Kindan asked in surprise.
“We can eat while we work,” Lorana said, helping Kiyary place a tray on the workbench in the rear of the room. Kiyary muttered a quick thanks, her eyes wide as she peered around the room in awe.
“So the Oldtimers made these rooms for us?” Kiyary asked.
“We heard the voice of Wind Blossom,” Ketan told her. “Her mother created the dragons.”
“And they can help us now?” Kiyary asked.
“That’s the hope,” M’tal said, helping himself to a mug of klah and some sweetrolls.
“And if they can’t?” Tilara asked, crossing the room with another platter. She set it down beside the one Kiyary had brought. “What then?”
Ketan and Lorana exchanged looks. “We will find a cure,” Lorana told the older woman firmly. “By ourselves, if necessary.”
Tilara gave Lorana a probing look and, satisfied, nodded. “I’d heard that you felt the death of every dragon,” she commented.
Lorana nodded, her eyes dark with sorrow.
“Then no one has a better reason to find a cure than you.”
She turned away from Lorana and started bustling around the platters and chivying Kiyary to get everything just so. When she turned back again, her eyes were bright with tears and she had a plate with several sweetrolls on it.
“You haven’t eaten yet,” Tilara said, thrusting the plate at Lorana. She gestured to one of the chairs. “Sit, and eat.”
“But-”
“You’ll learn nothing with a growling stomach,” Tilara insisted.
“She’s right, you know,” M’tal agreed, stuffing another sweetroll into his mouth.
“And if you choke to death, you’ll do us no good, either,” Tilara scolded the ex-Weyrleader. Salina added a quick murmur of agreement, giving her weyrmate a dark look.
Lorana’s attempts to bolt her food were also thwarted.
“I spent more time making them than you are eating them,” Tilara told her reprovingly. “Stop to taste them, at least, girl!”
Lorana reddened, but she did slow down, and as she did so, she realized that Tilara and Kiyary had outdone themselves in making the sweetrolls. They were pungent, sometimes spicy, with thin slices of wherry meat, some sauce that Lorana didn’t recognize, and thin-sliced vegetables artfully mixed in. Some were cold and others were hot, and all together they were more of a meal than a snack.
When they were all full and the sweetrolls gone, Tilara bustled Kiyary into collecting the used plates back onto the trays.
“We’ll leave the klah here for you,” Tilara said. “It won’t get cold for a while-I’ve put a warmer over it.” And with that she headed back to the kitchens, Kiyary in tow.
By evening they had made far more progress, but it was not enough for Lorana.
“We’re still no nearer to figuring out how to open that door,” she said, jabbing her finger toward the poem-decorated door on the far wall of the classroom. “And we’ve no better idea how to save the dragons.”
“Mmm, I’m not so sure about that,” Ketan disagreed. “We know that dragons, like fire-lizards, have natural defenses against disease.”
“So?” Lorana demanded.
“And we know that this disease overwhelms those natural defenses,” Ketan added.
“That’s all we do know,” Kindan snapped, sharing Lorana’s disappointment and anger.
“And we know about PNA and how it contains the codes for all the vital operations of the dragons, and all Pernese life-forms,” Ketan continued. “I think that’s more than enough to learn in one day.”
“I agree,” M’tal announced. “My brain is feeling quite ruffled with all this. I’ll be glad to have a night’s sleep in which to settle and soothe myself.”
Despite herself, Lorana chuckled in appreciation.
“Very well,” Kindan conceded, “I suppose we could do with a rest.”
“We’ll be back before dawn,” Lorana added firmly.
“At dawn,” M’tal corrected, “and after breakfast.”
The next morning, they met in the Kitchen Cavern for breakfast. M’tal noticed how the dragonriders politely avoided them and how the cooks-Kiyary in particular-went out of their way to be sure that they ate a good meal.
“Kindan, what are you doing?” Ketan asked as he downed his second mug of klah.
M’tal and Salina smiled at each other. They, too, had noticed the harper’s tapping on the table, but it was a well-known fact that the Weyr’s healer always required two mugs of klah to wake up in the morning.