Chapter 23. Airlift
49
Long-distance travel through a planetary atmosphere was not something that Settlers accepted as part of their society. On a Settlement, distances were small enough so that elevators, legs, and an occasional electric cart were all that was necessary. As for inter-Settlement travel, that was by rocket.
Many Settlers - at least, back in the Solar System - had been in space so many times that progress through it was almost as common to them as walking. It was a rare Settler, however, who had traveled to Earth, where alone atmospheric travel existed, and which had made use of airflight.
Settlers who could face the vacuum as though it were a friend and brother felt unfathomable terror if expected to sense, somehow, the whistle of air past a vehicle without ground-support below.
Yet air travel, on occasion, was an obvious necessity on Erythro. Like Earth it was a large world, and like Earth it had a fairly dense (and breathable) atmosphere. There were reference books on airflight available on Rotor, and even several Earth immigrants with aeronautical experience.
So the Dome owned two small aircraft, somewhat clumsy, somewhat primitive, ungiven to large bursts of speed, or to headlong maneuverability - but serviceable. In fact, Rotor's very ignorance of aeronautical engineering helped in one respect. The Dome's aircraft were far more computerized than any corresponding vessel on Earth. In fact, Siever Genarr liked to think of the vessels as intricate robots that happened to be built in the shape of aircraft. Erythro's weather was much milder than Earth's could possibly be, since the low intensity of the radiation from Nemesis was insufficient to power large and violent storms, so that an aircraft-robot was less likely to have to face an emergency. Far less likely.
As a result, virtually anyone could fly the raw and unpolished aircraft of the Dome. You simply told the plane what you wanted it to do and it was done. If the message was unclear, or seemed dangerous to the robotic brain of the vessel, it asked for clarification.
Genarr watched Marlene climb into the cabin of the plane with a certain natural concern, if not with the lip-biting terror of Eugenia Insigna, who stood well away from the scene. ('Don't come any closer,' he had ordered Insigna sternly, 'especially if you're going to look as though you were witnessing the sure beginning of calamity. You'll panic the girl.')
It seemed to Insigna that there were grounds for panic. Marlene was too young to remember a world where air-flight was common. She had taken a rocket calmly enough to come to Erythro, but how would she react to this unheard of flight through air?
And yet Marlene climbed into the cabin and took her seat with a look of utter calm on her face.
Was it possible she did not grasp the situation? Genarr said, 'Marlene, dear, you do know what we're going to be doing, don't you?'
'Yes, Uncle Siever. You're going to show me Erythro.'
'From the air, you know. You'll be flying through the air.'
'Yes. You said so before.'
'Does the thought of it bother you?'
'No, Uncle Siever, but it's bothering you a lot.'
'Only on your behalf, dear.'
'I'll be perfectly all right.' She turned her calm face toward him as he climbed in after her and took his seat. She said, 'I can understand Mother being concerned, but you're more concerned than she is. You're managing to show it less in any big way, but if you could see yourself licking your lips, you would be embarrassed. You feel that if something bad happens, it will be your fault, and you just can't stand the thought. Just the same, nothing's going to happen.'
'Are you sure of that, Marlene?'
'Absolutely sure. Nothing will harm me on Erythro.'
'You said that about the Plague, but we're not talking about that now.'
'It doesn't matter what we're talking about. Nothing will harm me on Erythro.'
Genarr shook his head slightly in disbelief and uncertainty, and then wished he hadn't, for he knew she read that as easily as though it were appearing in the largest block letters on the computer screen. But what was the difference? If he had repressed it all and had acted as if he were made of cast bronze, she would still have seen it.
He said, 'We'll go into an airlock and stay there just a while, so that I can check the responsiveness of the vessel's brain. Then we will go through another door and the plane will then move up in the air. There'll be an acceleration effect, and you'll be pressed backward, and we'll be moving in the air, with nothing beneath us. You understand that, I hope?'
'I am not afraid,' said Marlene quietly.
50
The aircraft remained on its steady course across a barren landscape of rolling hills.
Genarr knew that Erythro was geologically alive and knew also that what geological studies had been made of the world indicated that there had been periods in its history when it had been mountainous. And there were still mountains here and there on the cis-Megan hemisphere, the hemisphere in which the bloated circle of the planet Megas, around which Erythro orbited, hung almost motionless in the sky.
Here on the trans-Megan side, however, plains and hills were the chief feature of the two large continents.
To Marlene, who had never seen a mountain in her life, even the low hills were exciting.
There were rivulets on Rotor, of course, and from the height at which they were viewing Erythro, these rivers looked no different.
Genarr thought: Marlene will be surprised when she sees them at a closer view.
Marlene look curiously at Nemesis, which had passed its noonmark and had declined toward the west. She said, 'It's not moving, is it, Uncle Siever?'
'It's moving,' said Genarr. 'Or, at least Erythro is turning relative to Nemesis, but it turns only once a day, while Rotor turns once every two minutes. In comparison, Nemesis, as seen from here on Erythro, is moving less than 1/700th as fast as it seems to be moving as seen from Rotor. It seems to be standing still here, by comparison, but it isn't standing entirely still.'
Then, casting a quick glance at Nemesis, he said, 'You've never seen Earth's Sun, the Sun of the Solar System, you know; or, if you have, you don't remember it, having been a baby at the time. The Sun was much smaller as seen from Rotor's position in the Solar System.'
'Smaller?' said Marlene in surprise. 'The computer told me that it was Nemesis that was smaller.'
'In reality, yes. Still, Rotor is so much closer to Nemesis than it ever was to the Sun in the old days that Nemesis seems larger.'
'We're four million kilometers from Nemesis, aren't we?'
'But we were a hundred fifty million kilometers from the Sun. If we were that far from Nemesis, we'd get less than 1 per cent of the light and warmth we get now. If we were as close to the Sun as we are to Nemesis, we'd be vaporized. The Sun is much larger, brighter and hotter than Nemesis.'
Marlene wasn't looking at Genarr, but apparently his tone of voice was sufficient. 'From the way you talk, Uncle Siever, I think you wish you were back near the Sun.'
'I was born there, so I get homesick sometimes.'
'But the Sun is so hot and bright. It must be dangerous.'
'We didn't look at it. And you shouldn't look at Nemesis too long either. Look away, dear.'
Genarr cast another quick glance at Nemesis, however. It hung in the western sky, red and vast, its apparent diameter at four degrees of arc, or eight times that of the Sun as seen from Rotor's old position. It was a quiet red circle of light, but Genarr knew that, on comparatively rare occasions, it would flare and, for a few minutes, there would be a white spot on that serene face that would be painful to look at. Mild sunspots, in darker red, were more common, but not as noticeable.
He murmured an order to the plane, which veered sufficiently to put Nemesis farther to the rear, out of direct view.
Marlene took a last, thoughtful glance at Nemesis, then turned her eyes to Erythro's vista stretched out below.
She said, 'You get used to the pink color of everything. It doesn't look so pink after a while.'
Genarr had noticed that himself. His eyes caught differences in tint and shade so that the world began to seem less monochromatic. The rivers and small lakes were ruddier and darker than the land surface, and the sky was dark. Little of the red light of Nemesis was scattered by Erythro's atmosphere.
The most hopeless thing about Erythro, however, was the barrenness of the land. Rotor, even on its tiny scale, had green fields, yellow grain, varicolored fruit, noise-making animals, all the color and sound of human habitation and structures.
Here there was only silence and inanimation.
Marlene frowned. 'There is life on Erythro, Uncle Siever.'
Genarr couldn't tell whether Marlene was making a statement, asking a question, or answering his thought as revealed by his body language. Was she insisting on something or seeking reassurance?
He said, 'Certainly. Lots of life. It's all-pervasive. It's not only in the water either. There are prokaryotes living in the water films about the soil particles, too.'
After a while, the ocean made its appearance on the horizon ahead, first as simply a dark line, then a thickening band as the air vehicle approached it.
Genarr cast careful sidelong glances at Marlene, watching her reaction. She had read about Earth's oceans, of course, and must have seen images on holovision, but nothing can prepare anyone for the actual experience. Genarr, who had been on Earth once (once!) as a tourist, had seen the edge of an ocean. He had never been over one, out of sight of land, however, and he wasn't sure of his own reactions.
It rolled back below them and now the dry land shrank behind into a lighter line and, eventually, it was gone. Genarr looked down with a queer feeling in the pit of his stomach. He remembered a phrase from an archaic epic: 'the wine-dark sea'. Below them the ocean certainly did look like a vast rolling mass of red wine, with pink froth here and there.
There were no markings to identify in that vast body of water, and there was no place to land. The very essence of 'location' was gone. Yet he knew that when he wanted to return, he need do no more than direct the plane to take them back to land. The plane's computer kept track of position in accurate reckoning of speed and direction and would know where land was - even where the Dome was.
They passed under a thick cloud deck and the ocean turned black. A word from Genarr, and the plane lifted through and above the clouds. Nemesis shone again, and the ocean could no longer be seen beneath them. There was, instead, a sea of pink water droplets, billowing and rising here and there, so that bits of fog moved, occasionally, past the window.
Then the clouds seemed to part and between their edges, glimpses of the wine-dark sea could again be seen.
Marlene watched, her mouth partly open, her breath shallow. She said in a whisper, 'That's all water, isn't it, Uncle Siever?'
'Thousands of kilometers in every direction, Marlene - and ten kilometers deep in spots.'
'If you fall into it, I suppose you drown.'
'You needn't worry about that. This vehicle won't fall into the ocean.'
'I know it won't,' said Marlene matter-of-factly. There was another sight, Genarr thought, to which Marlene could well be introduced.
Marlene broke in on his thought. 'You're getting nervous again, Uncle Siever.'
Genarr felt amused at the manner in which he was learning to take Marlene's penetration for granted. He said, 'You've never seen Megas, and I was wondering if I ought to show it to you. You see, only one side of Erythro faces Megas, and the Dome was built on the side of Erythro that doesn't face it, so that Megas is never in our sky. If we continue to fly in this direction, however, we'll enter the cis-Megan hemisphere and we'll see it rise above the horizon.'
'I would like to see that.'
'You will, then, but be prepared. It's large. Really large. Nearly twice as wide as Nemesis and it looks almost like it's about to fall on us. Some people simply can't endure the sight. It won't fall, though. It can't. Try to remember that.'
They moved along at a higher altitude and a heightened speed. The ocean lay below in wrinkled sameness, occasionally obscured by clouds.
Eventually, Genarr said, 'If you'll look ahead and a little to the right, you'll see Megas beginning to show at the horizon. We'll turn toward it.'
It looked like a small patch of light along the horizon at first, but grew like a slow upward swell. Then the widening arc of a deep red circle lifted itself above the horizon. It was distinctly deeper than Nemesis, which could still be seen to the right and in back of the plane, and somewhat lower in the sky.
As Megas loomed larger, it soon became apparent that what was being revealed was not a full circle of light, a bit more than a semicircle.
Marlene said with interest, 'Now that's what they mean by "phases," isn't that right?'
'Exactly right. We only see the part that's lit by Nemesis. As Erythro goes around Megas, Nemesis seems to move closer to Megas and we see less and less of the lit half of the planet. Then when Nemesis skims just above or below Megas, we just see a thin curve of light at Megas' boundary; that's all we see of its lighted hemisphere. Sometimes Nemesis actually moves behind Megas. Nemesis is then eclipsed, and all the dim stars of night come out, not just the bright ones that show even when Nemesis is in the sky. During the eclipse, you can see a large circle of darkness with no stars in it at all, and that shows you where Megas is. When Nemesis reappears on the other side, you begin to see a thin curve of light again.'
'How marvelous,' said Marlene. 'It's like a show in the sky. And look at Megas - all those moving stripes.'
They stretched across the lighted portion of the globe, thick and reddish brown, interspersed with orange, and slowly writhing.
'They're storm bands,' said Genarr, 'with terrific winds that blow this way and that. If you watch closely, you'll see spots form and expand, drift along, then spread out and vanish.'
'It is like a holovision show,' said Marlene raptly. 'Why don't people watch it all the time?'
'Astronomers do. They watch it through computerized instruments located on this hemisphere. I've seen it myself in our Observatory. You know, we had a planet like this back in the Solar System. It's called Jupiter, and it's even larger than Megas.'
By now, the planet had lifted entirely above the horizon, looking like a bloated balloon that had, somehow, partially collapsed along its left half.
Marlene said, 'It's lovely. If the Dome were built on this side of Erythro, everyone could watch it.'
'Actually not, Marlene. It doesn't seem to work that way. Most people don't like Megas. I told you that some I people get the impression that Megas is falling and it frightens them.'
Marlene said impatiently, 'Only a few people would have such a silly notion.'
'Only a few to begin with, but silly notions can be contagious. Fears spread, and some people who wouldn't be afraid if left to themselves, become afraid because their neighbor is. Haven't you ever noticed that sort of thing?'
'Yes, I have,' she said with a touch of bitterness. 'If one boy thinks a bimbo is pretty, they all do. They start competing-' She paused, as if in embarrassment.
'The contagious fear is one reason we built the Dome on the other hemisphere. Another is that with Megas always in the sky, astronomic observations are more difficult to make in this hemisphere. But I think it's time we begin our return. You know your mother. She'll be in a panic.'
'Call her and tell her we're all right.'
'I don't have to. This ship is sending out signals continuously. She knows we're all right - physically. But that's not what she's worried about,' he said, tapping his temple significantly.
Marlene slumped in her chair and a look of deep discontent crossed her face. 'What a pain. I know everyone will say, "It's just because she loves you," but it's such a bother. Why can't she just take my word for it that I'll be all right?'
'Because she loves you,' said Genarr, as he quietly instructed the aircraft to return home, 'just as you love Erythro.'
Marlene's face brightened at once. 'Oh, I do.'
'Yes, yes. It's quite visible in your every reaction to the world.'
And Genarr wondered how Eugenia Insigna would react to that.
51
She reacted in fury. 'What do you mean, she loves Erythro? How can she love a dead world? Is it possible you brainwashed her? Is there some reason you've talked her into loving it?'
'Eugenia, be reasonable. Do you really believe it is possible to brainwash Marlene into anything? Have you ever succeeded in doing so?'
'Then what happened?'
'Actually, I tried to subject her to situations that would displease or frighten her. If anything, I tried to "brainwash" her into disliking Erythro. I know from experience that Rotorians, brought up in the tight little world of a Settlement, hate the endlessness of Erythro; they don't like the redness of the light; they don't like that enormous puddle of an ocean; they don't like darkening clouds; they don't like Nemesis; and, most of all, they don't like Megas. All these things tend to depress and frighten them. And I showed all these things to Marlene. I took her out over the ocean and then, far enough out to show her Megas entirely above the horizon.'
'And?'
'And nothing bothered her. She said she got used to the red light, and it stopped looking so terribly red. The ocean didn't in the least frighten her, and, most of all, she found Megas interesting and amusing.'
'I can't believe it.'
'You must. It's true.'
Insigna sank into thought, then said reluctantly, 'Maybe it's a sign that she's already infected with the - the-'
'With the Plague. I arranged for another brain scan as soon as we got back. We still haven't got the complete analysis, but the preliminary inspection shows no change. The mind pattern changes markedly and noticeably even in a light case of the Plague. Marlene simply doesn't have it. However, an interesting thought just occurred to me. We know that Marlene is perceptive, that she can note all sorts of little things. Feelings flow from others to her. But have you ever detected anything that might seem the reverse? Do feelings flow from her to others?'
'I don't understand what you're getting at.'
'She knows when I'm uncertain and a little anxious, no matter how I try to hide the fact, or that I'm calm and unafraid. Is there any way, though, that she can force me or encourage me to become uncertain and a little anxious - or calm and unafraid? If she detects, can she also impose?'
Insigna stared at him. 'I think that's crazy!' she said, her voice choked in disbelief.
'Perhaps. But have you ever noticed that sort of effect with Marlene? Think about it.'
'I don't have to think. I've never noticed any such thing.'
'No,' muttered Genarr, 'I suppose you haven't. She would certainly love to make you feel less nervous about herself, and she certainly fails to bring that about. However- It is true, though, if we just cling to Marlene's perceptive ability, that it has strengthened since she has arrived on Erythro. Agreed?'
'Yes. Agreed.'
'But it's more than that. She's now strongly intuitive. She knows that she is immune to the Plague. She is certain that nothing on Erythro will harm her. She stared down at the ocean in convinced knowledge that the aircraft wouldn't drop into it and drown her. Has she had this kind of attitude back on Rotor? Hasn't she felt uncertain and insecure on Rotor when there was reason to feel so, just as any other youngster might?'
'Yes! Certainly.'
'But here she's a new girl. Totally sure of herself. Why?'
'I don't know why.'
'Is Erythro affecting her? No, no, I mean nothing like the Plague. Is there some other effect? Something completely different? I'll tell you why I ask. I felt it myself.'
'Felt what yourself?'
'A certain optimism about Erythro. I didn't mind the desolation, or anything else. It's not that I was desperately put off by it before, that Erythro made me seriously uneasy, but I never liked the planet. On this trip with Marlene, however, I came nearer to liking it than ever before in my ten years of residence here. It was possible, I thought, that Marlene's delight was contagious, or that she might somehow be forcing it on me. Or else whatever it is about Erythro that is affecting her may be affecting me, too - in her presence.'
Insigna said sarcastically, 'I think, Siever, that you had better have a brain scan yourself.'
Genarr raised his eyebrows. 'Do you think I haven't? I've undergone a check periodically ever since I've been here. There've been no changes except those inseparable from the aging process.'
'But have you checked your mind pattern since getting back from the plane trip?'
'Of course. First thing. I'm no fool. The complete analysis isn't back yet, but the preliminary work shows no change.'
'Then what are you going to do next?'
'The logical thing. Marlene and I are going out of the Dome, and out upon Erythro's surface.'
'No!'
'We'll take precautions. I've been out there before.'
'You, perhaps,' said Insigna stubbornly. 'Not she. Never she.'
Genarr sighed. He whirled in his chair, looking at the false window in the wall of his office as though he were trying to penetrate it and look out upon the redness beyond. Then he looked back at Insigna.
'Out there is a huge brand-new world,' he said, 'one that belongs to no-one and nothing except ourselves. We can take that world and develop it with all the lessons we've learned from our foolish mismanagement of our original world. We can build a good world this time, a clean world, a decent world. We can get used to the redness. We can bring it to life with our own plants and animals. We can make sea and land flourish and start the planet on its own course of evolution.'
'And the Plague? What of that?'
'We might eliminate the Plague, and make Erythro ideal for us.'
'If we eliminate the heat and the gravity, and alter the chemical composition, we can make Megas ideal for us, too.'
'Yes, Eugenia, but you must admit that the Plague is in a different category from heat, gravity and global chemistry.'
'But the Plague is just as deadly in its own way.'
'Eugenia, I think I've told you that Marlene is the most important person we have.'
'She certainly is to me.'
'To you, she's important simply because she is your daughter. To the rest of us, she is important for what she can do.'
'What can she do? Interpret our body language? Play tricks?'
'She is convinced she is immune to the Plague. If she is, that might teach us-'
'If she is. It's childish fantasy and you know it. Don't grasp at cobwebs.'
'There's a world out there, and I want it.'
'You sound like Pitt after all. For that world, will you risk my daughter?'
'In human history, much more has been risked for much less.'
'More shame to human history. And in any case, it's up to me to decide. She's my daughter.'
And Genarr said in a low voice that seemed to contain infinite sorrow, 'I love you, Eugenia, but I lost you once. I have had this feeble dream of perhaps trying to undo that loss. But now I'm afraid I must lose you again, and permanently. Because, you see, I'm going to tell you that it's not up to you to decide. It is not even up to me to decide. It is up to Marlene. Whatever she decides, she will do, somehow. And because she may well have the ability to win humanity a world, I am going to help her do what she wants to do, despite you. Please, you must accept that, Eugenia.'
***