A squeak was plainly heard.
For a long moment, the queen sat still, then slowly, majestically, she rose to her hind limbs, staring straight ahead of her.
"Aha," Gollee said, "she"s noticed the screen isn"t hers!"
From under her and around, movement could be seen, but even with the remotes set up to receive images in the usual darkness of a Hive, the watchers could not tell where and what was sent. Then, all of a sudden, a perceivable green glow bathed the queen. She sat back down.
"Suspects merely a power outage," Gollee said, chuckling.
The queen had just settled back when she rose and scrambled with unexpected speed down her tunnel. . . beyond the remote"s range.
"Can we get an outside fix on transfer fifty-four?" Xahra asked.
"I"m working on screen transfer, ma"am," said the expediter. "On screen three."
That showed the outside of the collection point. The queen, scuttling with breakneck speed and followed by her male attendants, raced to the top of her facility and stood, slowly turning to survey the fields. She moved her lower limbs.
"The queen of all she surveys," Gollee remarked.
"I don"t think she likes what she sees," Pietro said.
"Not one little tiny bit," Gollee agreed.
"Let"s get her workers in place, shall we? She"s going to be calling them and they"d better answer or we"ve blown the maneuver," Xahra said, and the generators built up speed. "Expediter, let"s see the garages there."
The screens split into several smaller sections. Quickly Xahra leaned into the merge and one stable after another the workers were transferred from one facility to the other. Immediately, the ranks began to move.
"We got that in time."
Thanks for the warning, Xahra. Perry"s voice came to them. I thinly we caught number one in her morning nap. Ah, now she"s waging up to the switch. d.a.m.n it. Why couldn"t we have transferred their screen designs too?
Number fifty-four is sending her children out in their hordes, Gollee said as the ranks came trundling up out of the building, two by two, each file turning off and up into the fields. If she"s setting them to worfy she seems to be settling in her.. . new quarters all right enough.
The trampled fields were farther from the queens" quarters, as each had tried to protect her home grounds. The queen remained in position, slowly turning to be sure the workers were reaching the damaged fields before she came down on all legs and descended into the dark interior and back to her Hive. She arrived and could be seen on the remote putting her face close to the screen, before she backed off and resumed the position in which she had first been seen.
"One down and fifty-three more to go," Gollee said.
"We have the eggs to do first, you know," Xahra said. "Let"s see if we can get them in the one basket."
That was the trickiest part, as they all admitted, trying to keep the ovoids from slipping away from their "port. The first time they tried, half the eggs eluded their grasp. Some fell out onto the deserted floor of the queen"s Hive. These had to be gathered up.
Get the sides, Gollee and Pietro, I"ll get the top and bottom, Xahra said.
Why not, Pietro said, thinly a sleeve around them so they can"t escape?
That"s not a bad concept, Gollee agreed.
A stocking is better because it has a toe and nothing can slip out the bottom, was Xahra"s amendment.
Better and better.
Then let"s do it. Ready? Xahra asked her crew.
"When you are, ma"am," said Amos, who was the receiving "path.
This time the transfer worked smoothly.
"Whee, that"s a "port and a half," Gollee said.
"You"re just out of practice," Xahra said with a teasing contempt in her voice. "Expediter, may we have the coordinates for number fifty-three."
Tkt lowei and (he Hin " j "Yes ma"am."
Let"s not be so sloppy this time. On the double, queen and her gang first, the workers second and the eggs third. Then we can watch the queen react, said Xahra.
Now, now, we have to learn the trices of doing these ma.s.s "ports, Gollee said cheerfully.
Xahra shot him a startled look. What do you mean?
I mean that if this proves successful in preventing another war on Xh-33, we"re apt to be doing it on other occupied planets where we need to prevent similar ma.s.sacres.
We are? Pietro looked delighted with the prospect even if Xahra didn"t.
Speaf^for yourself, Gollee, she said rather tartly.
Oh, I do. And we all obey Earth Prime. A touch of reprimand colored his tone, but he had carefully spoken only to Xahra. He could see the flush on her cheeks. "Let"s handle number fifty-three, shall we?"
And they did, with expedition and efficiency, missing not one egg or tiny scurrier.
Sir, said Prime Thian to Earth Prime from the Washington, in orbit around its second target Hiver-occupied planet. This one has twelve empty facilities. It was one of those that sent its sphere after us. . , or rather, came out to join the sphere heading toward the system with the right kind of primary.
Really? replied Jeff Raven with suddenly active interest. Just twelve? Been down on the surface yet?
We"ve done initial probes, sir, andean investigate if you wish. There seems to be a lot of arable land left for them to expand onto.
We need to have GC readings on at least twelve Hives to be certain of the basic. . . shall I say, health and welfare . . . of the queens. The more data we have for comparison, the better we can plan the containment of the Hiver queens.
Thian chuckled. As you wish. And, ah, how"s Operation Switch doing?
Jeff Raven chuckled. With the ma.s.sed might of eight fine Primes, the switcheroo is going very well indeed. Got two more days of shifting to do. They average about ten a day. Bit tricky getting those eggs from one basket to another. Young Pietro thought of a sleeve and Xahra upped that notion to a stocking just about the time EUzara thought of a tube bandage.
Yes, Thian replied, remembering how they had been stored on the Great Sphere, that would be tricky. They don"t ma^e a neat package, li^e workers do.
However, the ones that fell out don"t seem to have been harmed, nor did their fall concern the queens. They had more on their minds than wobbling eggs underfoot. Jeff Raven sent Thian a flash of a report of the queens" marshaling workers to the fields. Your father, your brother and your two sisters have all performed very well, Gollee tells me.
You sent Gollee Gren out there?
Why not? A change is as good as a rest. Broaden his outloo^ on life. There was a pause. Your grandmother informs me that Gollee Gren"s outloo^ is quite broad enough. Get me some GC readings and data for comparisons, will you, Thian? We want to try Pierre Laney"s gentle rain from heaven on that planet and see if it is as effective as we hope it will be at Xh-33. Smell may be more powerful than a missile after all. A chuckle. The deterrent of the future-alter the outloof( by altering the ambient smells. Wish I could apply that to certain elements on Earth.
Then the touch of Jeff Raven"s mind left Thian"s.
"Anything wrong, Thian honey?" Alison Ann Greevy asked him.
"More tunnel crawling," he said with a sigh. "To get comparison stinks and all the data we can find."
She laughed, rumpling his hair. "You know you love it when you stand right in front of a queen and she doesn"t so much as give two hoots "n" a holler."
"I do like that part." Thian smoothed back his hair. "It"s that d.a.m.ned hazmat suit. . . and decontam and deodorizing afterwards."
"Yeah, but that suit keeps the sting-pzzt out, doesn"t it?" Gravy said.
"It does." He rose from the couch and took the four long strides to I.
the door into the bridge. "I better tell the Admiral. Oh, and honey, Operation Switch is going along well." "Wonders will never cease!" "I hope not."
Thian did, however, shorten the time of the onerous a.s.signment by organizing twelve teams, all eager for a chance to do a live inspection of a Hive facility. There were enough T-2"s and T-3"s in the First Fleet to accompany each team in case of trouble. Not that one expected any from the aloof queens, but he wasn"t about to have anyone under his guidance become a victim. He wondered what could provoke a Hiver queen to action-aside from checking her fields. Surely there must have been some recognition among the queens on Xh-33 that they had been removed from their original quarters?
Gravy went with him this time, and she was rather more impressed than she had been from the visuals and all the reports he had made.
"Sure is one thing to hear about and another to see," she remarked, having clung to his hand as they entered the queen"s quarters.
With the familiarity of many such visits, his teams collected the samples of air and soil both inside and outside the facility, counted workers, checked to be sure none of them were sporting new macelike accessories in their extendables and returned to the Washington. By midafternoon, Thian was able to send the carrier with the garnered samples and details back to Earth Prime. He received the formula of the pheromone "gentle rain" that was being used on Xh-33. This was to be disseminated in a spray over the lands, to disperse through the soil and thus into the food and the Hives.
"We"d have to check periodically," the Admiral said, shaking his head as if he didn"t quite believe that such an expedient would suffice.
"I expect so, sir," Thian agreed amiably. "But that wouldn"t take more than one of the fast scouts, with a T-2 aboard, instead of a Fleet."
"True, true," Ashiant said, still not truly convinced, as Thian perceived from his body language.
IW.
"Your orders are now to leave this system and proceed to the next one that"s been listed as Hiver-occupied."
Ashiant tapped in the relevant report. "Hmmm. Seven days away at top speed. Ah well, one more on our way home. Thank you, Thian."
"Thian honey," Gravy began that night as they made ready for bed. "If we have to check out every single one of those suspect systems on our way back, there"s no reason I can"t ask for maternity leave, now is there? I mean, Laria"s working her Tower and nav regs allow me to work till I get too clumsy . . . and . . . well, would you mind being a father?"
Thian turned toward her, his face lighting up with his delight. He crossed the distance between them and held her fiercely to him.
"Mind? I"ve been hoping to persuade you to consider it!"
"I don"t need much persuasion, Thian honey," she said pertly, and reached up to brush back his white lock before framing his face in her hands. "In fact, I stopped prevention just in case you were . . ."
His response showed her just how much he appreciated her willingness. Laria might have the first new generation of Lyons, but with such obvious cooperation, he and Alison Ann would not be far behind. And a "happy event" would certainly make the long Search worthwhile on a personal as well as a professional level.
Operation Switch was completed two days later. In several of the now abandoned hives, tiny creatures had been found running circles and been "ported to their respective new homes.
While an atmosphere of celebration marked the final evening meal on board the Asimov, attended by all the partic.i.p.ating Talents and the captains, every one involved was tacitly hoping that the "gentle rain" would have a long-term effect. Certainly the potential for another queens" war on Xh-33 had been defused.
Captain Osullivan had orders from the High Council to leave the Strongbow and the M.S. KLLM in orbit, keeping a close watch, with I.
Commander Makako in the Moon Base on Xh-33. They had sufficient quant.i.ties of the gentle rain of Pierre Laney"s compound to soak the ground: the pheromone compound would permeate the atmosphere and drift down into the queens" quarters.
The report from Thian Lyon in the First Fleet had confirmed that the latest Hiver-occupied world he had investigated was in no danger of erupting into dispute, and the pheromone spray saturating the soil should have the necessary calming effect. If the oldest Hiver-occupied world had never indulged in overproduction of workers to require colonization, perhaps that had been the original intent, not the constant emigrations and "sterilization" of other planets and their indigenous life-forms. Yet there were many questions unanswered. Those worlds that the Hivers had occupied, or were occupying, had to be identified. In the course of that wide-ranging survey, more planets could be made available to Mrdinis and Humans.
"Our drives starward are not so different from the Hivers" after all," Pierre remarked sotto voce to Captain Osullivan.
"No, they"re not," Etienne Osuflivan replied. He had entertained that thought on several occasions, with some private chagrin. "Except that any world with an evolving protosentient life-form is off limits to us and our Mrdini allies."
"True," Pierre replied with a tight smile. "But should we not also limit our aggrandizement when we have so criticized another"s?"
"That is not for me to decide." Osullivan was extremely glad of that.
"Nor I. I merely make an observation. But this has been the most stimulating task of my entire career," Pierre went on, idly turning his winegla.s.s by its stem as he mused. Then he lifted it to Osullivan. "This has been a marriage of the scientific and the psychic."
"Indeed it has," said Osullivan, lifting his gla.s.s to touch Pierre"s. "You might say G.o.d-sent."
Pierre caught the pun and laughed appreciatively before he finished the fine wine in his gla.s.s. "I am scarcely G.o.d or a G.o.d, Captain, but I do have the finest nose in the galaxy. I never once expected that my Talent would prove of such worth to my profession."
All! Nchliiev "We all serve, Pierre, each in our own way."
Jeff Raven brought back to the Rowan in their Callisto quarters the news that Zara"s research had borne fruit.
"You mean, don"t you, that no fruit will be borne," said the Rowan, locked in her husband"s homecoming embrace. She could feel the sense of accomplishment vibrating through his body without needing to touch his mind.
"Whatever," he said, chuckling at her correction. He released her somewhat so that, with his arm draped around her slender waist, they could walk into the dining room where dinner awaited him. He appreciated that his wife preferred to cook their meals. They enjoyed the tranquillity of their evening hours together. Both were on call for emergencies, but both had also trained their a.s.sistants in Blundell and Callisto Tower to recognize a "real" problem from something that could be solved by them or in the morning.
"Odd that the solution to both our major problems should be linked to pheromones."
"They certainly play a larger part in interactions of all the known species than I ever realized," Jeff Raven said as he drew out her chair and seated her at the table. "Let"s just hope that such simple remedies could be found to all our problems."
He filled their winegla.s.ses before he sat down. Then he inhaled deeply of the aromas wafting up from the covered dishes on the hot plates. "This smells great!"
"It"s the taste that really matters," the Rowan said, and then waggled a finger at him. "Let"s think no more about problems, love."
Jeff smiled lovingly at her. "A toast first, to Pierre and his nose, to our children and their children and to those who will take our places: May they have the sense . . . and the scents ... to provide peace throughout the galaxy."
"To peace!"
The End