The Mind Pool

“Did it show signs of being intelligent?” asked Angel.

“More perhaps than I did. I am here, and it is there, uncaptured. But the whole episode was most a

Called on for comment, Chan felt a sudden mood change. He had not spoken since S’greela’s return, but he had been following the conversation in a perplexing way, understanding almost without listening. He had been the one preaching the need for action by individuals. Now the proposal that Angel go off with S’greela made him feel uneasy. At his feet the Tinker stirred restlessly, as though Shikari could somehow sense his discomfort.

“I agree, Angel ought to take a look at the animal,” said Chan. “But I think when that happens, I ought to go also. I wanted you to try it alone at first, S’greela, because you are the strongest. But strength does not seem important for what we want to do.”

“Then we should all go?”

“I don’t like that, either. Our communication equipment is here, and we need to be able to stay in contact with the landing capsule and the Q-ship. S’greela, do you feel confident that there was no trap? That the animals in the shafts have nothing to do with Nimrod?”

“I feel sure that they do not — but do not ask me to prove that.”

“Angel?”

“We concur. S’greela is almost certainly correct. The probability of a co

“And the animal seems harmless?”

“Despite its size, I judged it to be harmless. All it seemed to want to do was eat. Even when I was trying to dislodge it from the tu

“Right.” Chan made his decision. “Tomorrow we will all go — except for Shikari.”

“We do not wish to be left alone here!” The Tinker was outraged.

“I know you don’t. Listen to me for a moment, Shikari, and see how this sounds. We must leave someone here, in case we need to communicate with the ship. So half of you goes with us. Half remains here. You’ll know which shaft we are in, and if you had to you could fly all your components down to join us in a couple of minutes. I know you don’t want to do this, but can you do it? Can you operate in two halves?”

The Tinker said nothing, but there was a sudden tremble through the whole mass of the composite. Hundreds of components flew away to cling to the side of the tent. The voice fu

“Come on, Shikari,” coaxed S’greela. “If you can do this, it will be wonderful. We can explore with you, and still know that you will have contact with the capsule if we need it. And it will only be for a little while.

“Divide and conquer,” added Angel. “You alone can do this.”

The voice fu

It was agreement; or at least, acceptance.

Angel had used the mobility pack during training, but only for a few minutes. S’greela fixed it now around Angel’s tubby blue-green middle section, and tightened the straps.

“All ready. If you would care to try it out …”

Angel made a few tentative back-and-forth movements along the lip of the tent. Then suddenly it was darting off on a complex three-dimensional pattern of zig-zags, racing back and forth over the uneven uppermost layer of the vegetation like a water skier.

“Stop playing around, Angel,” said Chan over his communications pack. “We have to be on our way.”

He was begi

Angel came skimming and diving back to the side of the tent, executing a final mid-air roll and loop before landing. The others were ready and waiting. As they set out for the shaft one half of Shikari bade a solemn farewell to the part that would remain behind. Chan felt sure that the Tinker was doing it for his benefit. Shikari explained that although there were seldom more than a quarter of the total number of components clumped to form a single body at any one time, the point was that they were always there, always available to attach whenever they were needed. This physical separation into two major pieces would be a unique and unpleasant event.

“Imagine going off on a journey without your legs or your arms,” said Shikari. “Or imagine Angel being separated into the Chassel-Rose and the Singer. Well, it’s just as bad for us to be split like this.”

Chan was not persuaded, particularly since once they were on the way the Tinker seemed in excellent spirits. A steady two-way stream of individual components moved along the tu

Angel was leading the way, gliding silently along the curved tu

A handful of Tinker components separated and winged their way down the tu

“It is the form,” said Angel. “The same form that S’greela saw. A long body and no real legs, feeding at the tu

“Allow me,” said S’greela. The Pipe-Rilla eased past Angel and went bounding forward down the spiral tu

Chan walked forward along the full length of the body. It was enormous, a straw-colored multi-segment monster over a meter across and better than ten meters long. No wonder S’greela had not been able to bring it back to the tent!

Despite its size the animal made no attempt to attack, or even to defend itself. The head was eyeless and dark-red, equipped with a broad slash of a mouth big enough to bite Chan in two. It was still eating steadily, chomping on vegetation that it clipped from sprouting sections of the tu