Resurgence

He dropped the pinnace onto one of the wide gray roads, about fifty meters from the central flagpole. When after a few minutes of silent observation neither the pinnace’s instruments nor its occupants saw or heard anything, Louis opened the hatch and stepped outside.

The final descent had been made with all suits closed, but his suit’s monitors showed an acceptable atmosphere and no ambient toxins. He waved to Atvar H’sial and said over his suit radio, “All right. Anybody who wants out for a while should do it now.”

Sinara was by his side in a moment, the faceplate of her suit already open. Atvar H’sial followed more slowly, setting in motion the complex set of servo-mechanisms that rolled back the head part of her suit. The two-meter fronded antennas slowly unfolded, while the twin yellow trumpetlike horns below them turned to take in the scene ahead. The pheromones that wafted across to Louis were wordless, but they expressed pure bliss.

Louis set out toward the nearest of the blocky objects that stood on the road. Sinara danced on ahead of him. By the time he reached her she had already opened a door at its front.

“It’s a vehicle, Louis.” For once her voice was not bubbling over with enthusiasm. “Marglottas inside it—dead. Just like the ones in the ship on Miranda. But it’s the same as there, not a sign of what killed them. They look as if they should be perfectly fine.”

Atvar H’sial had moved more slowly along the road, making her own careful observations. She said as she came to their side, “The resemblance between these deaths and the deaths on the ship that came to Miranda go beyond the superficial. When first we had an opportunity to examine those bodies, we all remarked on their exceptionally well-preserved condition. They were dead, but in a sense, like these creatures, they were more than dead.”

“At, I don’t know about Cecropians, but with humans being dead is sorta like being pregnant. Either you are or you aren’t. There’s no in-between.”

“I will define my terms more closely. When a creature dies, be it human, Cecropian, or any other form known to me, the life of the organism, considered as a single unit, ends. However, this does not at once imply the death of the multitude of microorganisms that reside within it or upon it. Their activity continues for a period, largely unaffected by the fate of their host. Were you, Louis, to expire at this very moment, the bacteria of your intestinal tract, to name but one example, would persist in their activity. When you die your body will begin to rot, to putrefy, to bloat, and to transform itself into a mass of reeking and putrescent flesh.”

“Thanks, At. It’s real nice to have somethin’ to look forward to.”

“The same would be just as true of me, Louis, or of your female here.”

Louis had been summarizing Atvar H’sial’s thoughts in words for Sinara’s benefit. He edited the final phrase—she had enough ideas on that already.

The Cecropian continued, “Yet this process of internal decay had not happened to the Marglotta who arrived at Miranda, nor to the Chism Polypheme who flew that ship. Nor is it true for these beings.” Atvar H’sial waved a paw. “In order for the mummification which we observe here to occur, all life processes, external and internal, at the total organism level and at the bacterial level, must cease together. All die.”

“How could that happen?”

“I do not know. But I am able to confirm that it is true. My ultrasonics permit me to look inside these bodies. No form of life, even at the microbial level, is present within them. But at the same time, plant life here flourishes.” The Cecropian pointed to the low greenery that separated the gray roads, and to the ugly gray cactus growths that popped up here and there among it.

“D’you think it’s like this all over Marglot?”

“That remains to be confirmed. First, however, we should determine if what we find for the Marglotta in this car is equally true for those in the city.”

Louis stared at Atvar H’sial, then turned to survey everything around them. Far off in the direction of the day-night terminator, a line of hills jutted on the skyline. A ragged edge to their outline suggested more ugly cactus growths, encouraged to enormity by the higher altitude. Everywhere else displayed the level gray of roads or a tangled mass of green that clung close to the ground.

“Before we can see how Marglotta do in a city, At, first we gotta find us one.”

“But we have found one already. It is here.” The trumpet horns on Atvar H’sial’s head swiveled around. “The Marglotta, like many beings of good sense, chose to preserve the surface of their world for other purposes. The city is underground, and it is all around us. In certain places, my ultrasonics have detected the presence of large cavities or caverns. Our task is merely to discover some access point. Logically, one or more should be present close to the city center, where the main roads converge.”