Foster, Alan Dean Icerigger 2 Mission to Moulokin

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not cer-tain of the details or mechanics, but that's what I believe takes place.
"Think what that would mean for this planet." He spoke distantly, his gaze centered on events far away in
time and place. "During the hot period the ice oceans melt, and rapidly. The sea level would rise to
submerge island states such as Sofold and much of Arsudun. Sofold is in reality built atop a seamount,
while the mountain-tops of Poyolavomaar would be-come true islands." Suddenly he dropped his gaze,
looking embarrassed.
"That was what puzzled me so about Moulokin canyon." Ethan thought back, recalling the teacher's
confusion over the canyon's geology and his feeling of half-recognizing its source.
"It's not a river canyon at all, though it resembles one closely. Rather, it's a dry undersea canyon, the kind
that slices through a continental shelf down to the edge of the abyssal plain flooring the ocean. The cliffs
of the plateau we sailed alongside for so long are actually the old continental shelf. Now," he said with
satisfaction. "I'm ready to go digging for artifacts. But not in the cities. Right here, beneath the ship."
"Wait a minute. What do you expect to find under the ship? And what did you mean when you said the
Tran and the Saia both built the metropolis?"
"Tell you in a couple of days, young feller-me-lad," he said, mimicking September.
It was two days, exactly. What the teacher un-covered were far less spectacular and much more
im-portant than any objects thus far uncovered in the buried structures.
He spread them out on a table in the central cabin, where human and Tran alike could see. "Look,"
Wil-liams began, "insect eggs over there." He pointed to a pile of eddy-shaped, tiny white beads. "Try
opening one. The casings are tough as stelamic. I had to use my beamer to assure myself of the contents.
"Animal eggs." He pointed to some similar objects, only they were larger and multi-colored. "Seeds, I
think." He indicated a vast array of black and brown objects, mostly spherical. "Those I could barely singe
with the beamer set for fine cut.
"When the temperature rises and the oceans melt, you'd have ample rainfall. In addition to enhancing an
explosion of vegetation on land, such a drastic change would kill off the pika-pina and pika-pedan.
Despite such changes, some plants have managed to survive the cold periods. Witness the yellow grass
and occasional wire-brush we've passed these past days. Those grasses and the unknown varieties
contained in these seeds take over the land. The pika-growth would retreat to the poles, waiting for cold
epochs to return. We've seen how fast it grows. It could expand down from the poles, and perhaps from
isolated surviving pockets on the shores, to become the dom-inant vegetable species in a very short time.
"I wish I had a decent laboratory here. These eggs& Somehow they survive thirty thousand years before
the land warms and frees them. That's im-portant, because there are pretty disorganized people wandering
around at that time, looking for food.
"The Golden Saia are not a different variety of Tran, nor are the Tran a species of Saia." He ges-tured at
Hunnar, at Elfa, at Ta-hoding. "You and the Saia are the same people."
A mate made a disgusted noise.
"The Saia are the warm-weather mode of the Tran. During the onset of cold, those who survive the radical
weather change develop thick fur. Wing dan appear and podal claws expand and grow to become chiv for
traveling across the ice." He sat down behind his table of living fossils.
"Think what such cataclysmic change would do to a developing but still primitive society. Famine, death
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Alan Dean Foster - Mission to Moulokin
from exposure, the near instant destruction of familiar food supplies. Sea travel obliterated, cutting off
inter-continental and interisland communication. A drastic reduction in population which explains the
extent of these cities compared to the size of present Tran com-munities.
"It explains, Hunnar, why your people retain no memory of your warm weather ancestors. Survival would
be more than enough to occupy every mobile minute of the dazed remnants of that hot climate
civilization. How to make a fire, how to cook food, those would be the important things to hand down to
shivering children. Not history. Given the frequency of the warm-cold weather cycle, you never have the
chance to catch your racial breath."
"No ice free-flowing water for oceans?" Hunnar's expression showed both horror and disbelief, as if
someone had proved unequivocally that the world was flat.
"No ice," said Ethan slowly. "And probably no real winds to speak of, either. Rain instead of snow and ice
particles good-water-falling-from-the-sky," he trans-lated awkwardly, remembering that the Tran had
no word for rain.
"No ice." Hunnar seemed unable to pass beyond that incredible concept. "One could fall all the way
through to the center of the world."
"Water can support you, Hunnar, though not as well as ice." Ethan forbore trying to describe what
swimming was.
"The more reason for this confederation." Septem-ber brought them back to the present, back from
speculations future and past. "If this information can be conveyed back to a few Commonwealth
bureau-crats in the right agencies, it could mean a change so big and important here that well, I can't put
into words what it would mean to your people, Hunnar.
"More o' less, it'd mean that the next time your world warms up and you develop a nice, burgeoning
society, get yourselves growing good and proper, then when it turns cold again, Commonwealth
technology will be there to help you cope. Assumin' the Common-wealth stands. I don't make predictions
for any government. They've got a disconcertin' way o' self-destructing.
"And you'd be able to develop a true planetary society for the first time, gain a continuity of racial
development and history your world's knocked down every time its gotten started.
"But it won't do anybody any good unless we get this knowledge to Commonwealth authorities and show
them there's a world here cryin' out for associate status and some honest recognition."
XVI
It was several days before they broke into the As-sembly. The impressive domed chamber was buried
beneath a huge slide. That unstable ground made Ethan and several others reluctant to enter, despite the
apparent stability of the intact ceiling. Williams and Eer-Meesach could not be restrained, however. They
were followed by others, reluctantly, into the largest enclosed space they'd found on Tran-ky-ky.
Built of stone and metal so solid that it supported the cumulative weight of dirt, rock and structures above
it, the dome was filled with engravings and mosaics which proved conclusively most of William's
assumptions.
"You were not entirely correct, my friend." Eer-Meesach ran a gnarled finger across one wall bas-relief.
"The yellowish grass does not drive out the pika-pina but rather is a warm weather variety of it, as the
Golden Saia are warm weather versions of us Tran." [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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