"Well, not in so many words. It said--"
"I know, I know. Your poetic license hasn't expired. I mean, that _is_
the gist of it? That somewhere back of the hills there's a charnel
heap--a dump of corpses, of miscarriages--something of the sort?"
"You could put that interpretation on it," Ernest said. "I got the
impression of something abortive."
"That's the best lead yet," Doc said. "If we could find anything other
than dust piles, no matter how embryonic--Lieutenant, your boys must
have been looking in the wrong places. How soon can you get a detail
out over the hills?"
The lieutenant looked at his watch. "If I've got this screwy rotation
figured out, dawn's about half an hour off. That soon enough?"
"It'll have to do."
"What about Raggedy Andy here?" Ernest asked. "Do we keep him intact?"
"Don't touch a hair of his precious head," Doc said. "He's earned a
stay of dissection."
The creature, still quiet in the chair, its eyes vacant now, hummed
almost inaudibly. Ernest bent to listen.
"Well?" Doc said.
"Strictly a non-sequitur," Ernest told him:
"_Here we go, lass, through the heather;
Naught to daunt us save the tether._"
"It makes me sad," Doc said. He yawned. "Maybe it's just the hour."
* * * * *
Cook had accomplished his usual legerdemain with the space rations but
the breakfast table was less appreciative than usual.
"The detail's been gone a long time," Doc Braddon said, toying with an
omelet. "Do you think it's a wild goose chase?"
"Reminds me of a time off Venus," the skipper said. "Before any of you
were born, probably...."
His juniors listened politely until the familiar narrative was
interrupted by the 'com on the bulkhead. They recognized the voice of
Sergeant Maraffi, the non-com in charge of the crew in the scout craft.
"We found something. Looks like bodies. Well preserved but incomplete.
Humanoid."
"Bring 'em back," the skipper said. "As many as you've got room for in
the sling." He added as an afterthought: "Do they smell?"
"Who knows?" Maraffi said. "I sure don't aim to take off my helmet to
find out. They're not decomposed, though."