JACQUI’S life on the Sous’ planet had settled down to a pattern now. She had passed nearly six local Days there, spending the Nights on her writing and sketching, with the occasional spell of origami, at which she was getting more proficient. The Days were spent exploring other islands and ‘buildings’, ranging to the limit she was capable of paddling. How she wished for an outboard motor or something! But when she proposed her idea to Major, it was firmly vetoed. The rotating propeller might seriously injure a Sou that happened to get too close.

One of her canoe trips was notable for a very dramatic interrupt­ion. They were in deep water, and Major, swimming beside her as always, suddenly raised his Big Bell and urgently ordered her to stop paddling and remain still. He then ducked down into the water again, just as something resembling a huge black tentacle, nearly thirty feet long and up to eighteen inches thick, reared itself out of the water about a hundred yards away. No: not a tentacle: more like a neck. Was this the largest Sou on the planet? But it was no Sou either. The neck ended in the usual Big Bell appendage, relatively small, but beneath it Jacqui could make out fearsome-looking jaws lined with equally fearsome teeth. A predator without a doubt! Some way beyond the neck she could make out another ‘tentacle’ raised out of the water: the creature’s tail perhaps. If she hadn’t been so frightened she might have laughed. Only transport this beast to Loch Ness, and all Scotland would have a field day!

She noticed that Major was no longer alongside her: he had disappeared completely. Perhaps he was afraid too. The creature slowly turned its head towards her until its Big Bell was directed straight at her canoe. Petrified with fear, she remained absolutely still and hoped she wouldn’t be taken for a tasty morsel. The stand-off lasted nearly a minute. Then, to her immense relief, the creature seemed to lose interest in her. It turned its neck away, and began to move off, ducking its neck under the water. Its tail remained erect for a minute or two longer, confirming that the creature was swimming rapidly away, before it too disappeared.

She was still trembling with fear when Major reappeared and popped up his Big Bell. “You must have guessed right: that is a dangerous animal. As always, I cannot give you a pronounceable name for it. Apart from the spine-creature which you have already met, it is the only living thing on this planet that could actually harm us. I’m afraid we must abandon this excursion. I must return to the complex and report its presence. Then the robots will be sent to seek it out and destroy it.”

“Can you not send your report from here?”

“No. The communication equipment which I carry is out of range, and it is dangerous to remain here. I’m afraid we shall have to suspend our outings until the creature is definitely eliminated. Meanwhile, you can amuse yourself by sketching it and thinking up a name for it.”

“I have already thought of one. ‘Nessie’. The word won’t mean anything to you, but I can assure you, if I ever get back to my people, they will find it highly amusing. Perhaps I’ll explain why, some time. But not now: I suppose we want to get back.”

And so there were more days confined to her room, more days for Jacqui to spend revising her notes and making improvements to her sketches. The whole Day was wasted, since it was getting dark before Major returned with the news that ‘Nessie’ had finally been found and dealt with.

Another long Night spent writing, sketching, sorting. Could she break the monotony?

She pleaded with Major to let her travel on one of the transporters to another part of the planet—but he refused. He gave several reasons, one of which was that the transporters were not equipped with any compartment that could accommodate her for the flight. Also, he was the only ‘talking’ Sou who could speak English, and he was needed here. But the main reason was that there was no point, since almost all of the planet’s surface was similar to this area.

“Not at the poles, surely? I believe we are close to the equator here: what is it like far to the north and south?”

“Much colder, as you might expect—and you would learn nothing of interest. Few of my kin live in the cold regions.”

Jacqui decided to drop that request. “All right: can we go back to the island with the cliffs? I’m sure there is more to explore there. I may even find a way up the cliffs. And can I take some sort of lamp or torch with me?”

Major assented to that, so when the next dawn arrived, they set out on the familiar route, taking in the same stopovers as before. Once on the island, Jacqui climbed as before, noticing that it was easier going than last time. Perhaps she was getting fitter. Once again she spotted a few of the enigmatic Hallucigenia, but did not stop to study them. She planned to make a complete circuit of the cliffs if possible, and determine once and for all whether there was a way up them or through them.

She had no luck. She followed the same fissure she had entered before, up to the point where it became a cave and she had turned back. She lit her torch and followed the cave for a few hundred yards, but it was a dead end. She saw a few more ‘rats’—perhaps this was their habitat. They looked eerie in the torchlight and she made haste to back her way out of the cave and back down the fissure. Continuing her circuit, she found several similar fissures, but they too were dead ends. There was nowhere the cliffs could be climbed.

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Feeling disappointed, she completed the circuit and arrived at her starting-point, which she had taken pains to mark. Then she returned to the canoe shaking her head. Perhaps another island next time?

*

Then it was the routine of boredom and dull food again. When would the ship to take her home be ready? She did some quick calculation: she had now been on this planet for about seven local Days so, according to Major’s prediction, there were nine more Days to go. Almost half-way!

She decided to tackle Major on another front. She was becomingly increasingly fed up (not literally!) with the local food, which consisted entirely of purées, albeit with a wide variety of flavours. Moreover the bags they came in were inconvenient for lugging around the islands—although they never seemed to burst, however roughly she handled them.

Major questioned her about terrestrial foods. She explained that, unlike many of her fellow-humans, she had no liking for the flesh of dead animals. Major seemed relieved at that! He asked her to provide descriptions of foodstuffs she did like, and he would see what the robots could come up with. The results, after several false starts, were a sort of savoury biscuit, more like hardtack than any­thing else, which was quite palatable when spread with or dipped in one of her purées, and something resembling soft cheese, although rather sweeter than terrestrial cheese. Jacqui felt reasonably happy with these improvements. Oh how she wished for something as simple as a green salad! But such things were apparently beyond the robots’ technology.

She asked Major, could she visit the places where the robots manufactured the food, and also artefacts she had been given, like the canoe? No, replied the Major, those areas were strictly off-limits because of the controlled environment in which the robots worked. Even Sous were only allowed to visit occasionally and only when they were needed.

It was clear that much of the workings of the Sous’ planet would remain unknown to her.

“All right,” she said, a few days later. “Can I see what the other species you have used as foster-parents—successfully, I mean—look like?”

“I’ll need to consult about that,” replied Major. “Yes, we have what you would call a ‘museum’ on our planet, where accurate replicas of our foster hosts are displayed. You must understand that no actual specimens are on show. The museum is some distance away: we shall have to find a way to accommodate you on our transporter, and I will need to get permission for you and me to travel there.”

The outcome was that, a Day later, Jacqui was made to lie in a sort of translucent cocoon which was then hoisted and slung beneath the body of one of the jellyfish-like Transporters. In this rather uncomfortable manner she was taken on a flight which lasted a little over two hours, but she could see little of the landscape—or rather seascape—beneath her during the flight. At last she was released, and Major was there to welcome her. They were in the same shallow sea as always, but beside them stood a building much larger than any Jacqui had seen: as best she could estimate, it was nearly half a mile along its sides.

“We have prepared a wider access way so that you can reach the museum in the interior,” explained Major. “But you will have to crawl. I hope that this last part of your journey will not be too uncomfortable.”

How was Jacqui to describe what she saw in the museum? If she had experienced culture shock and information overload already, since coming to this planet, what this museum had to exhibit surpassed everything. She did her best to make rough sketches of everything she saw, but the experience overwhelmed her. A creature like a huge rugby ball, but hairy and with cube-shaped appendages all over its body. Something that looked like a car tyre, with flat membranous tentacles, somewhat like tagliatelle, emerging from its interior. A short section of picket-fence, but with tiny wings attached to each ‘post’. She could with difficulty absorb the fact that all these were representations of living organisms…

There were one or two pleasant surprises, however. Occupying pride of place just inside the museum entrance was a large stand featuring the extinct newt-like creatures that were the Sous’ original foster-parents. She also saw one creature that could almost have been a terrestrial chimpanzee, except that it was yellow, hairless, and had a high bony crest like a cassowary’s on the top of its head. So there were extraterrestrials not unlike Earthly species, out there! The humanoid form was not unique to Earth.

One thing she noticed was that, unlike in an Earthly museum, there were no plaques covered with writing to explain the exhibits. No doubt the Sous had some other means of imparting knowledge to one another. Come to think of it, she had seen nothing resembling writing anywhere on this planet—not even hieroglyphics.

It was not long before Jacqui felt she could not take in any more, and she indicated to Major that she wanted to leave. He readily agreed, so before long Jacqui was back in her ‘cocoon’ for the flight back to her ‘home’. She set about writing pages and pages on what she had seen. If she returned to Earth and found it still civilized, with a flourishing Sci-fi business, she felt she could dominate the market with the material she had gathered. A fitting tribute to Grandad’s legacy!

One day Major announced that Colonel whom she had met, the regional Director or whatever her position was, had died. So the Sous were not immortal! He revealed that she had reached the age of twelve thousand, one hundred and six Days. Jacqui did a quick calculation: over fifteen hundred years. If not quite immortal, their lifespan was certainly impressive! Major explained that a new Director would in due course be elected to take her place, although the election would probably not take place until after Jacqui had left.