Unto My Manifold Dooms

'I'm worried about young Greer,' Captain Hegg said, after carefully making sure that he was talking through his suit speaker and that his radio was turned off.

'Sonny is a good chap,' Robson answered, plodding along at his side. 'He's not as young as all that either. He has his doctorate, he's done some very original work. I've read some of his papers.'

'It's not his work that bothers me. If he couldn't do it Spatial Survey would never have sent him out on this job. If there are the right kind of mineral deposits here he will find them and Barabashev will find a way to get the stuff out. I don't know anything about that, but I do know my job, which is running this expedition and seeing that everyone stays alive. And Sonny Greer is too careless out here.'

'He has had field experience before."

'On Earth,' Hegg snorted. 'Antarctic, jungles, deserts. Kid stuff. This is his first offplanet trip and he is not se­rious enough about it. You know what I mean, professor.'

'Only too well—since this is my eighth survey. And I am much more supernumerary than you are, let us not forget. The only reason the higher powers include a food-consuming ecologist such as I on these junkets is to stress the scientific value of new-planet work and to get a bigger appropriation come budget time. I have developed a very relaxed attitude towards this sort of thing from being on these expeditions, yet always being a bit on the outside. Give the chap enough time and keep after him. He'll catch on. Don't you remember me on my first expedition? Tanarik-4?'

Hegg laughed. 'How could any of us forget it? It must have been a month before the smell washed off.'

'Then you see what I mean. Everyone is green as grass at the start. He'll come around.'

'I suppose you are right.'

'There's something in my trap—look! A serpentoid and I swear—it has six legs!'

Two of the other traps also contained samples of the local life forms, and it took some time for Robson to poi­son them and transfer them to the sealed carrying case. There was no possible way to bring living specimens back to earth, or even to keep them alive in the dome with the restricted means available. The animals would have to be dissected and preserved in sealed plastic.

It was sunset when they started the trek back with the heavy carrying case, and it was dark long before they had reached the dome. But the directional beam came in clearly and the light on top of the radio mast was visible while they were still two kilometres away. Air might have been a problem, they were both on their reserve tanks, but they had more than enough left for the remaining time. The outer door of the lock was open and Hegg pulled it shut behind them, spun the wheel to seal it, then began the atmosphere evacuation pumps. Robson turned on the cleansing showers to wash away all traces of the alien at­mosphere and soil from their suits.

The shower roared briefly, then died to a weak trickle.

"The tank is empty,' Hegg said, looking at the indicator on its side. 'Who was supposed to refill it?'

'Sonny—I think,' Robson said hesitatingly. 'But I'm not really sure of the roster.'

'I'm sure,' Hegg said grimly. He spun to the intercome phone on the wall of the lock chamber and leaned on the bell button.

'What's up?' the tiny speaker buzzed. 'This station on call day and ni . . .'

'You did not fill the shower tank, Greer. It is on your duty roster for today.'

'You're right, Cap'n. Clean slipped my head worrying about dinner and all. Soon as you get inside I'll get right on it.'

'Can you tell me how we are going to get back inside if we can't rinse?'

There was only silence for long seconds. Then, 'I'm sorry about that. Just an accident. Is there anything we can do?'

'You're damn right there is. Get the drill and chuck in a bit with a diameter smaller than the filling hose from the reserve cans. Shave down the end of the hose, then one of you stand by with the tank while the other one drills a hole. As soon as the drill is through jam in the end of the hose—and I mean fast. You'll have a positive pressure on your side, so you'll be all right. We're in our suits. Then let in the shower fluid. We'll wash under the hose.'

'It sounds dangerous, Captain. Isn't there anything else.'

'No. Do it that way, and do it now!'

'I'm surprised they didn't build the tank in there with a pipe so it could be filled from in here.'

The principle is to have as few openings as possible in a sealed bulkhead—and we can discuss the shortcomings of the designers some other time. Get that drill now!'