They’re from the gravitational telescope. Years old, of course—they’re working as fast as they can, but the light-travel delay—”
“Right.” He studied the hazy blobs. “Some Jovians, two terrestrials. Not bad.” Because Lancer had boosted to 0.98 light speed, these images were only a few months older than the first ones they had received, years ago, back at Isis. “Carlotta’s working on reprocessing this stuff, isn’t she? When will we get better—”
“She’s in the Slots.”
“What? I didn’t—How long?”
“Two weeks now.”
Nigel was startled. He hadn’t even noticed her absence. And he disliked abrupt changes like this, friends suddenly disappearing. “When do they uncork her?”
“Six months, I think.”
“We’ll be nearly at landfall then!”
Nikka looked up from her workpad. “Slots are R and R. She’ll come out refreshed, able to relieve somebody who’s been hustling to get ready for Ross.”
“Ummm.” He frowned. “Seems reasonable … but … I don’t like it.” He shook his head and went back to mulling over the prints. But he could not concentrate.
EIGHT
Warning gongs rang throughout Lancer. Nigel crossed his legs and ignored them. The ship was striking a dense dust cloud, and the ramscoop would either work or not, nothing he could do would matter. He slid a stick into the spine of a book and opened it. The stick overfilled the book, so he thumbed for the second projection and started reading on page 287. And then Tom he talked along and talked along, and says, le’s all three slide out of here one of these nights and get an outfit, and go for howling adventures amongst the Injuns, over in the territory, for a couple of weeks or two; and I says, all right, that suits me, but I ain’t got no money for to buy the outfit, and I reckon I couldn’t get none from home—
“Nigel!” his comm cried. He tapped his fingernail in answer. “Cut into shipspeak—fast.” It was Nikka, gone before he could reply. He punched into his flatscreen and overvocal and listened.
drive tube’s holding okay max’ed on momentum transport
betcher butt we’re gonna sail right through no prob
what’s the sci package picking up I’m gettin’ funny
it’s dropped clear of our wake now pickin’ up samples
look it that absorption line there, big fat one sittin’ at 2200 angstroms thick as your thumb
absorption cross section about 4 tim 10-17 cm2 yeah
I got the culprit right here, the sampler’s got a slide on now, looks like silicate grains only that’s no silicon line
average size right aroun’ 10-5 cm I make it
Christ ’at stuff is peptides clear as a bell see those linkages
long chain stuff too all over the outer surface of those grains things are coated with it like an oil slick or somethin’
I don’t get it we’re seem’ amino acids in there too
those’re supposed to be dust particles what’s that stuff doing sticking to
look at that structure like a wall, long chains and the rest it’s a cell barrier got to be
doesn’t make sense
only use for a cell wall is to keep out your enemies
out here that means ultraviolet, UV’d blow those peptide chains to hell except for that li’l membrane there, bet it’s got silicon in it to block the UV
so peptides can stay inside the cell wall an’ link up an’ reproduce ’at’s the only thing logical I can make out
living stuff in clouds I don’t look it’s cold as a hoor’s tit out there what’s the thermodynamic driver for life
lots of IR around that’s how you saw that absorption line, same line that comes in most carbon complexes
see there in the middle that’s a silicate, the original piece of dust this cell started out on I bet
an’ two of ’em stickin’ together right there look the chains are migratin’ to the cell wall that’s it that’s it
my Gawd the density of ’em in here the ram-scoop is nearly chokin’ on ’em and the fluxlife is gettin’ barnacles of this goop all over we’re gonna have to clean up this mess
mess hell it’s reproducing cells man in these big clouds, there’s more mass in these clouds than in the goddamn stars for sure, look at all the dark patches in the night sky for sure it means there’s this peptide chem happenin’ everywhere …
Nigel watched the list of molecules and free radicals stack up: ethanol, cyanoacetylene, carbon monoxide, ammonia, methane, water—and realized that as far as the universe was concerned, this was where chemistry occurred. The planets were negligible. Driven by starlight, here the twisting coils had time to find their mates and build even more complexity. These molecular clouds were the compost heaps where the stars formed. They also swept through solar systems, littering the planets with sticky, hungry cells.
In the tenor of the crew voices he heard a strain of excitement. They had seen dozens of dead worlds and now had stumbled blindly into a caldron of life. The molecular clouds were the most massive objects in the galaxy, and they had been brewing longer than the stars. Lancer surged and burned a hole through this one, leaving fiery remnants. Ahead, glimmering dimly through the smoky fog of chemistry, was the wan glow of Ross 128.
PART SEVEN
2081 EARTH
