Scuzzworms Read Free

relief.  The crowd, grateful, carried her away to spend the rest of her life in complete privacy in a little tiny cell, free of any disgusting human social contact.
    “...All of you are of course aware of how important it is that we not contaminate this biosphere.  I can’t emphasize this point enough.  We must not disrupt the uniqueness of this ecology by the introduction of even one insignificant earth form.  Biotech, Incorporated won the contract for this investigation because of our superior record for safety in previous research projects.  CHA, the Committee for Human Advancement, has strict regulations governing the exploration of evolutionarily advanced planets.  They will keep a very close eye on the project and require us to provide regular reports.  One slip-up on the part of any of you could lose the entire contract for us, and all of us will be out looking for new jobs - quite possibly in maintenance.  I’m sure you appreciate my point.”
    People were actually laughing!  Brown-nosers.
    He introduced a couple of the people behind him.  One was an astrogeologist and the other was a planetary analyst.   With little prompting they launched into a prepared presentation.  Actually, they only launched a prepared presentation, a video glossy designed to awe and amuse.  Their participation was limited to pushing buttons and hoping nobody would ask them any questions. 
    She had read much of this before.  Clear space, a planet old enough and located far enough from any asteroid belts that it had been relatively free of bombardment for thousands of years.  It was bathed in an earth-like level of radiation and had a stable atmosphere and crust.  Non-radioactive heavy metals, lots of carbon and oxygen, liquid water - all the conditions necessary for the evolution of advanced life forms were here.  There weren’t many planets like this one.  Only an extremely stable planet evolved complex life.  She yawned mightily.  Evolution took an incredibly long time, just like this meeting.  Most planets never gave evolution a chance.  They didn’t want to evolve a Caldwell or a Jinks.
    The glossy finally over, Jinks took the podium.  “After this meeting, I would like each division to meet separately so that each of you can meet your coworkers.”
    She could stow away on the flight back with Jinks!  No one would miss her.  It would serve Caldwell right.   
    As the chiefs were paraded to the front she didn’t see Caldwell.  Instead, a tall, skinny, awkward-looking guy stood indecisively with the others.
    “And this is Dr. Caldwell 102, who will head our biological research team.  The biological division is the largest and most important of this project.  Dr. Caldwell’s record was brilliant at Vendost University where he corroborated data obtained on site with archival data.  He participated on numerous research groups during his early training and brings with him a great deal of experience.  We look forward to his...”
    Well, damn.  She had been thinking of Caldwell 201.  She had never met this guy before.  He looked like a bigger wimp than the other Caldwell, but not so greedy.  He had that lost little boy look of the brilliant researcher who couldn’t remember to take his shoes off at night.  Still, appearances could be deceiving.  From what Jinks had said, this guy was a big time operator.  He probably took the chiefdom just for the prestige of it, maybe bucking for a raise back at Vendost.
    As the crowd dispersed to various meeting rooms, she felt encouraged.  She didn’t know one benighted soul in the entire project.  Blissful anonymity was hers.
    She entered the conference room reluctantly.  It was crowded beyond capacity.  She found a spot to lean against the wall in the back of the room.   Caldwell cleared his throat nervously.
    “Ah hrmmm.  Uh, I would like to ah, well uh, welcome you to the project.  As all of you know, our division will be charged with the most