curious shallow basin forming the top of another rock tower.
"This is one of the best places," Trudy continued. "See? There."
Bey saw nothing. He squinted harder into the rising sun. The ground shadows were long, dark, and confusing, and he needed a few seconds to make out movement next to them.
"Can we land?"
"No. Too rough."
"Can we get closer?"
"Doing it now."
Trudy had taken over manual control. The car banked to the right and descended. Bey leaned forward as they swooped in low, wishing that he had some kind of telescope.
There were five of them. Large-headed, fat-bodied, thick-legged, and bipedal, they bounced across the ground with the long, springing leaps of kangaroos, covering fifteen meters and more at each bound. Chameleonlike, their skins were black on the side that faced the sun, white everywhere else. Good strategy for heat absorption and conservation. Their feet seemed to be both hoofed and clawed, for insulation from the frozen ground and purchase on slippery thawed rock.
They showed no sign of alarm. As the car passed right overhead two of them stopped and stared upward. Bey saw big deep-sunk eyes fringed with thick lashes, bulging noses, and ear cavities with padded flaps that could move to cover them.
Trudy was turning the car to make a second run. But she was going to be too late. Bey saw the five creatures take a last look in their direction, then move toward the shadow of a ledge of rock. One of them gave a little wave as they disappeared from view. The thin Mars atmosphere scattered very little light. Even flying directiy above the rock shadow, all that Bey could see below was blackness.
"Is it worth sticking around?" He was hungry for more.
"Not today. When they head out of sight like that it means they don't want visitors."
"How about on foot?"
"That's possible. But not if you stay on Mars for only one day."
Bey shook his head. Trudy had set the bait. Now she wanted to see how firmly he was on the hook. "I have to get back to Earth."
"You realize what you were seeing?"
"Sure. I won't pretend I'm not fascinated. It's a form-change job, no doubt about it—you'll notice that there were no signs of air-tanks, and there's no way that an animal form could adapt so fast to such extreme conditions. Those are humans down there."
"BEC had nothing to do with this."
"I guessed as much."
"But we might like to."
"I guessed that, too. I thought before I came that it would be new forms down in the Underworld, but this is much more intriguing."
"And potentially valuable." Trudy had returned control to the car, which was arrowing back to the south ten times as fast as it had headed out. The ground was a blur beneath them. "Illegal, do you think?"
"Sure." Bey did not bother to offer his personal philosophy: illegal forms were always the most interesting; and legality was often no more than a matter of being willing to plow through the right application process. "The big question is the form-change tanks. Where are they? Where did they get them?"
"I'm more interested in the second question. Either they were stolen from BEC, or they infringe on our patents." The car was already descending for a landing. Trudy reached up to drop her faceplate back into position, but before she closed it she turned to Bey. "I might be willing to reach an accommodation on the question of theft."
She said nothing more. She did not need to. It was a standard BEC strategy. The question of theft would never be pursued—provided that BEC could make the right deal with the developers of the new form.
Bey followed her out of the car onto the raw Mars surface. He peered around him with a new eye. The place when he first saw it had seemed wild, harsh, frigid, and inhospitable. It was still all of those, but now he knew that it was far more. It was habitable. Something could live here, something far more interesting than the veneer of tailor-made photosynthetic algae or oxide-breaking microorganisms that clung to the naked
"This is one of the best places," Trudy continued. "See? There."
Bey saw nothing. He squinted harder into the rising sun. The ground shadows were long, dark, and confusing, and he needed a few seconds to make out movement next to them.
"Can we land?"
"No. Too rough."
"Can we get closer?"
"Doing it now."
Trudy had taken over manual control. The car banked to the right and descended. Bey leaned forward as they swooped in low, wishing that he had some kind of telescope.
There were five of them. Large-headed, fat-bodied, thick-legged, and bipedal, they bounced across the ground with the long, springing leaps of kangaroos, covering fifteen meters and more at each bound. Chameleonlike, their skins were black on the side that faced the sun, white everywhere else. Good strategy for heat absorption and conservation. Their feet seemed to be both hoofed and clawed, for insulation from the frozen ground and purchase on slippery thawed rock.
They showed no sign of alarm. As the car passed right overhead two of them stopped and stared upward. Bey saw big deep-sunk eyes fringed with thick lashes, bulging noses, and ear cavities with padded flaps that could move to cover them.
Trudy was turning the car to make a second run. But she was going to be too late. Bey saw the five creatures take a last look in their direction, then move toward the shadow of a ledge of rock. One of them gave a little wave as they disappeared from view. The thin Mars atmosphere scattered very little light. Even flying directiy above the rock shadow, all that Bey could see below was blackness.
"Is it worth sticking around?" He was hungry for more.
"Not today. When they head out of sight like that it means they don't want visitors."
"How about on foot?"
"That's possible. But not if you stay on Mars for only one day."
Bey shook his head. Trudy had set the bait. Now she wanted to see how firmly he was on the hook. "I have to get back to Earth."
"You realize what you were seeing?"
"Sure. I won't pretend I'm not fascinated. It's a form-change job, no doubt about it—you'll notice that there were no signs of air-tanks, and there's no way that an animal form could adapt so fast to such extreme conditions. Those are humans down there."
"BEC had nothing to do with this."
"I guessed as much."
"But we might like to."
"I guessed that, too. I thought before I came that it would be new forms down in the Underworld, but this is much more intriguing."
"And potentially valuable." Trudy had returned control to the car, which was arrowing back to the south ten times as fast as it had headed out. The ground was a blur beneath them. "Illegal, do you think?"
"Sure." Bey did not bother to offer his personal philosophy: illegal forms were always the most interesting; and legality was often no more than a matter of being willing to plow through the right application process. "The big question is the form-change tanks. Where are they? Where did they get them?"
"I'm more interested in the second question. Either they were stolen from BEC, or they infringe on our patents." The car was already descending for a landing. Trudy reached up to drop her faceplate back into position, but before she closed it she turned to Bey. "I might be willing to reach an accommodation on the question of theft."
She said nothing more. She did not need to. It was a standard BEC strategy. The question of theft would never be pursued—provided that BEC could make the right deal with the developers of the new form.
Bey followed her out of the car onto the raw Mars surface. He peered around him with a new eye. The place when he first saw it had seemed wild, harsh, frigid, and inhospitable. It was still all of those, but now he knew that it was far more. It was habitable. Something could live here, something far more interesting than the veneer of tailor-made photosynthetic algae or oxide-breaking microorganisms that clung to the naked
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