held the torch.
I peered back through two billion Martian years and saw the jewel box of the past, pressed thin as a coat of paint, opalescent against the dark strata of those siliceous oceans.
Round, cubic, pyramidal, elongated, every shape imaginable, surrounded by glorious feathery filters, long stalks terminating in slender, gnarled roots: the ancient Glass Sea creatures appeared like illustrations in an old book, glittering rainbows of diffraction as the torch moved. I specked them waving in the soup-thick seas, sieving and eating their smaller cousins.
Sometimes theyd lift from their stalks and float free, Charles said. I knew that, but I didnt mind him telling me. The biggest colonies were maybe a klick wide, clustered floats, raising purple fans out of the water to soak up sunlight
I reached down with my gloved hand to touch them. They had been glued firmly against their deathbed; they were tough, even across the eons.
Theyre gorgeous, I said.
The first examples of a Foster co-genotypic bauplan, Charles said. These are pretty common specimens. No speciation, all working from one genetic blueprint, making a few hundred different forms. All one creature, really. Some folks think Mars never had more than nine or ten species living at a time. Couldnt call them species, actuallyco-genotypic phyla is more like it. No surprise this kind of biology would give rise to the mother cysts.
He took a deep breath and stood. Im going to make a pretty important decision here. Im trusting you.
I looked up from the Glass Sea, puzzled. What?
Id like to show you something, if youre interested. A short walk, another couple of hundred meters. A billion and a half years up. Earth years. First and last.
Sounds mysterious, I said. You hiding a mother deposit here?
He shook his head. Its on a secure registry, and we license it to scholars only. Father took me there. Made me swear to keep it secret.
Maybe we should skip it, I said, afraid of leading Charles into violating family confidences.
Its okay, he said. Father would have approved.
Would have?
He died on the Jefferson.
Oh. The interplanetary passenger ship Jefferson had suffered engine failure boosting from around the Moon five Martian years before. Seventy people had died.
Charles had made a judgment on behalf of his dead father. I could not refuse. I stood and hefted my bag of tools.
The canyon snaked south for almost a hundred meters before veering west. At the bend, we took a rest and Charles chipped idly at a sheet of hard clay. Weve got about an hour more, he said. We need fifteen minutes to get to where were going, and that means we can only spend about ten minutes there.
Should be enough, I said, and immediately felt like kicking myself.
I could spend a year there and it wouldnt be enough, Charles said.
We climbed a gentle slope forty or fifty meters and abruptly came upon a deep fissure. The fissure cut across the canyon diagonally, its edges windworn smooth with age.
The whole flatland is fragile, Charles said. Quake, meteor strike Something shook it, and it cracked. This is about six hundred million years old.
Its magnificent.
He lifted his glove and pointed to a narrow path from the canyon floor, across the near wall of the fissure. Its stable, he said. Just dont slip on the gravel.
I hesitated before following Charles. The ledge was irregular, uneven, no wider than half a meter. I pictured a slip, a fall, a rip or prick in my suit.
Charles looked at me over his shoulder, already well down the ledge. Come on, he said. Its not dangerous if youre careful.
Im not a rock climber, I said. Im a rabbit, remember?
This is easy. Its worth it, believe me.
I chose each step with nervous deliberation, mumbling to myself below the microphone pickup. We descended into the crevice. Suddenly, I couldnt see Charles. I couldnt hear him on radio, either. We were out of line of sight and he was not getting through to a satcom transponder. I called his name several
I peered back through two billion Martian years and saw the jewel box of the past, pressed thin as a coat of paint, opalescent against the dark strata of those siliceous oceans.
Round, cubic, pyramidal, elongated, every shape imaginable, surrounded by glorious feathery filters, long stalks terminating in slender, gnarled roots: the ancient Glass Sea creatures appeared like illustrations in an old book, glittering rainbows of diffraction as the torch moved. I specked them waving in the soup-thick seas, sieving and eating their smaller cousins.
Sometimes theyd lift from their stalks and float free, Charles said. I knew that, but I didnt mind him telling me. The biggest colonies were maybe a klick wide, clustered floats, raising purple fans out of the water to soak up sunlight
I reached down with my gloved hand to touch them. They had been glued firmly against their deathbed; they were tough, even across the eons.
Theyre gorgeous, I said.
The first examples of a Foster co-genotypic bauplan, Charles said. These are pretty common specimens. No speciation, all working from one genetic blueprint, making a few hundred different forms. All one creature, really. Some folks think Mars never had more than nine or ten species living at a time. Couldnt call them species, actuallyco-genotypic phyla is more like it. No surprise this kind of biology would give rise to the mother cysts.
He took a deep breath and stood. Im going to make a pretty important decision here. Im trusting you.
I looked up from the Glass Sea, puzzled. What?
Id like to show you something, if youre interested. A short walk, another couple of hundred meters. A billion and a half years up. Earth years. First and last.
Sounds mysterious, I said. You hiding a mother deposit here?
He shook his head. Its on a secure registry, and we license it to scholars only. Father took me there. Made me swear to keep it secret.
Maybe we should skip it, I said, afraid of leading Charles into violating family confidences.
Its okay, he said. Father would have approved.
Would have?
He died on the Jefferson.
Oh. The interplanetary passenger ship Jefferson had suffered engine failure boosting from around the Moon five Martian years before. Seventy people had died.
Charles had made a judgment on behalf of his dead father. I could not refuse. I stood and hefted my bag of tools.
The canyon snaked south for almost a hundred meters before veering west. At the bend, we took a rest and Charles chipped idly at a sheet of hard clay. Weve got about an hour more, he said. We need fifteen minutes to get to where were going, and that means we can only spend about ten minutes there.
Should be enough, I said, and immediately felt like kicking myself.
I could spend a year there and it wouldnt be enough, Charles said.
We climbed a gentle slope forty or fifty meters and abruptly came upon a deep fissure. The fissure cut across the canyon diagonally, its edges windworn smooth with age.
The whole flatland is fragile, Charles said. Quake, meteor strike Something shook it, and it cracked. This is about six hundred million years old.
Its magnificent.
He lifted his glove and pointed to a narrow path from the canyon floor, across the near wall of the fissure. Its stable, he said. Just dont slip on the gravel.
I hesitated before following Charles. The ledge was irregular, uneven, no wider than half a meter. I pictured a slip, a fall, a rip or prick in my suit.
Charles looked at me over his shoulder, already well down the ledge. Come on, he said. Its not dangerous if youre careful.
Im not a rock climber, I said. Im a rabbit, remember?
This is easy. Its worth it, believe me.
I chose each step with nervous deliberation, mumbling to myself below the microphone pickup. We descended into the crevice. Suddenly, I couldnt see Charles. I couldnt hear him on radio, either. We were out of line of sight and he was not getting through to a satcom transponder. I called his name several
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