Mission to Minerva

A movement nearby caused him to turn his head. Danchekker had collected a cup of the Lambian brew and come over. Hunt eyed it undecidedly. "What's it like?" He had been too strung-out by the effort of trying to keep up with events to have an appetite for anything himself yet.

"Quite agreeable, I have to say. Reminiscent of strong, sticky tea with honey. Also, an undertaste of what I recall vaguely as being not dissimilar to Irish whiskey, which should be to your liking." Danchekker took another sip and joined Hunt in his contemplation of the world. "All very solid and imposing," he commented. "Immutability in stone."

"It reminds me of some of those old black-and-white newsreel clips of winters in Russia," Hunt said. The difference was that Melthis wasn't far from Minerva's equator.

"Little concept, it would appear, of throwing up trashy piles of work pens purely for the purpose of maximizing short-term rentals. It seems somewhat odd. One would have thought that with migration to Earth being the race's single-minded objective, expressions of permanence would be low among their traits. An unconscious collective desire for security and a long-term future manifesting itself, do you think?"

"Could be. At least, all that's more likely to happen now." Hunt had the feeling that Danchekker was perhaps unconsciously expressing similar assurances himself. Hunt went on, "And you and I and the Ganymeans are hardly going to be short of work to do in the middle of it all. Just imagine, Chris, the whole Earth as it was. All those early animal forms that you've speculated about and tried to reconstruct for years, walking around, alive and breathing."

Danchekker's expression lightened a fraction as he continued staring out through the widow. It seemed that aspect hadn't occurred to him. Several seconds went by before he answered. "A fascinating thought. Fascinating indeed… It would certainly help with some of the notions of evolution that I've been reconsidering. The same genetic programs expressing different adaptations to varying environmental cues. The Thuriens have a completely different picture from our traditional view. Changes occur suddenly, all at once, in the form of repopulation by new forms and body plans following catastrophic mass-extinctions." Danchekker was about to go on, but Hunt drew his attention to a bus with a small escort of cars front and rear that had entered from the street and was crossing the outer space toward the stone fence.

"It looks as if Shilohin and the party from the lander might have arrived," Hunt said.

"I do believe you're right."

They realized that Laisha had come back over and was looking at Hunt. He raised his eyebrows inquiringly.

She spoke in an amalgam of pidgin Jevlenese-Lambian. "Can speak more? Sorry."

"It's okay."

"Cerians ca

"Contradiction?"

"Yes. We have more questions."

Hunt sighed. There was going to be a lot of this ahead, he could see, and without ZORAC it wasn't going to get any better. He might as well start getting used to it now. Just then, a uniformed Lambian hurried in and muttered something to the three sitting by the door. One of them called something to Laisha. She went over and talked with them for a minute or two with much head shaking and gestures, and occasional glances back toward Hunt and Danchekker. They waited. Then Laisha called them over. Hunt shrugged at Danchekker, and they joined her.

"From…" She waved a hand. "What is place where I was? First see you."

"Communications room."

"Okay. Is co

"Okay."

"Message comes in. Nobody knows where from. They think maybe is for Giants."

"A message has been received by the planetary net," Danchekker interpreted, trying to follow along with Hunt.

"What does it say?" Hunt asked.

"Not sure. Nobody understands. But is from person you know? Someone who says is VISAR."

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

By this time, Harzin and Perasmon had landed, boarded a waiting helicopter, and were due back in Melthis shortly to receive the visitors from the Shapieron. So Hunt and his companions had to wait before learning what had happened. But at least they enjoyed the benefit of having VISAR available online as a translator at their meeting with the two leaders.

Many forms of physical system are analogous in that they involve quantities playing similar roles, related by the same kinds of mathematical equations. Electrical voltage, current, and resistance, for example, correspond to the pressure, flow, and friction in hydraulics. Inductance and capacitance find their counterparts in mechanical inertia and elasticity. The Thurien scientists were begi

When a magnetic field collapses rapidly, it induces an electromotive force, or voltage, in the circuit carrying the current responsible for the field. The induced voltage acts in such a direction as to try to keep the current flowing. The system exhibits "electrical inertia." An apparently similar situation held when Garuth collapsed the expanded convergence zone built up around the Shapieron. A huge "voltage" was created, which in seeking an outlet found a path to a complementary "pole" in the form of the MV charge concentration at the Thurien Gate, which was operating following a directive from Calazar to launch search probes, forlorn though the scientists said the hopes of success would be.

In effect, a co

So, they would be going home after all. But there was more. Mainly because of Eesyan's misgivings when the first full Gate test involving the Shapieron was due, VISAR had stored a backup copy of ZORAC-just in case. Now that contact to VISAR had been reestablished, restoration of ZORAC became first priority.

The part of the team who were down in Melthis were taken to the Agracon's communications room to follow the event via the link to the Shapieron. Reloading and linking took awhile because VISAR was restricted to operating via the beacon co

"Integration complete and checking indicators good," VISAR pronounced. "It's all yours." Everyone on the Command Deck looked toward Garuth.