Tau Ceti (an Ell Donsaii story #6) Read Free

chance of survival on the other planets in the solar system due to those planets’ inimical environments. And, anything that could survive on the other planets seems unlikely to survive on Earth.”
    “But what about planets in other solar systems? Ones that were more Earthlike than the ones in our solar system?”
    Norris snorted, “That would be a different matter wouldn’t it. But there’s no point worrying about it in any real sense. There is no way that we can reach them, they’re light years away and if you haven’t yet considered just how far away the nearest stars are, you should .”
    “Well, but hypothetically?”
    Norris sighed at her persistence . “ ‘ Hypothetically ,’ we shouldn’t worry about it. Ain’t gonna happen. If it did, we should sterilize everything we send there and shouldn’t let anything from there return to us here.”
    “Not even if we sterilize everything that comes back?”
    “How would we know that what came back would be killed by the sterilization methods we use? The organisms there might not be susceptible to the same techniques that work on Earth organisms.”
    She frowned, “How would we figure out whether or not they were susceptible?”
    “ Miss Donovan! I don’t have time to waste on such ridiculous hypotheticals. If we were about to make contact I’d be willing to spend time thinking about them.”
    “Are there any scientists in the triangle interested in these types of questions?”
    Exasperated he said , “You’re like a little yappy dog that’s sunk its teeth into a sock, you know? Just won’t let go even though someone’s picked you up and is carrying you around dangling from it ? ” He sighed, “In short, th e answer is ‘no.’ No one else in the area is interested in other planetary systems. It’s my field of research and I’m as expert as you’re going to find, but I’m not interested in hypotheticals that have no conceivable application.”
    “OK,” she said, beginning to turn away. Then she turned back, “At the beginning of class you said you’d like to meet the people from D5R. Would you like me to arrange for you to be introduced to some of them? I have a friend that works there.”
    Norris’ eyes snapped back to hers, “Ell Donsaii?”
    Donovan looked panicked for a moment, then said, “You could probably meet her. Would you like a tour of D5R?”
    “Absolutely!”
    “Tomorrow?”
    “You seem pretty sure you can work this out? Are you sure Ms. Donsaii will be there tomorrow?”
    “Yes sir. Would nine O’clock be OK? Or do you have a class then?”
     
    ***
     
    “What happened to the talor ?” Syrdian asked.
    “I attacked it while it was attacking you.”
    “You didn’t! No one would attack a talor! No one has ever killed a talor.”
    Dex lifted hi e s wings in a shrug, amazed himrself , but not knowing how to refute Syrdian’s argument.
    “If someone were to kill a talor, it certainly wouldn’t be you .”
    Dex lifted wings in another shrug.
    “Qes,” Syrdian called, resuming hies trek to the woods. Over hies shoulder Syrdian said. “What are these threads on my wing ?”
    A couple of wing beats moved Dex closer and hie began walking parallel but just behind-right to Syrdian. “The talor stood on your right wing and its hind claws ripped your wing membrane.”
    “What!” Syrdian stopped and unfurled the right wing to look at it again. “It’s just scratched! It isn’t ripped!”
    “It was ripped. I sewed it back together with fiberlin the way I do my leatherwork.”
    Syrdian’s eyes flashed wide with panic and focused on the largest rip. Hie moaned. A quiver flashed through hies wings and hie sank to the ground. For a moment Dex thought Syrdian would lose consciousness again, not unreasonable upon the thought of never flying again.
    Then Qes called from the forest verge, “Syrdian! Is that you?”
    Syrdian’s eyes widened and hie rose back up, “Qes! I’m right here!”
    “Where ’s the talor?” Qes