The Plot Against Earth by Robert Silverberg & Calvin M. Knox

Author:Robert Silverberg & Calvin M. Knox [Silverberg, Robert & Knox, Calvin M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: hard-boiled, detective, mystery, SF
Amazon: B000BK44GA
Publisher: Ace Books
Published: 1959-08-29T00:00:00+00:00

X.

They han the usual tests before leaving the ship. The lifeship's instruments indicated an atmosphere of breathable oxygen-nitrogen-plus-inerts-and-carbon-dioxide constitution, though both the oxygen and the COz were on the high side for Carton's tastes— 34% oxygen, 1% carbon dioxide. It was a rich mixture for an Earthman to breathe, even more so for the hapless Arenaddin; the Skorg and the four Mor-ilaru would not be bothered by the high oxygen content. Gravity, Catton was pleased to note, was .5 Skorg-norm, which was about three-quarters of a gee by Terran standards; the Arenaddin would enjoy the respite from Skorg gravitation, while Sadhig and the Morilaru, all accustomed to the fairly stiff gravitation of their native worlds, were apt to feel a bit light-footed and queasy-stomached for a while. Atmospheric pressure at sea-level was—as best as Catton could translate it from Skorg terms—18.5 psi, which was something on the soupy side.

One important fact remained to be determined before they left the ship.

"How far are we from the rescue beacon?" Catton asked. Sadhig's lean face was puckered into one immense frown.

"I'm still trying to get a fix," the Skorg said. "I'm picking up the carrier beam intermittendy, but until I get the directional fix I can't—ah—there!" Sadhig began to scribble computations in the involved squiggles that were Skorg script. He chewed on the stylus for a moment, added up a column, fed the results into the lifeship's miniature computer, and waited for confirmation. It came, a moment later. "Well?" Carton asked.

"It's better than I hoped for, considering I didn't have any idea where that damned beacon was located. We hit the right continent—our luck's with us. We're only about five hundred miles due south of the beacon. It could have been a lot worse."

"Five hundred miles!" Carton exclaimed.

Sadhig nodded. "By forced marches, we ought to get there in a month's time. We don't have a month's food, of course, but we ought to be able to find something edible in the jungle."

Catton peered through the viewscreen. He saw close-packed vegetation, beady with moisture. This was a young planet, only seventy million miles from its Sol-type yellow sun. The temperature out there, according to the instruments, was about 310 degrees on the Skorg scale, which was reckoned up from Absolute Zero. Sadhig informed him that the mean temperature on Morilar was about 305 in Skorg degrees; juggling the figures hastily, Catton decided that the temperature outside was in the neighborhood of 110 Fahrenheit. Hiking for a month on a damp, humid, world like this wasn't going to be any Boy Scout jaunt.

When Catton returned to the rest of the group, he found them stirring uneasily; none of them had any basic scientific understanding of the problems involved in landing on an unexplored world, and they regarded Catton and Sadhig with some suspicion.

"Well?" Royce asked. "What have you two been figuring out?"

"The planet's livable," Catton said. "We can all breathe the air, the gravity is fairly low, and the temperature isn't much hotter than that of Morilar.

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