Tower And The Hive Part 16

"That's what this Tower has needed," Kincaid remarked, offering a hand to Laria. "Young eager blood! A transfusion for us weary weight lifters."

"I've these sorted, Lio," Morag was saying. "Now how do I contact the recipients?"

"That"-Lionasha took the pile from Morag-"is where our 'Dinis a.s.sist. Here's another set. Fraggit, but I'm glad you read 'Dini that fast. I still have to puzzle. Fig, Sil, Nim and Dig . . ." She beckoned the 'Dinis over. "As soon as you've got these done, you can show Kev, Su, Dar and Sim how we arrange them for collection. Then you may take the girls' 'Dinis out for a look round."

GOOD, GOOD. WE DO FAST. Fig, who was organizing things in the absence of Tip and Nil, handed out the sorted files. The experienced 'Dinis picked up com units from the rack, and as they dialed the appropriate numbers, explained to the newcomers how distribution was handled. Fig was as good as its boast, and within half the time it usually took, thanks to Morag's deft help with Lionasha, the 'Dinis went out of the Tower to rack the message tubes where they could be collected.

WE'RE DONE, WE'RE DONE. WE GO. BACK LATER, Sil announced, opening the door just wide enough to lean its head inside and deliver the message.

"Wow," exclaimed Lionasha, looking with deep relief at the clear works.p.a.ce. "No wonder Lyons are the Primes of choice," she added, grinning at Morag.

"Well, we're still learning, you know," Morag said, with such modesty that Laria, overhearing, laughed. "Honest, sis. There's a lot more in such a busy Tower as Clarf than there ever was at home, for all the big daddies we had to heave."

"What do you think about a setup like this, Laria?" Vanteer asked, showing both the Prime and Kincaid the sketch pad. "This'd be easier to construct. . ." The stylus tapped the third drawing. "But this might be more efficient. And dead easy to put up. Could have one done by morning, I think. I know Lvlr can get us the materials and have them here by dark. Might even get it to give us the benefit of its expertise. Lev's done some bits and pieces for us before now."

"Then you'll keep us?" Morag asked, eyes round and mocking.

"You just bet we will!" Laria and Lionasha chorused, and they all burst out laughing.

Your report and the materials collected on the surface are still being a.n.a.lyzed, Jeff told Thian on the Was.h.i.+ngton. His mental chuckle echoed in his grandson's mind. * am reliably led to believe by no less a personage than High Councillor Gktmglnt that the planet you've so adroitly investigated is completely atypical of the Hiver colonies and has confounded all the Mrdini experts. Ours as well, despite the fact that we may not have had as much experience with the species as the 'Dmis.

What's the gist, Grandfather? The xenbees here will want details. When such are formulated, a copious report will be sent. Right now confusion reigns. One: Your Hivers do not appear to have sent out any spheres, since you say there has been little use of the available ore deposits and the sphere they used to arrive there is deteriorating. Two: The queens are a third smaller than our specimen at Heinlein Base. Three: Eighty installations on a planet that size are unusually few, since Xh-3S had ten times that many and, to judge by the age of their oldest sphere-fragments have been a.n.a.lyzed-Xh-33 is a much younger settlement. Four: The inactive worf^-ers you found in the stable, holding place, whatever, are also much smaller than usual. Five: According to Mrdinis, Hivers always send off excess queens.

If there are no excess queens?

Aye, there's the rub, Thian. There should be and there aren't. Yet that colony is by far the oldest, judging by the a.n.a.lysis of the sphere fragments- it should have sent off colonies in peeping with the currently understood Hwer patterns.

So, what do you wish us to do now?

Checi^ your findings by infiltrating at least ten of the other queen Hives and get more GC readings. The pheromones you got from the one queen's quarters are not at all what emanates from the Heinlein queen. Get us more soil samples from as many cultivated fields as possible near existing Hives for cross-checking. And as a treat, snag us samples of the various worker types. If, as you've discovered, they're dormant or resting or whatever it is that fceps them immobile until needed, that shouldn't be difficult or expose a team to queenly retribution. It would, however, be very interesting if the queens did respond in some fas.h.i.+on to ... ah . . . losing some of their wording types.

Thian couldn't help but chuckle at his grandfather's droll tone.

"Let us in on the joke, will you, Thian?" Admiral As.h.i.+ant asked dryly.

When Thian recited exactly what his grandfather had reported, As.h.i.+ant guffawed. "Well, frankly, I don't see that we'd have any trouble absconding with a few specimens."

The experts want several of each from different installations, Jeff Raven said, having been able to hear the Admiral's response through the link with his grandson.

"Don't want much, do they?" As.h.i.+ant said with a sniff. "I suppose the experts'll want some of the queens' attendants too, for comparison's sake."

Yes indeed. But not if it puts teams at risf^.

"I shouldn't indulge myself with whimsical remarks in your presence," As.h.i.+ant said.

Who's to know what risf{ is involved until we try it, Grandfather? Thian also vocalized that query. We will neutralize the smell of us, though, since odor does seem to get through their chitinous skulls.

Inform the Admiral that's a splendid idea, to get queens' attendants too, was Earth Prime's response. And might prove a salient factor in figuring out this atypical situation. Thian obeyed.

"Humph," said As.h.i.+ant, looking pleased. "It is an oddity, to be sure, but how that can help us reduce the threat of Hivers in general is beyond me. We'll still need to identify any, and every, planet they occupy and somehow render them unable to colonize."

Inform the Admiral that I could wish his view was more widely held. Again Thian relayed the message.

"Are the militant still asking for species annihilation?" As.h.i.+ant asked, his bushy eyebrows raised in dismay.

With growing fervor. The High Council remains unanimously in favor of some solution that does not. The militant anmhilationists refuse to be pacified by planetary containment and insist that the queens would only find some other way to "terrorize occupied s.p.a.ce." Odd that you, Admiral, are more of a pacifist.

"As Admiral of the first Star League1 Fleet that managed to destroy an enemy without sustaining casualties of our own," As.h.i.+ant replied when Thian conveyed that information, "I would prefer to keep that record. Going up against zplanet of belligerent Hiver armies might ruin such a worthy aspiration."

"If you'll pardon my intrusion, Admiral," Thian said, speaking for himself. "They didn't even know we were in the queen's inner Hive. How would they recognize a punitive force if they refuse to 'see' us when we are patently present? The only objects they appear to recognize as a threat are other s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps. Even one of their own spheres, as Xh-33 proved to us."

"Ah, but an attack launched on their installations would surely result in some reaction," As.h.i.+ant said. "You identified a great quant.i.ty as well as variety of creatures in the underground Hives."

"None of them armed with anything but farm tools and a lot of limbs," Thian said.

History is full of examples of very poorly armed insurgents managing incredible victories over much stronger, better armed foes, Jeff said. However, we do have the advantage of being able to 'port specimens into a secure container, especially if you can replicate the environments of their Hive accommodations to prevent their being aware they've been moved.

It's the sting-pzzt we'd have to endure that bothers me, Grandfather, Thian said, and gave a shudder at the thought of proximity to such a concentration of that uncomfortable Hiver emanation, despite the 1 The Nine Star League of the original yarns had increased its members.h.i.+p and is now referred to as Star League.

lie m.u.f.fling the body armor provided. Eighteen Hives to visit? That first one had been enough.

Only need to handle them long enough to get them in a personnel carrier to 'port 'em bacf^.

Where?

Offhand, I'd say Heinlein Base. There are other facilities within that base, well separated from where the queen is. Of course, if you can acquire enough, I'm certain there are enough eager xenbees elsewhere in the Star League desperate to check^ their theories about the creatures.

Thanf^ you, Grandfather, for this interesting and challenging a.s.signment.

Cheeky boy, was the retort, but Thian sensed only Jeff Raven's amus.e.m.e.nt in his use of the Rowan's favorite epithet.

As Thian suspected, far too many scientists back on Star League worlds and Mrdini home planets were eager to examine live specimens of the different Hiver workers.

Will I be expected to fill that order list, Grandfather? It'd practically depopulate the planet.

Certainly not, Jeff replied. Both Gtymglnt and Admiral Metyurian reaffirmed the original orders. There may be other Hiver planets where more specimens can be gleaned . . . that is, if the militants calm down. Heinlein Base is out and another, less obvious destination is being considered. I'd limit those who know about this operation.

Even on the Was.h.i.+ngton? Thian was surprised.

Especially on the Was.h.i.+ngton. We have reason to believe that the militants managed to get a few aboard despite our precautions.

When Thian discussed his orders with Clancy, Gravy and Commander Kloo, Semirame immediately confirmed Earth Prime's suspicions.

"How did that happen? I thought security checked everyone on board."

"There's been some scuttleb.u.t.t," Rame said with a shrug. "Sleepers or those who were halfway in agreement anyhow."

"After all we did?" Thian found himself appalled at such intransi- r gence. He'd achieved far more than his original brief by removing eight spheres with no Fleet casualties.

Semirame gave him a sympathetic smile. "You remember the reaction we had at Phobos Base when we wanted to import the queen to show us how to start up a sphere? Well, Commander Baldwin may be an a.s.shole, but he's heading a long line of'em. Then, too, Day heard some scuttleb.u.t.t she wasn't too happy with. Couldn't identify the speakers 'cause she was in the mess hall. About why didn't we just use one of the little bombs in every installation and end the problem forever, and wasn't that why the Was.h.i.+ngton was out here?"

"I think I'll check everyone we do decide to use on this mission," Thian said.

Clancy gave him a hard stare. Probing without the permission of the individual was one of the most stringent Talent prohibitions.

"Not when it's for security purposes, Clancy. Even the Admiral would agree on those grounds," Kloo said, siding with Thian. "Especially if the High Council finds this planet atypical. Looks pretty typical to me," she added with a grin.

So, disliking the necessity, Thian did a quick probe of those on the list of possible team members that Kloo submitted. He deleted nine names, two of which Gravy had already had doubts about. One that he was happy to discover unbiased was a T-7 petty officer who had been along on the reconnaissance of the other installations. Hazur Adi had automatically taken soil readings that he said would be no trouble to duplicate, especially if they managed to grab some from each holding cavern to replicate the dominant odor.

"Mostly the right temperature is what keeps them dormant until the queen activates them," Hazur said when he sat in on the second briefing session. "Love to know how she does that."

"There has to be some communication between her and her workers," Lea Day said, as she often did. "Even if it's on no frequency we can hear or identify. One thing, Prime, I thought I'd better ask . . . if you'd planned to stash them on board until you know where they're to be 'ported?"

Thian looked at her for a moment, snapped his fingers and dramatically slapped his hand against his forehead. "That d.a.m.ned sting-pzzt'll be obvious to any one as low as T-9." He groaned.

"There's one place we could use that wouldn't reach anyone," Lea said with a broad grin on her face.

"You got me, Chief. Where?" Thian asked.

"Gee, sir, you surprise me," the CPO said, savoring the moment for a beat. "On board that old sphere, a'course. As I remember the report, it wouldn't be hard to repair one of the boat bays the Hivers use for their scout s.h.i.+ps. Send over enough oxygen, park the carriers inside and no sting-pzzt to clue even a lamebrain T-9 to what we're about. The crit-ters'd be safe. More ways than one."

Because it was her idea, Thian ordered Lea Day and Gravy, who was immediately brought into the project, as well as Hazur, who would do the environmental adaptations, to accompany him in s.p.a.ce suits to the long-inoperative sphere that circled the atypical planet. Clancy and Semirame 'ported ahead the supplies. In the weightlessness of the aged sphere, it was relatively easy, if tedious, to seal the least damaged of the boat bays and pump in the necessary oxygen. Once the area was airtight and no loss of oxygen was visible in s.p.a.ce from the Was.h.i.+ngton, the medium-sized drones which would accommodate the captive Hivers were 'ported in for Hazur to doctor to approximate the underground accommodations from which they'd be shanghaied. Three nights later, when Thian, Lea Day and Hazur Adi had recovered from that expedition and their other preparations were complete, Thian initiated the raids.

He kept each infiltration to the most effective minimum team so that Human odors would not alert the queens. They'd also been careful to eliminate any new-plastic stink from the body armor. They'd smeared their gear with dirt from the worn tracks that led underground. On two occasions they were able to make off with workers returning at twilight from cultivation duties. Though they did "remove" some of the varieties tending the queens, this set off an unexpected agitation in the queen so deprived. Since they had installed monitors in each of the Ih Town queens' quarters, they watched anxiously to see what would happen, ready to replace any or all of the variants rather than incite the queens to action. After a period in which Kloo said she was sure one queen counted up her attendants one by one, the queen extracted an egg from one of the tubes of embryos and evidently prepared the egg to replicate the missing attendant.

It took five nights to complete the project, which Thian code-named "Shanghai," complete with soil and a replication of the food pellets found in the various underground caverns.

"They'll never even know they're not at home," Hazur Adi said, with an understandable pride in having completed his part of "Shanghai." Monitors within the drones indicated that all the captives remained in a pa.s.sive state.

Somehow word of the importation of "hordes of Hiver creatures" for scientific purposes set off a reaction that proved just how strong the militant annihilationists were. The very notion that Hiver creatures would become laboratory specimens on "civilized" planets turned many of those as yet undecided into fierce opponents to the prospect. Human militants took full advantage of the panic and fear, agitating in every capital city of the Human-occupied worlds against such an "invasion."

Heinlein Base was ringed by private yachts, orbiting just beyond the legal limit and obviously determined to prevent the landing of any of the "deadly" specimens. Another useless display of protest, since anyone who thought twice would have realized that Talent could 'port the objectionable creatures anywhere without alerting the sentinel craft.

Commander Baldwin had his revenge on the Talents on the Phobos Base project who had started up the intact sphere. He reminded them that the biggest danger came from Talents who were "minions" of the High Council and determined to subvert the will of the majority. Blundell's answer was a calm restatement that they were apolitical and that it was impossible to subvert Talent to purposes other than those described in their Charter. That this happened to include the transporta- I.

tion of approved carriers of all types and telepathing of any messages, overt or covert, was not open for discussion or for intervention. Any attempt to interfere with the operation of FT&T would result in the closure of every Tower and the facilities on which all interstellar- trade depended. Further, any attempt to interfere with Talents of any grade could result in stoppages in the locality of the interference.

There were, of course, renewals of the frequent accusations of the monopoly of FT&T. The response did remind the public in general and dissidents in particular that there were indeed other ways of transporting goods and messages, even if these methods required considerably more time and considerably more Human effort. Hence FT&T was not a monopoly, merely the best and most effective method currently available.

The Mrdinis, showing amus.e.m.e.nt at these demonstrations of Human intransigence, contacted Gktmglnt, who quietly informed Earth Prime that the best possible place to install the specimens would be in the various captured and intact spheres in geosynchronous...o...b..ts about the main 'Dini planets. Quarters and laboratories could be arranged to accommodate those Human scientists who wished to join the Mrdini specialists in the evaluation of the species.

So when can we 'port these dangerous, vicious creatures to an "unknown " destination? Thian asked his grandfather.

"I'll handle the security, Thian," Admiral As.h.i.+ant said. "Major Gefferny has uncovered a ring of sympathizers-some of those we'd already suspected of militant tendencies. You'd best get on with Shanghai as un.o.btrusively as possible."

"We've already 'shanghaied,' sir," Thian said. He ignored his grandfather's delighted guffaw.

C7 O.

"You have?" As.h.i.+ant blinked in astonishment. Thian also did not mention that Earth Prime was bellowing with laughter at his grandson's efficiency.

"In fact, sir, if I may be bold enough to suggest it," Thian went on, "it might put a stop to the unrest on board as well as those demonstrations if you leave this...o...b..t and get on with the Search."

As.h.i.+ant grumphed, jutted out his chin belligerently before replying. "What? And give those militants the satisfaction of thinking they won this round?"

"Since they haven't, sir," Thian replied with understandable amus.e.m.e.nt, "why not let them deceive themselves? It'd make it that much easier for the scientific work to proceed without interference."

"They can't be on board. Can they? Where that sting-pzzt you tell me about could be detected?"

"No sir," Thian said, shaking his head, noticing that Gravy, Clancy and Semirame were having trouble stifling their amus.e.m.e.nt at having confounded the Admiral.

"Are you going to tell me, young Thian?"

"I'd've thought you'd figured that out, sir." Thian turned his head slightly in the direction of the planet they were orbiting. The abandoned sphere was just in sight.

As.h.i.+ant began to nod his head. "In plain sight, so to speak. Well done, Prime Lyon. Well done, all." He included Clancy, Gravy and Commander Kloo. Then he pounced. "How'd you manage transfers without it showing up on generator use?"

"Didn't need to use gestalt, Admiral," Thian said, "not with these three and the others we tagged for the job. We were very cautious too. By the way, Petty Officer Hazur Adi was of inestimable a.s.sistance and if you could see some way to give him a commendation . . ."

"I'll speak to my flag captain . . . without specifics."

"Well, she's safe," Thian said, since he knew Captain Ailsah Vandermeer from his time aboard As.h.i.+ant's first s.h.i.+p.

"She'd better be," was As.h.i.+ant's unequivocal reply. "Well done, people. Well done. Only . . . when are they leaving . . . Where they are?" Jeff Raven then confided the coordinates of the ultimate destinations to Thian, "Grandfather has informed me, sir, so we'll just wait until we're under way again, when the fluctuations of the generators will be less noticeable and the 'port can be effected with the least possibility of anyone noticing it."

As.h.i.+ant chuckled all the way out of the Talents' lounge until the door slid shut.

Then Gravy and Semirame could indulge in the howls of laughter they had been holding back. Clancy was grinning from ear to ear at their notable success.

"And Baldwin can go . . ." Semirame began, and then clamped her mouth shut, long habit interfering with her yearning to castigate a senior officer. Even one who richly deserved it.

"You know, after seeing that ring of yachts around Heinlein Base and some of the nastier militant demos, is there any chance some idiot might try to breach Blundell?" Clancy asked soberly.

"Sure, if they want to stop all interstellar transport."

"I meant, more personally, against Jeff Raven ?"

Thian seemed to consider this and then, so abruptly that he was a blur of motion, he launched himself at Clancy, who instantly 'ported himself aside. Thian spread both hands at the success of his demonstration and walked back to his seat.

"Unlikely. And Clancy's just a T-2. With good instincts, I might add," Thian said. "Grandfather's guarded. So's Callis...o...b..se and every single Tower FT&T operating. Even if all the lower T's became disaffected, some of it would leak to a higher rank and they'd be . . ."

"What do Talents do to those who transgress?" Gravy asked when Thian didn't go on.

"I haven't heard of any . . . reprimands," Thian said, "but in the early days of Talent, those who didn't obey the tenets of Henry Darrow or subsequent Talent leaders got. . . mind-locked."

"They got their minds burned," Clancy corrected coldly.