“I know that, but—” Benj fell silent; none of the words he wanted to say seemed to have ideas under them. The lights, he knew, could not be used has heaters; they were solid state electroluminescent devices, not arcs or resistance bulbs. They had, after all, been designed not only to last indefinitely but to operate in Dhrawn’s atmosphere, with its free oxygen and enormous pressure range, without killing the Mesklinites. If Beetchermarlf had realized this he might have wasted less time, though he might not have accomplished more. “Can’t you… can’t you just run the current from a converter through some heavy wires, and melt the ice with the heat? Or even run it straight through the water? There must be plenty of ammonia still — it would surely conduct.”
Again there was the pause, while Benj hunted for flaws in his own suggestions and the message flashed its way across emptiness.
“I’m not sure I know enough about that sort of physics, though I suppose Borndender and his men would,” Dondragmer replied doubtfully. “more to the point, I don’t know what we’d use for wires, and I don’t know what current would flow. I know that when the power units are connected to regular equipment, like lights or motors, there is automatic safety control; but I have no idea of how that works, or whether it would work on a simple, direct series circuit. If you’ll find out from your engineers what sort of risk we’d be running, I’ll be glad of the information, but I still don’t know what we’d use to carry the current. There just isn’t much metal in the Kwembly. Most of our maintenance supplies are things like rope and fabric and lumber. Certainly there’s nothing that is meant to carry heavy electrical current.
“You may be right about using the ice itself as a conductor, but do you think it would be a good idea with Beetchermarlf and Takoorch somewhere under it? I can see they wouldn’t be right in the circuit, but I’m still a little uncertain that they’d be safe. There, again, one of you people could probably help out. If you can — if we can get enough detailed information from you to plan something really promising — I’ll be glad to try it. Until that happens, I can only say we’re doing all we can. I’m as concerned about the Kwembly, and Kervenser, and Beetchermarlf, and Takoorch as you can possibly be.”
The captain’s closing sentence was not entirely true, though the error was not intentional. He did not really grasp how a friendship could become at all close in a short time and without direct contact between the parties; his cultural background included neither an efficient mail service nor amateur radio. The concept of a pen pal, or microphone buddy, may not have been completely strange to him — he had, after all, been with Barlennan years before when Charles Lackland had accompanied the Bree by radio across thousands of miles of Mesklin’s oceans — but real friendship was, to him, in a different category. He had been only conventionally regretful at the news of Lackland’s death years later. Dondragmer knew that Benj and the younger helmsman had been talking to each other a great deal, but he had not overheard much of their conversation and would probably not have fully understood the feelings involved even if he had.
Fortunately Benj did not realize this, so he had no reason to doubt the captain’s sincerity. However, he was not satisfied with either the answer or the situation. It seemed to him that far too little was being done specifically for Beetchermarlf; and he had only been told about this. He could not participate in it — he could not even see very much of it happening.
His feelings showed clearly enough in his next words, as far as the human listeners were concerned, and Easy made a half-completed gesture of protest. Then she controlled herself; it was too late, and there was always the chance that the Mesklinite would not read as much into the words and tone as the speaker’s mother had.
“But you can’t just sprawl there and do nothing!” Benj exclaimed. “Your men could be drowning this very second. Do you know how much air they had in their suits?”
This time temptation won. Realization of what he had said caught up with him within seconds, and in less than half a minute he had what he hoped were better chosen words on their way to Dhrawn.
“I know your doing your best, but I just don’t see how you can simply wait around for results. I’d have to go outside myself and chip ice, or something — and I can’t, up here.”
“I have done all that can be done in the way of starting rescue action,” Dondragmer’s response to the first part of the message finally arrived. “There is no need to worry about the air for many hours yet — we don’t respond to its lack as I understand you humans do. Even if the hydrogen concentration goes too low for them to stay conscious, their body machinery will just slow down more and more for several eights of hours — no one knows just how long, and it probably isn’t the same for everyone. You needn’t worry about their — drowning I think was the word you used, If I have guessed its meaning correctly.
“All tools we have are in use. There would be no way for me to help outside if I did go, and it would take me longer to get reports from Reffel through your people. Perhaps you can tell me how his search for Kervenser is coming on. I assume that nothing meaningful has turned up, since the light from his flier is still visible from here and his flight pattern has not changed, but perhaps there is description you could pass on to me — I’d like to know as much about this region as possible.”
Easy once again stifled an exclamation before it could be noticed by Benj. As the boy shifted his attention to the screen carrying the helicopter’s signal, she wondered wheter Dondragmer was merely trying to keep the youngster out of his figurative hair, or perhaps had some real grasp of the boy’s need to be busy and feel useful. The latter seemed unlikely, but even Easy Hoffman, who probably knew Mesklinite nature better than any other human being alive, was not sure.
Benj had not been watching the other screen at all, and had to ask whether anything had been happening. One of the observers replied briefly that all anyone had seen had been a surface of pea-to-house-sized cobbles, interrupted by frozen puddles similar to the one holding the Kwembly. There had been no sign of the other helicopter or its pilot. No one really expected any for some time; the search had to be slow to be complete, but if Kervenser had actually crashed this close to his starting point the accident would probably have been seen from the cruiser. The little fliers did carry lights, and Kervenser had certainly been using his.
Benj relayed this information to Dhrawn, and threw in an obvious question of his own.
“Why is Reffel making such a slow and careful search so close to you? Wasn’t Kervenser at least watched out of sight?”
“He was, Benj. It seemed more reasonable to make a complete coverage centering here and starting outward, and that would also have the advantage of providing more complete data for your scientists; but, if they can wait for the information, please order Reffel for me to fly straight west along the valley until he can just see my bridge light, and resume the search pattern at that point.”