The Alpha Centauri Trilogy: Omnibus Edition of First Landing, Sawyer's World, and The Return by Alastair Mayer

Author:Alastair Mayer [Mayer, Alastair]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mabash Books
Published: 2019-12-10T22:00:00+00:00

∞ ∞ ∞

“So Doctor Singh,” Sawyer began, “now that you’ve had chance to look at all the local flora, what’s the final verdict? All Earth-descended?”

“Well, again without a DNA sequencer, or some of the other high tech gear we don’t have, I can’t prove anything,” the botanist said. “I will say that so far after all the plants, animals and bacteria we’ve looked at, there’s nothing we can point to and say, ‘this is alien’. Just like Kakuloa, except for the day and year length, this could be a long-lost continent on Earth. The gravity is even closer than Kakuloa's.”

Sawyer might have had a reservation about the lack of something that could be pointed to and called alien, but that surely wasn’t anything that had grown up here. Then she had another thought and cringed. What if the alien came from yet another Terraformed planet? Could it, she, be descended from Earth life too? Dinosaurs, perhaps?

“Something wrong, Elizabeth?” Singh had noticed her brief pained expression.

“No,” she said, patting her abdomen. “Just something that didn’t digest well, I think. Or cramps. Maybe my contraceptive implant is wearing off. You?”

“No, not at all. Surely it is too soon.”

“You’re right. Whatever.”

“Are you eating the local food yet? It hasn’t bothered anyone else, but maybe you’re sensitive to something the rest of us aren’t?”

Sawyer shook her head and waved away her concern. “No, Jennifer, I don’t think it’s that. It’s gone now, don’t worry about it. You were saying about the lifeforms?”

“All are descended from ancient Earth stock, as far as we can tell. Same anatomical features on the mammals, the grasses, and so on.”

“Well, that confirms what we expected. Useful information.”

“So what do we do now?”

“Essentially, we wait for pickup. Since we have no idea how that will be, we’d best focus on preparing for a long stay.”

“There’s been enough time for Heinlein to get back to Earth and return here, if not to actually pick us up then at least to give us an ETA for that. Any thoughts on why we haven’t heard?”

Sawyer shook her head. “Oh, plenty of thoughts, but no way of knowing which might be correct. They haven’t had much more than a month back at Earth, they may still be in quarantine. I’m sure things are also pretty hectic with the news of what we’ve found, and the welcome-back ceremonies. It will take a while to overhaul the Heinlein and re-provision it for the return. That’s if they even figure it’s worth a return just so they can radio us when to expect pickup. They might wait until there’s a refueling pod ready to bring with them.”

“Yes,” Singh said, hesitating a little. “I suppose you’re right.”

“Sure, not to worry.” Sawyer wondered if Singh was having second thoughts about her decision to stay, and wondered how many others might be having similar thoughts. Not that there was anything any of them could do about it now. “But we ought to be prepared just in case.”

“Yes,” Singh said, straightening up.

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