The Only Neat Thing to Do

'Oh, for the gods' sake. Well, explaining and demonstrating will give me something to do. But I don't think our audience needs it.'

Click.

In an instant her voice is back again, sounding tired.

'We've been walking eighteen hours total,' she says. 'My pedometer says we're sixty-one kiloms from the ships. The trail is still clearly visible. We're nearing an arm of one of the glaciers that extend south from the ice cap. I can see a line of low clouds — yes, with rainbows in them! — like a miniature weather front. The men seem to have been making straight toward it. Syl says the seeds have a primitive tropism to cold. That they can live a very, very long time if it's cold enough. I don't think anybody should come near this planet for a very, very long time. All right, onward.'

Click — off. Click — on.

'The glacier edge and a snowbank are right ahead. I think I see them — I mean, their bodies. …There's a cold wind from under the glacier; it smells bad.'

Click …click.

'We found them. It's pretty bad.' The voice sounds drained. 'I did what I could. They're like frozen. They crawled under the edge of the ice; it stands off the ground and makes a cave there, with deep green lightcracks. Nothing had been at them that I could tell, but they both have big, nasty-looking holes above their noses, where the sinuses are.

'I don't know their last names, so I just scratched 'Boney and Ko, brave Spacers for the Federation, Fed Base 900' on a slaty piece.

'Oh — they left a message, on the same sort of rock. It says: 'Danger. WE are Infekted. Fatel.' All misspelled, like a kid. I guess the …things …kept eating their brains out.

'And there are seeds all over around here, like gold dust on the snow. They rise up in a cloud when a shadow falls on them. Syllobene says these are new seeds and spores that the young Eea formed; they mated when the men did, and the seeds grew while the men walked here. Anyway, those holes in their faces are where the new seeds sprouted out in a big clump or stream.

'I got out my glass and looked at a group of seeds. That gold color is their coat or sheath. Syl says it is just about impermeable from outside. There's a big difference in the seeds, too — some are much, much larger and solid-looking; others are more like empty husks. Syl says the big ones beat out the others when competing for a host, and the earliest big one takes all.'… A sigh.

'Let's see, have I said everything? Oh, maybe I should add that I don't think those holes were bad enough to cause the men's deaths. It must have been what went on inside. I didn't see any other wounds, except scratches and bruises from falling down, I think. They …they were holding each other by the hand. I fixed them up, but I didn't change that.

'Now I guess that's all. I don't want to sleep here; I'm going to get as far back toward the ships as I can tonight. It may not be night; I told you the sun doesn't set, but it makes some pretty reddish glow colors. Syl is so sad she'll hardly talk at all. …Signing off now, unless something drastic happens.'

The deputy clicked the 'corder off.

'Is that all?' someone asked.

'Oh, no. I merely wanted to know if everyone is satisfied that they're hearing clearly so far. Did everyone get enough on the men's conditions, or would Doc like me to run back over that?'

'Not at present, thanks,' says Medical. 'I would assume that the action of forming a large number of embryos requires extra energy, and consequently, during the men's last walk, their parasites were consuming nutrients — brain tissue and blood — at an ever-increasing rate. As to the exact cause of death, it could be a combination of trauma, hypothermia, malnutrition, and loss of blood; or perhaps the parasites attacked brain structures essential to life. We won't know until we can — I guess we won't know, period.'

'Anyone else?' says the deputy in his 'briefing session' manner.

Coati's father makes an ambiguous throat-clearing noise but says nothing. No one else speaks, despite the sense of large, unuttered questions growing in the room.

'Oh, get on with it, Fred,' Exec says.

'Right.'

'We're back at the ship, resting up,' says Coati's voice. 'Syl, you've been very quiet for a long time. Are you all right? Are you still shook from seeing what the young ones did?'

'Oh, yes.'

'Well, push it aside, honey. If I can, you can. Try.'

'Yes….'

'You don't sound like you're trying. Listen, I can't carry a melancholy, dismal person in my head all the way back to FedBase. I'll go nutters, even in cold-sleep. Don't you think you could cheer up a little? Wasn't it fun when we tried singing? After all, the men all happened a long time back; it's all over. There's nothing you can do.'

In the room at Fed Base, Coati's father recognizes a piece of his own advice to his daughter in long-ago days, and blinks back a tear.

'And we've done something useful — actually invaluable, because only you and I are safe on this planet. Right? So maybe we've saved the lives of whoever might have come to look.'

'Um'm…'

'She's right,' says Exec.

'Of course, it's only Human lives, but it was the Human men made you sad, wasn't it, Syl. So really, it's all even. And those two had a really nice time on your planet first. Hey, think how good you'll feel when you get home. Would it make you feel better if I showed you the scenes from Nolian when we get going?'

'Yes… oh, I don't know.'

'Syl, you're hopeless. Or is something else bothering you? I'm getting hunches. …Anyway, we've done everything we can here, I'm taking CC-One up. I collected Boney and Ko's last charting cassettes; I'll put them in a pipe with this, and with the little cassette from the bow camera. I don't think they have left anything else of value. I closed the door and wrote a sign on the port to stay out. If you at the Fed want to salvage that ship, you're going to have to go in with flamers. Or get an Eea to go in with you. Personally I think it isn't worth the danger: some seeds could be on the outside, and get left wherever you went with the ship. Hey, something I've been thinking — I wonder if possibly this could be the plague that wiped out the Lost Colony. Seeds drifting in from space. This whole great group of suns could be dangerous. Oh, lords. What a blow. …Hey, that's something that Syl and I could check someday! Syl, after you get home and have a nice rest-up, how would you like to come with me on another trip? If they'd let me — I'm sure they would, because we'd be their only seedproof scouts! Only, my poor folks. That reminds me: my father may have messaged Far Base; it'd be great if somebody could message him and mother, collect, that all's well and I'm coming back. Thanks a million. My address is Cayman's Port, and all is on record there. Syl, there's another thing we could do — how'd you like to meet my folks? You could learn all about families, and go back and be a big mentor on Nolian. They'd love to meet you, I know… I guess. Green. I'm taking the ship up now.'

Click. Click.

'We're up, and I'm setting in course for the first leg back to Far Base. Whew, these yellow suns are really beautiful. But Syl is still in a funk. It can't be because of what we saw on the planet. I keep feeling sure there's something you aren't telling me, Syl. What is it?'

'Oh, no, I—'

'Syl! Listen, you're thinking with my brain, and I can sense something! Like every time I suggested something we could do, I got drenched in some kind of sadness. And there's a feeling like a big thing tickling when you won't talk. You've got to tell me, Syl. What is it?'

'I …oh, I am so ashamed!'

'See, there is something you're hiding! Ashamed of what? Go on, Syl, tell me or I'll — I'll bash us both. Tell me!'

'Ashamed,' repeats the small voice. 'I'm afraid, I'm afraid. My training. …Maybe I'm not so completely developed as I thought. I don't know how to stop— Ohhh,' Coati's voice wails. 'I wish my mentor were here!'