Chapter 65

If anything, the pace of that progress was even faster over the next few weeks. The scientists were gathering an immense body of knowledge about both the planet and the aliens themselves. After hearing Meiersdottir's description of the mating process Heisinger and Komosaki were avid for a first-hand view; the Edenites showed no hesitation about allowing them entry to the nest to witness not only that but an actual hatching. "It's unlike anything on Earth," Heising­er reported afterwards. "At home the fledglings use a hatching tooth to pretty much hack their way out. Here the eggs' exteriors simply dissolve to expose the newborn. Apparently the ... shells, I'll call them ... they remain biologically active, they're living tissue. I asked their queen, the dissolution is natural and occurs only when the fledgling is physiologically ready for birth. Then the dissolved shell serves as the newborn's first food."

For their part the aliens were absorbing all information presented to them voraciously. Their human "professors" found themselves having to develop structured curricula to keep their teaching rationally linear. Meiersdottir, who had happily escaped the bouts of nausea that so often accompany the hormonal and physical stresses of pregnancy, continued her discussions of Earth's social structure and history together with Toshimura, but now in largely unexpurgated form; the horrors that human beings' baser traits lead them to inflict on one another were candidly acknowledged in parallel with the achievements to which their higher motives allow them to aspire.

But practical developments were causing problems to this rapid information exchange. First, after the wedding Igwanda had lifted most restrictions concerning human presence on the planet, allowing surface parties to expand drastically in number; his only caveat was that enough crew remain aboard the Gardener to pilot it home in the event of some on-planet calamity. As a result as many as thirty or thirty-five humans might be on Eden at any given time. Though the Edenites had offered hospitality in their own buildings, their windowless and generally single-doored construction was severely confining and most of the humans preferred the open pavilion, which as a result was becoming increasingly congested by both day and night.

For a time this was easily resolved as the scientists adapted to open-air daily sessions and a number also adopted Meiersdottir's and Igwanda's practice of outdoor sleeping. But the weather was becoming increasingly uncooperative. Igwanda had thought little of it when he observed the Edenites making a major harvest of their crops, until he idly asked Akakha about it one day. Eden, it seemed, was the proud possessor of a rainy season which, moreover, was on the verge of beginning. For about the equivalent of the next three Earth months it was going to get very wet. Something would clearly have to be done.

With his military responsibilities shelved, Igwanda had gradually been assuming the role of logistics coordinator of the mission. His principal achievement thus far had been to solve the chronic water problem in the meadow. Rather than have the aliens continue to haul flagon after flagon, he had, with their permission, arranged for diversion of the nearby river from which they'd been taking it. Fashioning shaped charges from the blaster rounds, his task force quickly hewed out a channel running directly past the pavilion, packing and sealing it with lasers reset for the purpose before opening it. The Edenites had finished the job with a lining of their cement. As a result there was now a steady flow of reasonably clear water.

Now he put his efforts into an expansion of sheltered space in the meadow. He briefly considered outbuildings, but rejected the notion because it would compel either an undesirable division of the human contingent or frequent crossings of the muddied field in, often, downpouring rain. His final choice was a major enlargement of the original structure itself, one that would more than triple the sheltered area. It would use the same basic technique, but would also include extensive guttering, both to direct water away from joins in what was to remain a fabric roof and to halt the erosion that had created deep gullies around the existing structure. After extensive discussions with Akakha, in which his original plans were modified several times at the alien's sug­gestion, work began.

Once again it was a joint project, but this time a much more organized one, each catering to its strengths. The first step was to lay the floors, with Igwanda's troops using their lasers to prepare the ground and the Edenites following by pouring a steady supply of their concrete. The colonel marveled at how close the aliens were willing to work to the active lasers ahead of them; often they were within half a meter or less of the preparation, vulnerable to the amputation of limbs or worse at the slightest miscue. But none occurred (he had trained his soldiers thoroughly), and within a day the floors were in place.