Footsteps in the Sky Read Free

the emotion of self-protection­ that we extend to others at our own expense. Etadotetak had grown our Makers strong, allowed them to cooperate as no other species on their homeworld could. Taken them into space, where they could create planets safer than the one that had budded them.
    And though I knew that Hatedotik was right, I had Etadotetak for the life forms down there.
     I argued.
     Hatedotik replied, unequivocally.
    I was beginning to wish that we weren’t so closely linked. She had access to any data I gathered, and that might no longer be beneficial.
    
    
    
    
    
     Hatedotik demanded, and I felt automatic mechanisms locking the three of us together. Hatedotik was certain, I was uncertain, and Odatatek had no opinion whatsoever. But she could break the tie. It depended upon what criteria remained in her disintegrating mind. Right now, she was absorbing the data, evaluating our opposed stances, seeking resolution.
    She could not find it amongst the few sparks still winking along her backbonebrain.
     she begged.
    So.
    And as if in response, something moved towards the lander. I saw it clearly, and wished desperately that my siblings could not. It looked very little like a Maker.
    The thing was a cylinder balanced improbably on only two legs. What I took to be the sensory organs were on a spherical protrusion at the top of its strange body, clustered together rather than strung along its backbone. I wondered if its brain might be in the sphere—odd, but if the sense organs were there, it would be most logical. It had two limbs and very fine hands—not like the Makers’, but obviously functional and versatile. It held a tool in one of them.
    Was this what had built the fusion reactors?
    Odatatek had still not decided. Her criteria must not be based upon whether or not the life seemed alien, then.
    Perhaps there remained in her a tiny shred of Etadotetak. That would be interesting. If I could prove that the life down there was worthy of sacrificing a prime planet for the Makers, I could win this adjudication. And there might be one very good way of gathering more data toward that end.
    I was surprised that I thought of it, though I had all of the equipment. There was no need to fabricate anything. And I could use self-contained systems; the data would not be freely accessible to the others until I made it so.
    All I needed was a tissue sample. The creature obliged by stepping closer, hand extended.
    IV. Hoku
    Hoku snarled, snapped his words off at Juaren as if they were bullets. “You may consider yourself terminated, Itupko Juaren. How in the hell could you have missed two starships, each a kilometer long? Shit, they must be visible to the naked eye!”
    â€œThree ships, Ibaba. The polar sky Kachina just found another,” Red Jimmie interjected.
    Juaren’s narrow mouth chewed silently for a moment, as if seeking to fill itself with explanations. Perspiration stood out on his dark brow. “Ibaba Hoku,”