The Rains of Eridan by HM Hoover

Author:HM Hoover [Hoover, HM]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Sff, YA
ISBN: 9780416871005
Publisher: Methuen Publishing Ltd
Published: 1977-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

XV

THEO HAD MORE VOLUNTEERS THAN SHE HAD EXPECTED FOR THE TRIP BACK INTO THE MOUNTAINS. THEIR ENTHUSIASM PUZZLED HER. WHEN SHE FIRST WENT ALONE INTO THE INTERIOR, HALF THE BASE STAFF HAD BEEN SO INCAPACITATED BY ILLOGICAL FEAR THAT THEY HAD HAD TO ESCORT EACH OTHER FROM DOME TO DOME. THEY WERE AFRAID TO BE ALONE OUTSIDE. NOW, WITH SEVERAL VERY GOOD REASONS TO BE AFRAID, ALMOST NO ONE WAS. WHY? THEY COULD IGNORE THE DANGER OF THE RAIN, FLYING IN THE RAIN, THE THREAT OF THE ANIMAL, THE DISCOMFORT OF CAMPING OUT? SHE TOO WAS WORRIED ABOUT ALL THESE THINGS, BUT HER SENSE OF CURIOSITY WAS STRONGER THAN HER SENSE OF FEAR. “I DON’T UNDERSTAND MY POPULARITY,” SHE TOLD KAREN AFTER THE FOURTEENTH VOLUNTEER LEFT THEIR COMPARTMENT.

Karen looked at her oddly and frowned. “You really don’t know why they want to go with you ?”

Theo shook her head.

“Remember when the pictures of the cave started? No one said, ‘Look at the mounds!’ What they said was, ‘Look at the crystals!’ ”

“Oh, surely not greed. Not to that degree,” Theo said in her naivete.

“The Commander said rumor has it that the crystals are worth twelve hundred credits per karat uncut. Some of the crystals weigh more than twenty-five hundred karats.”

“Oh.” Theo did not question what they would do with the money. She realized her attitude toward money was not mainstream. Like all members of colonial research and development crews, she was unable to spend any of her salary in space or while confined to new planets. Credits accumulated and interest compounded until, short of insane extravagance, she would never have time to spend it all. When she finally retired, probably to one of the ringworlds where controlled environments and lessened gravity prolonged human life, she would live to a ripe, rich old age. As should all her colleagues. The fact that almost all of them seemed to feel that one could never have too much money puzzled her. At times it made her wonder if they knew something she did not.

“Well,” she said, “they can risk their lives to pick up crystals. But not mine or yours. We’re going alone, you and I.”

Karen fell asleep early. The base was very quiet that evening. It seemed odd to look out the windows and see all the lights outside—odd but comforting. They lit up the rain. No animals at all even approached the area. Those staff members not on guard duty kept to their own rooms. Theo, busy collecting what gear she would need for the trip, saw almost no one in the halls after eight p.m.

In the deserted lounge the vu-screen was entertaining the chairs with a very hoary space opera. She turned it off. From the sounds escaping into the hall, it was evident that a therapy session was going on in Dr. Wexler’s quarters. Evelyn was a devout believer in body contact to relieve tension and depression. Theo did not wonder why she had not been invited. She knew. But she did wonder for a moment if the Commander was in therapy, since Dr.

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