“It’s not safe,” I said. “They’re too close to the sun. The locals are seriously high-tech. If they can put together something like this, they’re way ahead of us.”
said Belle.
“I’m wondering,” I said, “whether we should be hanging around at all.”
“That’s the whole point,” said Gabe. “They’re highly advanced. As societies progress they should become less inclined to attack others.”
“That’s the theory.”
“Yes. I think we’ll learn that’s characteristic of intelligence generally. Intelligent beings understand the value of cooperation. That attacking each other is stupid.”
“I hope so, Gabe.”
“My bet is that Harding came out here, landed somewhere, and went back home with the trophy.”
“You think that’s what happened? That he went down to say hello and they gave him a prize?”
“Yes. That’s probably exactly what happened.” He folded his hands together and smiled at me. “I think we’re perfectly safe. But your concerns are valid. Let’s just go in and take a closer look. I don’t mean get closer to the sun but to the planets. But I won’t insist. It’s your call, Chase. If you want we’ll go home and I can set up a mission.”
He knew there was no way I’d back off that kind of proposal. I didn’t think it was a good idea. But I was in a corner. “Belle,” I said, “do you see a planet in the habitable zone?”
“Yes,” said Gabe.
Gabe couldn’t take his eyes off the display. “Let’s concentrate on the Dyson Sphere for now.”
Gabe could not have looked happier. “The additional transmissions. Can we tell if they’re in the same language?”
“What do you mean, ‘were’?”
“Since we arrived . . . ?”
“Gabe,” I said, “I think it would be prudent to leave.”
He crunched down on his teeth again. I hate it when he does that. “Belle, are you detecting any movement anywhere? Any vehicles?”
“It’s only been a short time since we got here,” I said. “They haven’t really had time to react.”
“Other than close off their communications. What blows my mind is how whoever lives here could have put those things so close to the sun.”
said Belle.
“They want us to leave,” Gabe said.
“I agree. Absolutely. If they’d wanted to say hello to us they’d have done so. I think we should take the hint.”
“I didn’t mean we should just bail out.”
“Oh.”
“Chase, you don’t really want to leave, do you?”
I did. I saw no way, if we proceeded to poke around, that this could end happily. But I’d already let Gabe know how I felt, and I couldn’t bring myself to insist that we pull out. If I did that, he’d always remember that I’d screwed up what should have been a historic discovery. “Your call,” I said.
“Thank you. I know this isn’t easy for you, Chase. But we’ll take every precaution, okay?”
said Belle.
XXIII.
,
,
.
.
The planet was on the outside edge of the habitable zone, a world that probably would have been considerably more chilly than Rimway. We were still hearing nothing as we approached. said Belle. It was rocky and barren, not much bigger than a large moon. There was no snow or ice, but it cold. And dismal. We saw no sign of life, no greenery, nothing moving. she asked.
“I don’t see any point in it,” said Gabe. We were just turning away when Belle told us she’d found a second world in the zone. she said.
We needed an additional few days to reach it. The radio transmissions didn’t come back. Whatever the source, it was clear they weren’t comfortable with us in the area. We spent our time trying to distract ourselves, reading, working out, while we let Belle watch for activity. We didn’t waste any time pretending we weren’t worried about what lay ahead. But Gabe’s position remained rock solid: “We just don’t have a choice about this.”
As we got closer, we saw several large dish antennas drifting through the night. said Belle, Those were stable positions maintained by the gravity of the moon and the planet. And they were probably receivers connected to the Dyson objects orbiting the sun. They’d have been picking up solar energy, which was then relayed to collectors on the ground.
Gabe seemed increasingly less sure of his decision to come in close. I suspected that, if I weren’t along, he’d have canceled the project and gone home. But he didn’t want to play the quitter in front of Tori Kolpath’s daughter. The truth, probably, was that neither of us, traveling alone, would have gone any closer.
The world was green. It had oceans and ice caps and, no surprise, cities. But we get a jolt: we were coming in from the sunlit side, but a portion of the dark side was visible. It was completely dark. No lights whatever. “It’s probably jungle. Or ocean.”
The planet was about the same size as Rimway, with large mountain ranges, a lot of rivers, and some enormous lakes. As we drew closer, we focused on the cities. They were dominated by tall, polished buildings that sometimes narrowed gradually along the upper stories, transforming into spires. Others topped off into landing pads. The buildings were surrounded by streets and smaller structures and broad parks. said Belle.