what just a little change in the weather can do? Will it be much of
a climb?"
"I don't think so. It looks from here as if we could walk straight up the slope--evidently the timberline on this planet is higher than most worlds. There's bare rock and no trees near the peak, but only a couple of thousand feet below there's vegetation. We haven't reached the snowline yet."
On the higher slopes, in spite of everything, MacAran recovered his old enthusiasm. A strange worldperhaps, but still, a mountain beneath him, the challenge of a climb. An easy climb it was true, withoutrocks or icefalls, but that simply freed him to enjoy the mountain panorama, the high clear air. It was only Camilla's presence, the knowledge that she feared the open heights, that kept him in touch with reality at
Page 32
all. He had expected to resent this, the need to help an amateur over easy stretches which he could have
climbed with one leg in a cast, the waiting for her to find footing on the stretches of steep
44
rocky scree, but instead he found himself curiously in rapport with her fear, her slow conquest of each
new height. A few feet below the high peak he stopped.
"Here. We can run a perfectly good line of sight from here, and there's a flat spot to set up your
equipment. We'll wait here for noon."
He had expected her to show relief; instead she looked at him, with a certain shyness, and said, "I
thought you'd like to climb the peak, Rafe. Go ahead, if you want to, I don't mind."
He started to snap at her that it would be no fun at all with a frightened amateur, then realized thiswas no longer true. He pulled his pack off his shoulder and smiled at her, laying a hand on her arm. "Thatcan wait," he said gently, "this isn't a pleasure trip, Camilla. This is the best spot for what we want to do. Did you adjust your chronometer so that we can catch noon?"
They rested side by side on the slope, looking down across the panorama of forests and hills spread
out below them. Beautiful , he thought, a world to love, a world to live in .
He asked idly, "Do you suppose the Coronis colony is this beautiful?"
"How would I know? I've never been there. Anyway, I don't know all that much about planets. But this one is beautiful. I've never seen a sun quite this color, and the shadows--" she fell silent, staring down at the pattern of greens and dark-violet shade in the valleys.
"It would be easy to get used to a sky this color," MacAran said, and was silent again.
It was not long until the shortening shadows marked the approach of the meridian. After all thepreparation, it seemed a curious anticlimax; to unfold the hundred-foot-high aluminum rod, to measurethe shadows exactly, to the millimeter. When it was finished and he was refolding the rod, he said asmuch, wryly:
"Forty miles and an eighteen-thousand-foot climb for a hundred and twenty seconds of
measurements."
Camilla shrugged. "And God-knows-how-many light-years to come here. Science is all like that,
Rafe."
"Nothing to do now but wait for the night, so you can take your observations." Rafe folded the rod and sat down on the rocks, enjoying the rare warmth of the sunlight. Camilla went on moving around their campsite for a little,
Page 33
45
then came back and joined him. He asked, "Do you really think you can chart this planet's position,
Camilla?"
"I hope so. I'm going to try and observe known Cepheid variables, take observations over a period of time, and if I can find as many as three that I can absolutely identify, I can compute where we are in relation to the central drift of the Galaxy."
"Let's pray for a few more clear nights, then," Rafe said, and was silent.
After some time, watching him study the rocks less than a hundred feet above them, she said, "Go
on, Rafe. You know you want to climb it. Go ahead, I don't mind."
"You don't? You won't mind waiting here?"
"Who said I'd wait here? I think I can make it. And--" she smiled a little,
a climb?"
"I don't think so. It looks from here as if we could walk straight up the slope--evidently the timberline on this planet is higher than most worlds. There's bare rock and no trees near the peak, but only a couple of thousand feet below there's vegetation. We haven't reached the snowline yet."
On the higher slopes, in spite of everything, MacAran recovered his old enthusiasm. A strange worldperhaps, but still, a mountain beneath him, the challenge of a climb. An easy climb it was true, withoutrocks or icefalls, but that simply freed him to enjoy the mountain panorama, the high clear air. It was only Camilla's presence, the knowledge that she feared the open heights, that kept him in touch with reality at
Page 32
all. He had expected to resent this, the need to help an amateur over easy stretches which he could have
climbed with one leg in a cast, the waiting for her to find footing on the stretches of steep
44
rocky scree, but instead he found himself curiously in rapport with her fear, her slow conquest of each
new height. A few feet below the high peak he stopped.
"Here. We can run a perfectly good line of sight from here, and there's a flat spot to set up your
equipment. We'll wait here for noon."
He had expected her to show relief; instead she looked at him, with a certain shyness, and said, "I
thought you'd like to climb the peak, Rafe. Go ahead, if you want to, I don't mind."
He started to snap at her that it would be no fun at all with a frightened amateur, then realized thiswas no longer true. He pulled his pack off his shoulder and smiled at her, laying a hand on her arm. "Thatcan wait," he said gently, "this isn't a pleasure trip, Camilla. This is the best spot for what we want to do. Did you adjust your chronometer so that we can catch noon?"
They rested side by side on the slope, looking down across the panorama of forests and hills spread
out below them. Beautiful , he thought, a world to love, a world to live in .
He asked idly, "Do you suppose the Coronis colony is this beautiful?"
"How would I know? I've never been there. Anyway, I don't know all that much about planets. But this one is beautiful. I've never seen a sun quite this color, and the shadows--" she fell silent, staring down at the pattern of greens and dark-violet shade in the valleys.
"It would be easy to get used to a sky this color," MacAran said, and was silent again.
It was not long until the shortening shadows marked the approach of the meridian. After all thepreparation, it seemed a curious anticlimax; to unfold the hundred-foot-high aluminum rod, to measurethe shadows exactly, to the millimeter. When it was finished and he was refolding the rod, he said asmuch, wryly:
"Forty miles and an eighteen-thousand-foot climb for a hundred and twenty seconds of
measurements."
Camilla shrugged. "And God-knows-how-many light-years to come here. Science is all like that,
Rafe."
"Nothing to do now but wait for the night, so you can take your observations." Rafe folded the rod and sat down on the rocks, enjoying the rare warmth of the sunlight. Camilla went on moving around their campsite for a little,
Page 33
45
then came back and joined him. He asked, "Do you really think you can chart this planet's position,
Camilla?"
"I hope so. I'm going to try and observe known Cepheid variables, take observations over a period of time, and if I can find as many as three that I can absolutely identify, I can compute where we are in relation to the central drift of the Galaxy."
"Let's pray for a few more clear nights, then," Rafe said, and was silent.
After some time, watching him study the rocks less than a hundred feet above them, she said, "Go
on, Rafe. You know you want to climb it. Go ahead, I don't mind."
"You don't? You won't mind waiting here?"
"Who said I'd wait here? I think I can make it. And--" she smiled a little,
Similar Books
