Echo. Part 33

"Gabe, can you imitate the mother?"

"I think so."

"Do it. Make noises at the rear. Try to get her back near storage again."

"Okay. But be aware-"

"I know. It could get out of hand at any time." Alex started removing his helmet. "What are you doing?" I demanded.

"In a minute." He got the helmet off and now was climbing out of his suit. He got the helmet off and now was climbing out of his suit.

"Alex-"

He held up both hands. Be patient. I watched him take an exploratory breath, inhaling slowly, smiling, signaling that it would be okay.

"Alex, I don't want to have to carry you back to the lander."

His link was attached to a silver chain that he customarily wore around his neck. He removed it. "I'll need yours, too, Chase."

"My what what?"

"Your link." He laid the chain on the ground and started climbing back into the suit.

Mine was embedded in a bracelet. I sighed, took off my helmet, and tried the air. It was thin. Like standing on top of a mountain. And it had an odd scent. But I got out of the suit, removed the bracelet and handed it to him. Then I wasted no time getting the suit back on.

He fiddled with it. Set it so he could control his own link with it. "Okay." "Okay." He was speaking through the link in the helmet again. He was speaking through the link in the helmet again. "I think we're in business." "I think we're in business."

"Glad to hear it."

The creature was standing looking helplessly up at the hatch. Something flew past, screeched, and settled into the trees.

Alex returned the bracelet. "Hang on to it," "Hang on to it," he said. he said. "We're going to need it." "We're going to need it."

"What are we doing?"

"In a minute."

"Alex," said Gabe, said Gabe, "I have three minutes of the cub's noise." "I have three minutes of the cub's noise."

"Start transmitting."

"Complying."

Alex turned the volume down on the silver chain so the whimpers and sniffles and shrieks couldn't be heard outside. "That's good," "That's good," he said. he said. "Perfect. Put it on a loop and keep it coming until I tell you to stop." "Perfect. Put it on a loop and keep it coming until I tell you to stop."

"Okay."

"Chase," he said, he said, "keep out of sight." "keep out of sight." He carried the link to the back of the room and disappeared into the corridor. He carried the link to the back of the room and disappeared into the corridor.

"It may have gotten bored," said Gabe. said Gabe. "Hey, pup. Get away from that!" "Hey, pup. Get away from that!"

I didn't want to ask what was happening. Most of the gear would not have been especially vulnerable, as long as the thing didn't have a branch to swing. Except maybe the yoke. But even if the yoke got broken, I thought I could manage. At least enough to get us into orbit.

"Stop!" Now it was Gabe who was screeching. Now it was Gabe who was screeching.

"What's going on, Gabe?"

"It found me. It's pulling at me."

"Give Belle access to the controls. Just in case."

"Will do. She's just coming into range now."

"Okay."

"This thing must like black boxes."

Abruptly, something behind me whined and sniffled. It sounded like the pup, but it came from the direction Alex had taken. It was barely audible.

It was, of course, the link. I didn't see him him, but wherever he was, he'd turned up the volume. Then the noise stopped.

I looked out at the creature. It hadn't reacted. Hadn't heard.

Alex came back. He had the chain, but the link wasn't in it. "I think we're all set, Chase." "I think we're all set, Chase."

"Where'd you put the link?" I asked.

"Out back. In one of the rooms at the rear." We stationed ourselves near the hole in the wall, where we could see the mother. We stationed ourselves near the hole in the wall, where we could see the mother. "You ready?" "You ready?"

I pulled the scrambler out of my tool belt and set for lethal. "Okay," I said.

He asked for my bracelet. Set it to pick up the signal from the lander. "It's a lovely piece of jewelry." "It's a lovely piece of jewelry."

"Just do it, Alex. Hurry."

He pointed at a mound of snow on the far side of the room. "We get behind that." "We get behind that."

"Okay."

"If it comes after us, we take it down. No hesitation. And no second thoughts later."

"Let's go," I said.

"Gabe, where's our cub?"

"It's in Chase's seat. It seems to have calmed down a bit."

"Okay. Good. If it starts to get upset again, play the MacIntyre Symphony. Loud. Okay? Crank up the volume as much as you have to. I don't want Mom to hear her cub." He switched on the bracelet link. He switched on the bracelet link. "Ready?" "Ready?"

"Go."

He turned up the volume on my bracelet, and the pup's cries, yowls and sniffles and shrieks, filled the building.

The creature turned.

It hesitated. Looked up toward the empty viewport, bared a long set of fangs, and howled.

Then it came running in our direction.

Alex and I didn't need any prompting. We ran for the mound of snow and ducked behind it as the mother roared in through the hole. Alex increased the volume in the other link, the one planted in back, and shut off mine. I'm not sure what Mom was doing because both of us were hiding behind the snow. But I could hear the cub's cries and yelps coming from that back pa.s.sageway. The creature stomped around a bit, apparently confused. Then it let out a roar and charged to the rear. I stuck my head up just in time to see it vanish through the door. We scrambled for the exit.

The outer hatch was, of course, still closed. Alex leaped onto the ladder and pushed the panel that should have opened the airlock, but nothing happened.

No time to monkey around. I tossed him my cutter. He switched it on and started to burn his way in.

"Hurry, Alex," said Gabe. said Gabe.

I wanted to scream at him to shut up for a couple of minutes. Stop distracting everybody. But I said nothing.

Then he was back: "Mom found the link." "Mom found the link."

"Okay."

"And shut it off." Probably tromped on it. Probably tromped on it.

We were still cutting our way into the lock when the creature came out of the polygon. She saw us and snarled and bared enormous teeth and went into a kind of loping gallop.

The whole wide world knew we were not going to get the hatch open in time. "Chase "Chase." Alex glanced over his shoulder as I aimed the scrambler. Alex glanced over his shoulder as I aimed the scrambler. "Don't shoot. Get on the ladder." "Don't shoot. Get on the ladder." He grabbed one of the rungs himself. He grabbed one of the rungs himself.

I climbed on beside him. "Gabe," "Gabe," he said. he said. "Lift off." "Lift off."

Nothing happened.

"Gabe, take us up."

Still no response.

"Belle," I jumped in. "Take us up. Quick." I jumped in. "Take us up. Quick."

"Working on it, Chase. It's a little more complicated from here."

"There's a time factor," I said.

The ground fell away, and I saw saliva flying from Mom's lips as she made a desperate grab for us. But we were out of reach. All she could do was stand down there and throw branches and rocks at the trees.

It was hard to imagine our little panda growing up to look like that.

"Not too high," said Alex. He was trying not to look down as the forest dropped below us. said Alex. He was trying not to look down as the forest dropped below us.

I picked out a hilltop and told Belle to make for it. "Take it slowly. No sudden stops or turns."

"Have no fear, Chase." Easy for her to say. She wasn't dangling on a frozen rung over the treetops. Easy for her to say. She wasn't dangling on a frozen rung over the treetops.

The hill was far enough to be safe but close enough that the mother could reach it in a few minutes. We descended into the forest again. We broke off more branches, and we both came away with sc.r.a.pes and cuts. But we were down.

We finished putting the hole through the outer hatch, got into the airlock, and pushed the pad to open the inner door. The pup was dazed, but okay. It didn't especially want to cooperate, but it didn't like us very much. So when we got inside, it took its first opportunity to get out.

The outer hatch was going to remain useless for the rest of the voyage. That wasn't especially good, but it was a minor inconvenience compared to what might have happened.

We were getting ready to lift off when Belle mentioned that Mom had arrived. She and her pup were standing at the edge of the forest, watching us. I couldn't resist waving.

THIRTY.

Home. It is the place where once we lived and laughed, where we grew up with the a.s.sumption that all would be well, where we met our first love, where life stretched endlessly ahead. This is the place that now becomes a desert of the heart.

-Kory Tyler, Musings, 1412 Gabe would be out of action until we got home. The pup had also broken some lamps, cracked a couple of gauges, dislodged a seat, and disconnected a circuit. He was lucky he hadn't been electrocuted. Outside, his mother had taken out two sets of sensors. We'd cut a hole in the outer hatch, thereby depriving the airlock of its utility. We had replacements aboard the Belle-Marie Belle-Marie for everything except Gabe and the hatch, so there was nothing we couldn't live with. for everything except Gabe and the hatch, so there was nothing we couldn't live with.

Alex, pretending to be tough-minded now that the crisis was over, commented that he hoped we'd remember to close the outer hatch next time, and if anything like that happened again, we'd juice the animal. We were in the air again, circling the polygon at about three hundred meters, while Alex studied the building, and I set about patching things as best I could before we lifted into orbit. "I wonder who they were?" I said.

He produced a bottle of wine, cracked it open, and filled two gla.s.ses. He handed me one and raised his. "To the little green men."

"Who weren't there." I touched his gla.s.s with mine and drained it. I felt as if I needed it. Endless forest spread out on all sides. "You think this was the source of the tablet?"

"I don't know. It might have been part of a marker down there."

"Isn't it worth the effort to look?"

"If there was a reasonable chance of success. And if we actually had the tablet. As the situation stands, I don't think we're going to find the answers we want on the ground. But whatever happened, I think we know now why Tuttle didn't get excited."

"I guess."

We ran into turbulent weather during the ascent. "I can understand why n.o.body ever put a colony here," I said.

"You talking about the ape, Chase?"

"No. Big predators are unavoidable, I guess. But this place has no moon. The climate would be unpredictable. Unstable."

"I guess so. I was thinking that it's too close to the sun. We were almost at the pole, and it was cold, but not frigid. Imagine what it must be like near the equator."

We broke out of the clouds but were still being tossed around by heavy wind gusts. "Alex, I've a question for you."

"Okay."