By now, Kaiser had accepted what had happened to him. His distress and
anxiety were gone and he was impatient to do what he could to establish
better contact with his uninvited tenant. With eager anticipation, he
set to thinking how it could be done. After a few minutes, an idea
occurred to him.
Taking a small scalpel from a medical kit, he made a shallow cut in
his arm, just deep enough to bleed freely. He knew that the pain would
supply the necessary glandular reaction. The cut bled a few slow
drops--and as Kaiser watched, a shiny film formed and the bleeding
stopped.
That checked pretty well with the ship's theory.
Perhaps the symbiote had made his senses more acute. He tried closing
his eyes and fingering several objects in the room. It seemed to him
that he could determine the texture of each better than before, but
the test was inconclusive. Walking to the rear of the scout, he tried
reading the printed words on the instrument panel. Each letter stood
out sharp and clear!
Kaiser wondered if he might not make an immediate, practical use of the
symbiote's apparent desire to help him. Concentrating on the discomfort
of the high humidity and exaggerating his own displeasure with it, he
waited. The result surprised and pleased him.
The temperature within the scout cabin seemed to lower, the moisture
on his body vanished, and he was more comfortable than he had yet been
here.
As a double check, he looked at the ship's thermometer. Temperature
102, humidity 113--just about the same as it had been on earlier
readings.
* * * * *
During the next twenty-four hours, Kaiser and the mother ship exchanged
messages at regular six-hour intervals. In between, he worked at
repairing the damaged scout. He had no more success than before.
He tired easily and lay on the cot often to rest. Each time he seemed
to drop off to sleep immediately--and awake at the exact times he
had decided on beforehand. At first, despite the lack of success in
straightening the bent metal of the scout bottom, there had been a
subdued exhilaration in reporting each new discovery concerning the
symbiote, but as time passed, his enthusiasm ebbed. His one really
important problem was how to repair the scout and he was fast becoming
discouraged.
At last Kaiser could bear the futility of his efforts no longer. He
sent out a terse message to the _Soscites II_:
TAKING SHORT TRIP TO ANOTHER LOCATION ON RIVER. HOPE TO FIND MORE
INTELLIGENT NATIVES. COULD BE THAT THE SETTLEMENT I FOUND HERE IS
ANALOGOUS TO TRIBE OF MONKEYS ON EARTH. I KNOW THE CHANCE IS SMALL,
BUT WHAT HAVE I TO LOSE? I CAN'T FIX SCOUT WITHOUT BETTER TOOLS,
AND IF MY GUESS IS RIGHT, I MAY BE ABLE TO GET EQUIPMENT. EXPECT TO
RETURN IN TEN OR TWELVE HOURS. PLEASE KEEP CONTACT WITH SCOUT.