The holographic image of the metallurgist Brookida seemed to look past Charles Dart for a moment. Apparently, the dolphin scientist was referring to his own displays. Each eye was covered with a goggle lens to correct for astigmatism when reading. He turned back to look at his chimp colleague.
"Charlie. You talk so assuredly about sending thisss robot deeper into Kithrup's crust. You complain that it has gone down 'only' five hundred meters. Are you cognizant that that-t is half a kilometer?"
Charlie scratched his fuzzy jaw. "Yeah? So what? The excavation has got so little taper that it might easily drop down as much farther as it's already gone. It's a wonderful mineralogical lab! Already I'm finding out a lot about the subsurface zone!"
Brookida sighed. "Charlie, aren't you curious as to why the cavern under Toshio's island goes down even one hundred metersss?"
"Hmmm? What do you mean?"
"I mean that the so-called 'drill-tree' that'ss responsible for this excavation cannot have dug so deep merely in search of carbon and silicate nutrients. It can't-t have…"
"How would you know? Are you an ecologist?" Charlie rapped out a sharp laugh. "Honestly Brookida, what do you base these suppositions on? Sometimes you surprise me!"
Brookida waited patiently for the chimpanzee to finish laughing. "I base them on a well-informed layman's knowledge of basic lawsss of nature, and upon Occam's Razor. Think of the volume of material removed! Has it been scattered upon the watersss? Has it occurred to you that there are tens of thousands of these metal-mounds along this plate boundary, most with their own drill-trees… and that there may have been millions of such deep excavations dug in recent geologic time?"
Dart started to snigger, then he stopped. He stared for a moment at the image of his cetacean colleague, then laughed in earnest. He pounded the desk.
"Touche! All right, sir! We'll add 'Why these holes?' to our list of questions! Fortunately I've been cultivating an ecologist lab-mate for the last few months. I've done her innumerable favors, and it happens she's at the site of our quandary! I'll ask Dennie to get to work on it right away! Rest assured, we'll know soon enough what these drill-trees are up to!"
Brookida didn't bother answering. He did let out a small sigh.
"Now that that's settled," Charlie went on, "let's get back to the really important stuff: Can you help persuade the captain to let me go out there in person and take a real deep-probe robot with me to replace that lousy little thing Toshio salvaged?"
Brookida's eyes widened. He hesitated.
"The c-captain remains unconscious," Brookida said at last. "Makanee has twice performed surgery. According to the latest reports, the outlook remains bleak-k."
The chimp stared for a long moment. "Oh, yeah. I forgot." Charlie looked away from the holo display. "Well, then maybe Takkata-Jim will be willing. After all, the longboat's not being used. I'll ask Metz to talk to him. Will you help?"
Brookida's eyes were sunken. "I'll study these mass spectrometer data," he answered evenly. "I will call you when I have results. Now I mussst sign off, Charles Dart."
The image dissolved. Charlie was alone again.
Brookida was awfully abrupt there, he thought. Have I offended him somehow?
Charlie knew he was offensive to people. He couldn't help it. Even other chimpanzees thought him abrasive and self-centered. They said neo-chimps like him gave the race a bad rep.
Well, I've tried, he thought. And when a person's tried and failed so often, when his best attempts at gallantry turn to faux pas, and he constantly finds himself forgetting other people's names well then, maybe a guy should give up. Other people don't always win awards for kindness to me, either.
Charles Dart shrugged. It didn't matter. What point was there in pursuing an ever-elusive popularity? There was always his personal world of rocks and molten cores, of magma and living planets.
Still, I thought Brookida, at least, was my friend… He forced the thought aside.
I've got to call Metz. He'll get me what I need. I'll show 'em this planet is so unique they'll… they'll rename it after me! There are precedents. He chuckled as he tugged on his ear with one hand and punched out a code with the other.
An idle thought came to him, as he waited for the computer tracer to track down Ignacio Metz. Wasn't everybody waiting to hear from Tom Orley? That was all anybody 'd talk about, a while back.
Then he remembered that Orley's report was supposed to come in yesterday, about the time Creideiki was hurt.
Ah! Then Tom was probably successful at whatever it was he was doing, and nobody bothered to tell me. Or maybe somebody did, and I wasn't listening again. Anyway, I'm sure he got everything squared away with the ETs. About time, too. Damned nuisance being hunted all over the galaxy, forced to fill the ship with water…
Metz's number appeared on the intercom. The line was ringing.
It was a shame about Creideiki. He was awfully stiff and serious for a fin, and not always reasonable… but Charlie couldn't bring himself to feel happy to have him out of the way. In fact, it gave him a queer sensation in his stomach whenever he thought about the captain being removed from the picture.
Then don't think about it! Jeez! When has it ever paid to worry?
"Ah, Dr. Metz! Did I catch you as you were going out? I was wondering, could we have a talk together soon? Later this afternoon? Good! Yes, I do have a very, very small favor to ask…"
39 ::: Makanee
A physician must be part intellectual and part alchemist, part sleuth and part shaman, Makanee thought.
But in medical school they never told her she might have to be a soldier and a politician, as well.
Makanee had trouble keeping a dignified demeanor. In fact, she felt on the verge of insubordination. Her tail crashed to the water's surface, sending spray over the canals of sick bay.
"I tell you I can't-t-t operate alone! My aides haven't the skill to assist me! I'm not sure I could do it even if they did! I must-t-t talk to Gillian Baskin!"
With one eye lazily lifted above the water line, one harness arm holding a channel stanchion, Takkata-Jim glanced at Ignacio Metz. The human returned an expression of great patience. They had expected this sort of reaction from the ship's surgeon.
"I'm sure you underrate your skill, Doctor," Takkata-Jim suggested.
"So you're a sssurgeon, now? I need your opinion? Let-t me talk to Gillian!"
Metz spoke placatingly. "Doctor, Lieutenant Takkata-Jim has just explained that there are military reasons for the partial communications blackout. Data from the detection buoys appear to indicate a psi leak somewhere within a hundred kilometers of this spot. Either the crew working under Hikahi and Suessi or the people at the island are responsible. Until we trace the leak…"
"You are acting on the basis of information from a buoy? It was a defective buoy that almost k-k-killed C-C-Creideiki!"
Metz frowned. He wasn't used to being interrupted by dolphins. He noted that Makanee was quite agitated. Too agitated, in fact, to speak with the Anglic diction a fin in her position should use. This was certainly data for his files… as was her belligerent attitude.
"That was a different buoy, Physician Makanee. Remember, we have three on station. Besides, we aren't claiming the leak is necessarily real, only that we must treat it as real until proven otherwise."
"But the blackout isn't total! I hear that chimpanzee is ssstill getting his Iki-damned robot-t data! So why won't you let me talk to Dr. Baskin?"
Metz wanted to curse. He had asked Charles Dart to keep quiet about that. Damn the necessity to keep the chimp placated!