Conscience Interplanetary by Joseph Green

Author:Joseph Green [Green, Joseph]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, pdf
Tags: Fiction in English, Science Fiction, General, Fiction
ISBN: 9780330242097
Publisher: Pan Books
Published: 1975-03-14T00:00:00+00:00

by one on the right. The winds seemed milder here and the temperature higher.

Not a butterfly was in sight. Allan decided to start their search at the nearby lake, and picked a path toward it. In thirty minutes they were standing on the shore, staring out over the mist-covered water. The lake was several kilometers wide, but the opposite shore was hidden in the thick haze.

“Allan, there’s a cave,” said Secret, pointing to the stony ridge. “It’s the first one I’ve seen on Beauty.”

Allan looked to their right and saw a low dark shadow extending twenty meters across the face of the rock. At the center it seemed at least two meters high, but was less than one at the water’s edge. It was difficult to see through the mist, and the high heat was making Allan uncomfortable.

He let Secret toward the ridge at the point where it met the shore, the cave being as good a place as any to look for dead butterflies.

And they found them.

- 16 -

The elephant graveyard of old Africa was a myth. The butterfly burial ground was real. Hurt or dying elephants could hardly travel hundreds of miles to a single spot; the butterflies could. A picture had started forming in Allan’s mind, and the examination of a few dead bodies confirmed it.

Corpse after corpse was dry, drained of all substance, with the cracked eggshells of the eater still clinging to the chitinous exterior. The floor was littered with the dry husks of long dead adults, and as Allan straightened

up from his fourth examination he saw a small, weak figure emerge from the deep shadows at the rear. It was a baby butterfly, crawling slowly and painfully on his hundred feet.

Allan motioned for Secret to leave the crawler alone, and they watched silently as it struggled to the opening above the water, the baby wings unfolding as it neared the light. At the edge it paused, testing the almost motionless air. It was stiflingly hot in the cave, the trapped vapor from the lake providing both heat and moisture. But the persistent breezes of Beauty reached even here, and after a moment there was a stir of air at the entrance. The baby suddenly launched itself out over the water, dipping at first until it almost touched but then rising swiftly as it gained speed and the updraft lifted the light body. In seconds it was out of sight in the mist.

The butterfly life cycle both began and ended here, in one of the few places on Beauty where the restless winds could not steal away the heat needed for hatching. There were probably other caves nearby, and other hot lakes around the planet, but they would only be duplicates. The picture that had been forming in Allan’s mind was complete.

Even so, he needed proof. Allan slipped off his backpack and knelt at the head of a newly dead butterfly. He opened the bag, found his laser pistol, and adjusted the beam for short-range cutting.

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