(eng) Nancy Kress - Probability Trilogy 02 by Probability Sun

Author:Probability Sun [Sun, Probability]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

SEVENTEEN

IN THE NEURY MOUNTAINS

Captain Heller reported to Kaufman by comlink the return of the shuttle to base camp, even though Kaufman had just heard it screaming through the atmosphere overhead. “Shuttle has returned, sir.”

“Thank you, Captain.” Just now he didn’t want one of the military briefings so dear to Heller, status quo report and procedural report and deployment report. The second test on the artifact would begin any moment.

“Disembarking were nine natives, who will be immediately escorted to the perimeter, and—”

“Give them a minute to recover, Captain. They’re not used to hurtling on and off their planet.”

“Yes, sir,” Heller said frostily. “Also disembarking were Dr. Sikorski and Ms. Grant.”

Marbet? Why had she come down? No point in asking Heller, who had started on her meticulous reports.

“Lyle!” called Dieter Gruber. “Come, we are ready to begin!”

“—No signals received of any—”

“Yes, thank you, dismissed,” Lyle said, and broke the link.

At the edge of the meadow the scientists waited impatiently. Again the detection equipment had been set up, including the robot to depress setting prime two. Boulders and other objects, of various compositions, sat at various distances from the artifact. Sensors had been programmed in orbit. The difference was that setting prime one had produced a phenomenon predicted to a fairly high confidence level. No one had any idea what setting prime two would produce. Nor what would be required to shield against it, although they had done their best.

Shields up, the small group waited tensely. When the orbitals were in the right position, Capelo said, “Now!”

Nothing happened.

“No changes in radiation level at any detection site,” Albemarle said, studying his displays, and one by one the rest of the detectors reported the same thing.

“No change anywhere,” Gruber said. “Why not?”

Rosalind Singh said, “I doubt they’d build in a setting with no effect.”

“How do we know what they’d do?” Albemarle said. “Maybe the setting’s broken, somehow.”

Gruber said, “Nothing has ever malfunctioned anywhere in any space tunnel. Their equipment does not seem to break.”

“But there’s a first time for everything, Dieter.”

Only Capelo said nothing. Kaufman watched him curiously. The physicist stood with his eyes closed and his arms crossed on his chest, the same posture Kaufman had surprised him in before. A black hole … everything about him seemed concentrated inward, cut off from communication with the outer world. Albemarle was watching Capelo carefully, and it seemed to Kaufman that Albemarle’s expression was a strange combination of curiosity, disdain, and wistfulness.

The others resumed running programs that might find some change in something, somewhere, as a result of activating setting prime two. Capelo abruptly came out of his trance and walked rapidly away. Kaufman didn’t try to stop him.

It was half an hour before he returned, dirty from climbing rocks. Without preamble he said, “Set up to test setting prime three.”

Albemarle said, “Without knowing what prime two does? Why? To go to a greater strength because you can’t crack a lesser one is—”

Kaufman said, “What are you thinking, Tom?”

Capelo said, “I’m not sure yet. But we need to test setting prime three first.

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