The Asses of Balaam, Page 3

Balance.

  Of course, the snith, too, was an underground animal, though thetunnels were unlined. The snith's tunnels ran between and around thearmored tunnels of Dodeth's people, so that each city surrounded theother without contact--if the burrows of the snith could properly becalled a city.

  "Yerdeth Pell's residence," said Ardan.

  "Ah, yes." Dodeth, his thoughts interrupted, slid off the back ofthe robot and flexed his legs. "Wait here, Ardan. I'll be back in anhour or so." Then he scrambled over to the door which led to Yerdeth'sapartment.

  * * * * *

  Twenty minutes later, Yerdeth Pell looked up from the data bookfacsimiles and scanned Dodeth's face with appraising eyes.

  "Very cute," he said at last, with a slight chuckle. "Now, what I wantto know is: is someone playing a joke on you, or are you playing ajoke on me?"

  Dodeth's eyelids slid upwards in a fast blink of surprise. "What doyou mean?"

  "Why, these bathygraphs." Yerdeth rapped the bathygraphs with awrinkled, horny hand. He was a good deal older than Dodeth, and hisvoice had a tendency to rasp a little when the frequency went abovetwenty thousand cycles. "They're very good, of course. _Very_ good.The models have very fine detail to them. The eyes, especially aregood; they look as if they really _ought_ to be built that way." Hesmiled and looked up at Dodeth.

  Dodeth resisted an urge to ripple a stomp. "Well?" he saidimpatiently.

  "Well, they can't be real, you know," Yerdeth replied mildly.

  "Why not?"

  "Oh, come, now, Dodeth. What did it evolve from? An animal doesn'tjust spring out of nowhere, you know."

  "New species are discovered occasionally," Dodeth said. "And there areplenty of mutants and just plain freaks."

  "Certainly, certainly. But you don't hatch a snith out of a hurkleegg. Where are your intermediate stages?"

  "Is it possible that we might have missed the intermediate stage?"

  "I said 'stages'. Plural. Pick any known animal--_any_ one--and tellme how many genetic changes would have to take place before you'd comeup with an animal anything like this one." Again he tapped thebathygraph. "Take that eye, for instance. The lid goes down instead ofup, but you notice that there's a smaller lid at the bottom that_does_ go up, a little ways. The closest thing to an eye like that ison the hugl, which has eyelids on top that lower a little. But thehugl has eighteen segments; sixteen pairs of legs and two pairs offeeding claws. Besides, it's only the size of your thumb-joint. Whatkind of gene mutation would it take to change that into an animal likethe one in this picture?

  "And look at the size of the thing. If it weren't in that awkwardvertical position, if it were stretched out on the ground, it'd be along as a human. Look at the size of those legs!

  "Or, take another thing. In order to walk on those two legs, thechanges in skeletal and visceral structure would have to betremendous."

  "Couldn't we have missed the intermediate stages, then?" Dodeth askedstubbornly. "We've missed the intermediates before, I dare say."

  "Perhaps we have," Yerdeth admitted, "but if you boys in theEcological Corps have been on your toes for the past thousand years,we haven't missed many. And it would take at least that long forsomething like this to evolve from anything we know."

  "Even under direct polar bombardment?"

  "Even under direct polar bombardment. The radiation up here is strongenough to sterilize a race within a very few generations. And whatwould they eat? Not many plants survive there, you know.

  "Oh, I don't say it's flatly im_possi_ble, you understand. If a femaleof some animal or other, carrying a freshly-fertilized zygote, and herspecies happened to have all the necessary potential characteristics,and a flood of ionizing radiation went through the zygote at exactlythe right time, and it managed to hit just the right genes in just theright way ... well I'm sure you can see the odds against it aretremendous. I wouldn't even want to guess at the order of magnitude ofthe exponent. I'd have to put on a ten in order to give you the oddsagainst it."

  Dodeth didn't quite get that last statement, but he let it pass. "Iam going to pull somebody's legs off, one by one, come next workperiod," he said coldly. "One ... by ... one."

  * * * * *

  He didn't, though. Rather than accuse Wygor, it would be better ifWygor were allowed to accuse himself. Dodeth merely wanted to wait forthe opportunity to present itself. And then--ah, _then_ there would bea roasting!

  The opportunity came in the latter part of the next work period.Wygor, who had purportedly been up on the surface for another fieldtrip, scuttled excitedly into Dodeth's office, wildly waving somebathygraph sheets.

  "Dodeth, sir! Look! I came down as soon as I saw it! I've got the'graphs right here! Horrible!"

  Before Dodeth could say anything, Wygor had spread the sheets outfan-wise on his business bench. Dodeth looked at them and experienceda moment of horror himself before he realized that these were--these_must_ be--doctored bathygraphs. Even so, he gave an involuntary gasp.

  The first 'graphs had been taken from an aerial reconnaissance robotwinging in low over the treetops. The others were taken from a higheraltitude. They all showed the same carnage.

  An area of several thousand square feet--_tens_ of thousands!--hadbeen cleared of trees! They had been ruthlessly cut down and stacked.Bushes and vines had gone with them, and the grass had been crushedand plowed up by the dragging of the great fallen trees. And therewere obvious signs that the work was still going on. In the close-ups,he could see the bipedal beasts wielding cutting instruments.

  Dodeth forced himself to calmness and glared at the bathygraphs. Fryit, they _had_ to be fakes. A new species might appear only once in ahundred years, but according to Yerdeth, this couldn't possibly be anew species. What was Wygor's purpose in lying, though? Why should hefalsify data? And it must be he; he had said that he had seen thebeasts himself. Well, Dodeth would have to find out.

  "Tool users, eh?" he said, amazed at the calmness of his voice. Suchanimals weren't unusual. The sniths used tools for digging and evenfor fighting each other. And the hurkles dammed up small streams withlogs to increase their marshland. It wasn't immediately apparent whatthese beasts were up to, but it was far too destructive to allow it togo on.

  But, fry it all, it _couldn't_ be going on!

  There were only two alternatives. Either Wygor was a liar or Yerdethdidn't know what he was talking about. And there was only one way offinding out which was which.

  "Ardan! Get my equipment ready! We're going on a field trip! Wygor,you get the rest of the expedition ready; you and I are going up tosee what all this is about." He jabbed at the communicator button."Fry it! Why should this have to happen in my sector? Hello! Give mean inter-city connection. I want to talk to Baythim Venns,co-ordinator of Ecological Control, in Faisalla."

  He looked up at Wygor. "Scatter off, fry it! I want to--Oh, hello,Baythim, sir. Dodeth. Have you had any reports on a new species--abipedal one? What? No, sir; I'm not kidding. One of my men has broughtin 'graphs of the thing. Frankly, I'm inclined to think it's a hoax ofsome kind, but I'd like to ask you to check to see if it's beenreported in any of the other areas. We're located a little out of theway here, and I thought perhaps some of the stations farther north orsouth had seen it. Yes. That's right: two locomotive limbs, twohandling limbs. Big as a human, and they hold their bodiesperpendicular to the ground. Yes, sir, I know it sounds silly, and I'mgoing out to check the story now, but you ought to see thesebathygraphs. If it's a hoax, there's an expert behind it. Very well,sir; I'll wait."

  Dodeth scowled. Baythim had sounded as if he, Dodeth, had lost hissenses.

  _Maybe I have_, he thought. _Maybe I'll start running aroundmindlessly and get shot down by some patrol robot who thinks I'm asnith._

  Maybe he should have investigated first and then called, when he wassure, one way or another. Maybe he should have told Baythim he wascertain it was a hoax, instead of hedging his bets. Maybe a lot ofthing
s, but it was too--

  "Hello? Yes, sir. None, eh? Yes, sir. Yes, sir; I'll give you a callas soon as I've checked. Yes, sir. Thank you, sir."

  Dodeth felt like an absolute fool. Individually and collectively, heconsigned to the frying pan Baythim, Wygor, Yerdeth, the new beast--ifit existed--and finally, himself.

  By the time he had finished his all-encompassing curse, his two dozenpistoning legs had nearly brought him to the equipment room, whereArdan and Wygor were waiting.

  * * * * *

  Four hours and more of