“At this rate,” Nicole remarked as once again they faintly heard Otto Heilmann’s voice on the communicator, “our search is going to take forever Dr. Brown, why don’t you just stay in one spot? Then Francesca and I—”
“Break break,” they heard Otto more clearly as David Brown moved into a space between two tall buildings. “Did you copy that last transmission?”
“Afraid not, Otto,” Dr. Brown replied. “Would you please repeat it.”
“Yamanaka, Wakefield, and Turgenyev have covered the bottom third of the Northern Hemicylinder. No sign of Takagishi. It’s unlikely that he could have gone farther north, unless he went to one of the cities. In that case we should have seen his footprints somewhere, So you’re probably on the right track.
“Meanwhile we have big news here, Our captured crab biot started to move about two minutes ago. It is trying to escape, but so far its tools have barely dented the cage. Tabori is working feverishly to build a larger, stronger cage that will go around the entire apparatus. I’m bringing Yamanaka’s “copter back to Beta so he can give Tabori a hand. He should be here in a minute — Wait… There’s an urgent coming through from WakeBeld… I’ll put him on.”
Richard Wakefield’s British accent was unmistakable, though he could barely be heard by the trio in New York. “Spiders,” he shouted in response to a question from Admiral Heilmann. “You remember the spider biot dissected by Laura Ernst? Well, we can see six of them just beyond the southern cliff. They’re all over that temporary hut we built. And something has apparently repaired those two dead crab biots, for our prisoner’s brothers are trundling toward the south pole—”
“Pictures!” Francesca Sabatini screamed into the radio. “Are you taking pictures?”
“What’s that? Sorry, I did not copy.”
“Francesca wants to know if you’re taking pictures,” Admiral Heilmann clarified.
“Of course, love,” Richard Wakefield said. “Both the automatic imaging system in the helicopter and the hand camera you gave me this morning have been running without interruption. The spider biots are amazing. I’ve never seen anything move so fast… By the way, any sign of our Japanese professor?”
“Not yet,” David Brown hollered from New York. “It’s slow going in this maze. I feel as if I’m looking for a needle in a haystack.”
Admiral Heilmann repeated the status of the missing person search for Wakefield and Turgenyev in the helicopter. Richard then said that they were coming back to Beta to refuel. “What about you, David?” Heilmann asked. “In view of everything, including the need to keep those bastards on Earth informed, don’t you think you should return to Beta yourself? Cosmonauts Sabatini and des Jardins can continue the search for Dr, Takagishi. If necessary we can send someone to replace you when the helicopter picks you up.”
“I don’t know, Otto, I haven’t—” Francesca turned off the transmit switch on David Brown’s radio in the middle of his reply. He shot her an angry glance that quickly softened.
“We need to talk about this,” she said firmly. “Tell him you’ll call him back in a couple of minutes.”
Nicole was flabbergasted by the conversation that ensued between Franceses Sabatini and David Brown. Neither one of them seemed to be even slightly concerned about the fate of Dr. Takagishi. Francesca insisted that she had to return to Beta immediately to cover all the breaking stories. Dr. Brown was anxious because he was away from the “primary” action of the expedition.
Each argued that his reasons for returning were more important. What if they both left New York? No, that would leave cosmonaut des Jardins alone. Maybe she should come with them and they could reinitiate the search for Takagishi when things calmed down in several hours…
Nicole finally exploded. “Never,” she shouted suddenly at them, “never in my life have I seen such egotistical…” She could not think of a good noun. “One of our colleagues is missing and almost certainly needs our help. He may be injured or dying, yet all you two can do is argue about your own petty prerogatives. It’s really disgusting.”
She paused a second to catch her breath. “Let me tell you one thing,” Nicole continued, still fuming. “I am not going back to Beta right now. I don’t give a damn if you order me. I am staying here and finishing the search. At least I have my priorities straight. I know a man’s life is more important than image or status or even a stupid media project,”
David Brown blinked twice, as if he had been slapped in the face. Francesca smiled. “Well, well,” she said, “so our reclusive life science officer knows more than we have given her credit for.” She looked over at David and then back at Nicole. “Will you excuse us for a moment, dear? We have a few matters to discuss in private.”
Francesca and Dr. Brown moved over beside the base of a skyscraper about twenty meters away and began an animated conversation. Nicole turned the other way. She was angry with herself for losing her temper. She was especially irritated that she had revealed her knowledge of their contract with Schmidt and Hagenest. They will assume Janos told me, she thought. After all, we have been close friends.
Francesca walked back to join Nicole while Dr. Brown radioed Admiral Heilmann. “David is calling for the helicopter to meet him next to the icemobile. He assures me that he can find his way out. I will stay here with you and search for Takagishi. At least that way I can photograph New York.”
There was no emotion in Francesca’s pronouncement. Nicole was unable to read her mood. “One other thing,” Francesca added. “I promised David we would conclude our search and be ready to return to camp in four hours or less.”
The two women hardly talked during the first hour of their search. Francesca was content to let Nicole choose the path. Every fifteen minutes they stopped to radio the Beta camp and obtain an updated fix on their position. “You’re now about two kilometers south and four kilometers east of the icemobile,” Richard Wakefield told them when they stopped for lunch. He had been delegated the job of keeping track of their progress. “You’re just east of the central plaza.”
They had gone to the central section first, for Nicole had thought that Takagishi would have headed there. They had found the open circular plaza with many low structures, but no sign of their colleague. Since then, Francesca and Nicole had visited the two other plazas and carefully combed the length of two of the central pie portions. They had found nothing. Nicole admitted she was running out of ideas.
“This is quite an astonishing place!” Francesca responded as she began to eat her lunch. They were sitting on a square metal box about a meter high. “My photographs can barely begin to capture it. Everything is so quiet, so tall, so . . alien.”
“Some of these buildings could not be described without your pictures. The polyhedrons, for example. There’s at least one in each slice, with the biggest one always right around the plaza. I wonder what they signify, if anything? And why are they located where they are?”
The emotional tension just below the surface in the two women remained suppressed. They chatted a little about what they had seen in their trek across New York. Francesca had been especially fascinated by a large trellis arrangement that they had found connecting two tall skyscrapers in the central unit. “What do you suppose that lattice or net thing was all about?” she asked idly. “It must have had twenty thousand loops and must have been fifty meters tall.”
“I guess it’s ridiculous for us to try to understand any of this,” Nicole said with a wave of her hand. She finished her lunch and glanced at her companion. “Ready to continue?”