A Simple Truth (34 page)

Several members of the party had experienced an irrational but very real phobia as they gazed upon the giant.  Her overwhelming presence had proved too much for them and they had to force their eyes and minds away to retain control over their reeling emotions.  The astropsychologist advised that they put on their helmets and keep the filters set to opaque until safely inside.  His advice was taken and they were able to regain a measure of calmness once more.

"Gently does it," said Knight to the pilot as he lowered the ferry carefully.  "We should be picked up by the field soon now."

The short range radar indicated that they w
ere fifteen
metres from the surface.

"Engaging auto
matic descent control
now
,"
said the pilot.

They watched the radar and the vertical thrust displays tensely.  All were safely strapped in and all felt the same apprehension at the unusual manoeuvre they were about to take part in.

"There
,"
said Knight as the thrust display began to increase.  Slowly and steadily it rose until the main engine ignition alarm warned that it was about to cut in.

"I don't like this at all
,"
said the pilot nervously.  He had to fight
all his instincts to relinquish
control of his craf
t to an outside and alien force; n
ever
theless he switched back to
manual control
and
gently
reduced
the vertical thrust
to allow descent under alien gravity
.  Soon the thrust was down to zero and the pilot
released
all
the
controls and sat back.

"That's it
,"
he announced, "we're in alien hands now."

The artificial field that now held the ferry pulled it down like a gentle but inescapable magnet.  At least that was how it felt to the occupants as they watched the silver sphere glide steadily and inexorably nearer.

Into the peculiar liquid skin they sank, like a sea of mercury, until the light returned again and they were inside and still falling gently to the inner surface.  The actual touchdown was
imperceptible;
the alien gravity control system was perfect.  The party only knew for certain that they had landed when they felt their weight begin to return, showing that the gravitational fie
ld was no longer being cancelled out
in their vicinity, but was gradually resuming its normal intensity.

"Right, helmets on
,"
instructed Knight.  Everyone had suited up prior to boarding the ferry, so they had only their helmets left to put on before they were free to leave the craft.
  Although each member of the party was wearing a vacuum suit they would be able to hear and speak quite normally while touring the vessel because each suit was fitted with
internal and
external microphone
s
and speaker
s
.

"Four at a time through the airlock
,"
advised the pilot, and slowly the party emerged onto alien ground.  Several Scouts were waiting for them, all fitted with the yellow speaking discs, and they greeted their guests warmly.

Several minutes were spent in distributing instruments and generally sorting things out.  There was no detailed plan to follow as the aliens had not been very forthcoming as to what they would or would not allow, or how long they would tolerate their visitors.  General principles had been established though, to split into as many groups as the aliens could spare guides, to cover as much ground as quickly as possible, and to record absolutely everything.  The unlucky pilot had to stay with the ferry at all times, ready to dispense any consumables that were needed and to ensure as far as possible that the
Scouts
did not tamper with anything.

There were six Scouts available so the party split up accordingly and quickly arranged a rough exploration pattern so as to avoid overlapping with each other.

The vessel was arranged in layers of spheres, each layer forming a hollow tetrahedron with successive layers to
the inside.  Knight's group was
to explore part of the second layer of spheres so they
started to walk towards
the nea
rest tunnel.  The Guardian who
was in control of the Scout played the perfect host.  He was friendly and happy to answer questions.  He explained that although there were six Scouts there was just a single Guardian influencing them all.  Such
a feat was well within the capacity
of a Guardian.  Knight felt that it was only fair to take a back seat and let the others ask the questions, so he busied himself in recording the surroundings and carefully observing and memorising everything in sight.

Their guide explained that the outer layer of spheres contained most of the vessel's services.  The propulsion machinery was located here facing out through the
skin;
in fact the party was now walking over it.  The operating principles had been described superficially during the radio question and answer sessions, but it was very much more satisfying to hear them directly from a
Guardian
.

Like all the internal transport and mass control systems the propulsion functioned by means of a gravitational field.  In this case the field started about six kilometres outside the skin and was a kilometre or so in depth. 
Hydrogen,
collected from space then
stored in the outer spheres and pressurised by the weight of the skin
, was
allowed to pass out to the field where
i
t
was
accelerated almost to light speed.  This was the mysterious jet screen.  The reaction was used to accelerate or decelerate the vessel, conditions inside being maintained by internal fields.  It was explained that the internal for
ces always had to balance.  When
ever a mass was acted upon by a field it was always balanced by a force on another mass in the opposite direction.  Even the aliens were subject to Newton's third law!

A further restriction was that the fields could only act close to the vessel itself.  This explained why it was still subject to the earth's gravitational field.  The aliens had achieved a remarkable freedom of movement, but they were not yet independent of the fundamental forces.  Knight found this
reassuring;
it showed that they were still short of being all-powerful.

"Before we enter the tunnel
,"
said the Guardian, "we have a demonstration for you that I am sure you will find interesting."

He pointed upwards and the group watched, wondering what they were about to see.  Abruptly the light inside the vessel vanished leaving them in total darkness.  Then, just as abruptly, the darkness vanished, and to the complete astonishment of all was replaced by the beautiful and huge blue
and white
earth, hanging overhead and shining brilliantly.  Involuntarily people grasped one another in fear and shock.  It was a most peculiar feeling, to have gravity clearly defining the up and down directions, and to see the earth, not down as normally experienced, but undoubtedly up in the sky and too close for comfort.  But what
had happened to
the skin?  It had disappeared, yet there had been no escape of gas.  Knight struggled with the paradox as he watched, fascinated.

"The protective membrane can be made reflective, absorbent, or transparent to any band of frequencies
,"
explained the Guardian.  "It is necessary for observation purposes.  The outside can be made to retain its reflective appearance independently, or to become transparent also."

The tone was so matter-of-fact that Knight felt it should all have been obvious to him.  Perhaps it would have been but for the emotional shock of the transition.  In an instant conditions were back to normal again.  The earth had gone and the inside was illuminated once more.  It had been an interesting demonstration certainly, but it also served once again to reinforce the awareness of alien power, and Knight
wondered if that
was its true purpose.

He looked around at the banks of propulsion field projectors.  Like many things in the vessel they were self
-
illuminating.  He recalled his earlier puzzlement at the lack of lighting.  He knew better now but still found it difficult to believe.  The lighting was everywhere.  Everything that could be seen emitted its own light, and it could be adjusted in intensity and frequency so there was no need for any external lighting system.  How it was achieved was a mystery and no amount of questioning had been able to solve it.  The aliens had such understanding and control over everything that human scientists felt like children in comparison.

In the tunnel car their guide continued his description of the vessel layout.  The outer layer of spheres housed all the atmospheric purification and replenishment systems, food production and synthesis of all consumable materials.  They housed all the guidance, navigation and observation instruments and the aliens' equivalent of laboratories, workshops and factories.

The second layer housed all the various animal specimens and experimental stock from the fifty-eight developable life
-
bearing planets in Pleiades' sector of the galaxy.  It was now known that Pleiades was not from Procyon.  In fact her only connection with that star had been that it was the most convenient one to use as a reference for the earth's
receivers
when the music had first been transmitted.  The aliens had positioned their vessel on the Procyon-Earth line and had continually corrected to maintain that alignment as the earth moved around the sun.

Pleiades had journeyed much
fa
rther
than eleven light years.  In fact the distance from her last port of call had been over five thousand light years.  Such immense distances and time spans were
capable of being bridged by
virtue of relativity.  The vessel could attain a velocity within a tiny fraction of the velocity of light itself, so a round trip that lasted for
a
hundr
ed thousand years relative to the earth need last
only
a few hundred years to the travellers on board.  The
Guardians
could live for
many
such trips although the Scouts operated at
optimum efficiency with a life
span of about
a hundred
years.

The vessel could last indefinitely barring major accidents.  She formed a completely self-sufficient organism, able to regenerate any part of herself both living and non-living from the raw materials of space, and powered by an energy source that the
Guardian
s described as temporal vorticity but which to humanity was yet another mystery.  The more humanity learned of Pleiades and of the aliens the more humility it felt.  Humans were seemingly as primitive to them as
wild animals
were to humans.

The third layer of spheres was mainly occupied by the Scouts.  Here they lived and worked, rested and played.  The fourth layer consisted of only thirty-four spheres, and here were to be found the Guardians, and equipment for the more vital control functions.  The fifth layer should have contained a single central sphere but surprisingly it was missing.  This was a feature that the probes had soon discovered but the reason then had been unclear.  The
Guardian
s later explained that it was left empty for the construction of new spheres to replace damaged ones or to increase the vessel's size.  They were built in this space and then manoeuvred out to wherever required.

A two
-
minute journey brought the little group to
its
destination.  The Guardian explained that they were outside the central shell of one of the second layer spheres and would emerge onto a clear surface through which they could observe some very interesting creatures.  Knight followed their guide out.  He was expected to lead the way since he had been here before and to some extent knew what to expect.  He was beginning to feel quite at home and had even mastered the art of crossing boundaries by falling through them.  He smiled as he watched his companions crawl and grope their way through, and enjoyed a thoroughly unjustified glow of superiority.

Outside it was as the
Guardian
had said.  They looked down into a muddy looking liquid but there was no sign of anything living or moving.  It was mainly liquid ammonia the
Guardian explained
, with various dissolved solids and gases.

"What are we expected to see
?"
asked one of the party.

"Be patient
,"
advised their guide, and then
,
"there
,
" he said, pointing to a darker patch of liquid.

Everyone watched.  For a while nothing seemed to be happening
,
then gradually they became aware that the patch was thickening, it was growing darker and smaller by the second.  Then, as if a critical point had been reached, the shape suddenly coalesced into a reco
gnisable form.  And what a form it was.  A
human being, fully suited
,
and looking out at the group from the inside! There was a collective gasp of shock, and some stepped back involuntarily.