Transcendence (hu-3) by Charles Sheffield

Author:Charles Sheffield [Sheffield, Charles]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: sf_fantasy
ISBN: 978-0-345-36981-9
Publisher: Del Rey
Published: 1992-03-19T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

The Zardalu had been breeding — fast.

The original group released from the stasis field on Serenity had consisted of just fourteen individuals. Now Hans Rebka, retreating into the building after Atvar H’sial, Louis Nenda, and Kallik, could see scores of them already on land. Hundreds more were rising from the sea. And these were only the larger specimens. There must be thousand after thousand of babies and immature forms, hidden away in breeding areas.

Escape along the spit of land that led to the seedship?

Impossible. It was blocked by Zardalu, with more of them arriving ashore every second.

Then escape to sea?

Even more hopeless. The Zardalu had always been described as land-cephalopods, and they were fast and efficient there, but it was clear that they had not lost mastery of their original ocean environment. They were land-and-sea-cephalopods.

Add that fact to the descriptions in the Universal Species Catalog — if you’re lucky enough to live so long, thought Rebka. He grabbed the back of Louis Nenda’s shirt and stepped across the threshold. The sun outside had almost set, and the building they were entering was unlit. Ten paces inside, and Rebka could see nothing. He blindly followed Nenda, who was presumably holding on to Atvar H’sial and Kallik. The Cecropian was the only one who could still see. She provided the sonic bursts used by her own echolocation system, and she was as much at home in total darkness as in bright sunlight.

But how much time could she really buy before the Zardalu brought lights inside and followed them? This was a Zardalu building; they would know every hiding place. Wouldn’t it be better to agree on the place for a last stand?

“Nenda!” He spoke softly into the darkness. “Where are we going? Does Atvar H’sial know what she’s doing?”

There was a grunt ahead of him. “Hold on a second.” And then, after a pause for pheromonal exchange, “At says she don’t actually know what she’s doing, but she prefers it to bein’ pulled to bits. She don’t see no end to this stupid tunnel” — they had been descending for half a minute in a steady spiral — “but she’s ready to go down for as long as it does. We’ve passed five levels of chambers and rooms. There were signs that the Zardalu lived on the first three; now she’s not seeing so much evidence of ’em. She thinks we’re mebbe gettin’ down below the main Zardalu levels. If only this damn staircase would branch a few times, we might make a few tricky moves and get ’em off our track. That’s At’s plan. She says she knows it’s not much, but have you any other ideas?”

Rebka did not reply. He did have other ideas, but they were not likely to be helpful ones. If the Zardalu used only the first few belowground levels, then why did lower ones exist? Were they even the work of the Zardalu? This would not be the first planet with a dominant aboveground species and a different dominant belowground species, interacting only at one or two levels.

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