“Gerry’s right.” Hwang’s pointer moved. “These clouds and this shadow on the ice are all wrong. Right for Kansastan maybe, but not Tran-ky-ky.”
“So it’s wrong.” Ethan was getting interested. “What’s its significance? What’s it indicative of?”
“A change in the climate.”
Ethan and Skua exchanged a glance. “I don’t understand,” Ethan told her. “Less freezing or more freezing, what’s the difference?”
“It’s not freezing here.”
Ethan’s gaze narrowed. “I beg your pardon?” He stared at the infrared image anew, trying to see things that weren’t there. Meanwhile Hwang’s pointer continued to flutter over the wall.
“This small area exhibits a radical difference in temperature from its immediate surroundings. In addition to the inexplicable rise in temperature spectroscopic analysis also reveals a radical change in the composition of the atmosphere directly above this portion of the continental plateau.”
“Volcanism,” September said immediately. “Tran-ky-ky’s full of it. I don’t see what the problem is.”
Hwang smiled. “You’re full of surprises, Mr. September. Yes, there are many volcanoes on this world, and sufficient volcanism in this area could possibly be responsible for what we’re seeing, but we don’t think volcanism is the cause. Low-resolution or not, our satellite is capable of resolving fairly small details on the surface; there’s no evidence of cratering anywhere in the vicinity of the anomaly.”
“What about venting?” September asked her. Ethan looked at him in surprise and September smiled back. “Done some geology in my time, feller-me-lad.”
“We thought of that also. We’ve even considered purely speculative and fanciful rationales. None of them fits the magnitude of what we’re observing. If we had a really decent satellite, with high resolution cameras on board…” Her voice trailed off momentarily. “But we don’t. Our orbiter was designed to aid in measurements of the atmosphere and in making weather predictions. We have better equipment on order but you might imagine how difficult it is to obtain expensive instruments for use in studying these backward worlds.”
“Don’t let Hunnar Redbeard hear you call Tran-ky-ky backward,” Ethan told her. “The Tran may not be sophisticated or technologically mature but they’re not dumb either, and they’re proud as hell.”
“Don’t be so defensive,” said one of the other researchers. “We’re here to try and help these people, not insult them.”
“We suspect volcanism,” Hwang continued, “because we don’t have anything else to go on. We know the planet’s internal heat helps drive its weather in the absence of open bodies of water. We could write the whole thing off until new equipment arrives. But we’re worried.”
A tall geophysicist with the unlikely name of Orvil Blanchard waved at the wall with a lanky hand. “Keep in mind we can’t find any natural features that might explain what’s going on in this region. Despite that, the changes in the atmosphere are increasing steadily. Volcanic venting varies dramatically. It doesn’t increase at a steady, measurable rate the way this anomaly does. At least, not any volcanic vent I’ve ever encountered. It’s as if something’s thrown a switch inside the planet.”
Hwang shut off the concealed tridee projector. “We could put it down to volcanism anyway, but we want to be certain. Since our modest survey satellite is unable to resolve the problem to anyone’s satisfaction, all that’s left to us is an on-site inspection. Which presents us with a problem. Because of restrictions governing the deployment of advanced technology on a Class IVB world like Tran-ky-ky, we have no access here to aircraft or skimmers. It was assumed we could get all the information we required to continue with our research via the satellite. Normally that would suffice.
“Administration had a skimmer for emergency use, but that apparently was destroyed when the previous Commissioner ran afoul of some unfriendly natives. Or so your report—which everyone here has read by the way—indicated.”
“I’ve seen ice cycles around the outpost. What about using those?” Ethan asked her.
“Strictly short range,” said Blanchard. “We could pack extra fuel cells, maybe even enough to make the journey there and back, but we couldn’t carry sufficient additional supplies. And from what we know of the weather out on the ice ocean, something as small as a cycle might get blown two kilometers back for every one it advanced.”
“Besides that,” Hwang went on impatiently, “none of us has ventured any farther from Brass Monkey than the shore of this island. It was circumnavigated and mapped by geologists as the base here was being established. That’s about the extent of our long-range exploration. Everyone’s still new to a new world. That’s why we’ve devoured your official report. It’s been invaluable to every department. But we’ve no personal experience or knowledge of what it’s like out on the oceans. None of us here at the outpost, for example, has ever seen one of these extraordinary creatures the natives call stavanzers.
“We’d be traveling blind and ignorant and with no aircraft or skimmer to back us up. I think you’ll agree that it would be exceedingly risky, foolhardy even, for people like us without your kind of experience to undertake a journey to the southern continent.”
“Can’t argue with you there,” said September, blithely ignoring the hidden plea.
Subtlety having failed, Hwang put the request directly. “Then surely you can see that we need your help.”
Realization dawned more slowly on Ethan. “Oh, no. I mean, we’ll be glad to help you with preparations and suggestions and advice, won’t we, Skua?”
September pointedly checked his chronometer. “That we will, young feller-me-lad, so long as they don’t take more than a few hours. A nova might have kept me off that shuttle. Nothing else will.”
Hwang turned to gaze earnestly at Ethan. “What about you, Mr. Fortune? Milliken tells us you’re going to be staying here anyway.”
Ethan shot an angry look in the schoolteacher’s direction. Williams didn’t turn away from the glare. Why be upset with Milliken anyway? Ethan asked himself. Truth was truth.
“Yeah, I’ll be based here for a while. But my responsibility is to the House of Malaika. I have to set up a formal trading station. Right now that consists of myself and a few cases of samples that are probably frozen solid in the warehouse. I have to arrange for construction or leasing of offices and storage space, hire an assistant from administration, and begin the search for suitable employees off-world. There are forms to be processed and filled out and filed, and I don’t know where to begin.”
“We can help you with that,” said another of the meteorologists. “We’ve been dealing with the local administration for years.”
“From a scientific standpoint, not a commercial one,” Ethan argued. “I also have to arrange quarters for myself.”
“We could find you a permanent apartment here.” Blanchard grinned. “Not entirely on the up and up, but we did lose a couple of geologists a few months back. You could have two apartments, one for yourself and another for a temporary office. Better than what administration would assign you.”
Ethan felt like a man climbing a ladder to escape a pack of carnivores. He was rapidly running out of rungs. “Look, I appreciate your offers and I sympathize with your situation, but I don’t have a minute to spare for myself, I’ve got a ton of work to do, and I just can’t disappear for weeks on end again. I just got back to civilization. If it’s an ice ship you want, I can make contacts for you in Arsudun Towne. You can hire transportation to Poyolavomaar. Once you’re there, I’m sure you’ll be able to hire a ship and crew to take you farther south.”