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pea-sized bit of anti-matter containing a dozen kilotons of explosive power.
Normally, of course, the anti-mat- ter is safely controlled and there is
little danger from the use of such material. On the other hand flying around
in something that could just go "BOOM" at any moment does bother your nerves
just a bit! Especially mine after what happened with our disc.
"You can't help being `what' you are," Raspa answered, set- tling
herself on the couch there before the controls and clipping the ship's
computer feeds to her antennae. The oxygen cylinder there at my hip and my
breathing bag and mask a necessary part of my attire were I to step out onto
the surface of Mars with its .5 PSI oxygen pressure, that of the Earth being
about six times as great! I had to admit even to myself that I was starting to
get used to the sight of the Lorr, Raspa being no longer the night- marish
creature that she had first appeared to me. Why she took this interest in me
was something I didn't know or dare ask, al- though I was happy that she did,
since otherwise I would have learned little about this very alien civilization
on a world that I'd visited before only in the far reaches of my own
imagination!
"I'll try to do better in the future," I told her, settling myself as
best I could beside her on the other couch, the close confines of the ship and
the thought of what laid behind that deck beneath me making me just a bit
nervous. The bigger ships are powered usually by fusion reactors, and thus are
"safer" in my opinion, although the Lorr don't feel their smaller craft are in
any way dangerous, Raspa having pointed out to me that she knew of only two
failures of the magnetic containment fields in the entire fifty thousand year
span that they had been using anti-matter as the power supply for spaceships
of this design! I of course mention this only because of what happened to our
ship!
"One should always seek to improve one's self, for that way lies true
civilization," Raspa answered me with a gentle wave of her antennae. The
movement of the antennae in conversation being somewhat similar to our
movement of our hands and arms when we talk. The saucer at the moment gently
rising up a long shaft to the surface of Mars, the only sensation being that
faint "tingly" feel that seems to be a side effect of the Lorr's anti-gravity
drive. Raspa once explained how the system works, but I didn't really know any
more after she got done than I did before I asked her! I am well educated by
20th Century standards, but the Lorr use technologies that Man hasn't hardly
even dreamed about using!
"I'm rather surprised that you'd want to be alone with me, considering
how `violent' I am," I answered, remembering how that had been brought out the
day before. Not that Raspa had anything to fear from me, since obviously I was
totally dependent for life itself here on Mars upon the continuing "good will"
of the Lorr!
"You are an intelligent being," Raspa answered, the saucer now rising
just over the rim of the shaft and then moving across the surface of Mars,
much to my pleasure and delight. My earlier arrival on this planet having been
while in a state of uncon- sciousness where I had awoke on a bed with a young
woman watching over me, the lighter gravity and the thinness of the air
leaving no doubts that I was indeed now on or rather "inside" Mars!
"And attacking you would be a stupid act, wouldn't it?" I smiled back,
enjoying this conversation considerably more than the one I had the day before
with this very same creature.
"I am capable of `defending' myself if attacked," Raspa as- sured me
with a wave of her antennae. Below us the viewscreen showed rolling plains
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covered with low broad leaved green plants called "Life Plants" due to the
oxygen they released into the at- mosphere. The leaves are edible, being
similar to that of a cab- bage and also hold considerable water, which they
extract both from the soil and from the thin atmosphere of the planet itself,
making the plant both food and drink. They are a genetic con- struction of the
Lorr designed for the purpose of "terraforming".
"You rather `look' like you would be," I observed with a smile. Raspa
had both her mandibles and the stings at the tips which released a paralyzing
poison into the bloodstream of the one stung. I suspect that the Lorr long ago
in their evolution were hunting meat-eating creatures not unlike Man, and they
stung their prey and then dragged it back to their underground nests for later
consumption. Due to the nature of their venom, one can be stung and remain
conscious but helpless, and totally para- lyzed. I once had a nightmare while
on Mars about being stung and then dragged off into a dark cavern where I was
then actually eaten by a number of Lorr. The nightmare such that I could "see"
their mandibles tearing me apart, ripping me open, my flesh being then torn
from my body until I could see my own bloody skeleton!
"Where did the comet strike?" I ventured, not knowing what Raspa's
response to that would be. She was the one responsible for the "terraforming"
of the surface of the planet, the Lorr due to their subterranean natures
having little interest in the sur- face of a world. In my opinion the Lorr
should have let them- selves be known to Humanity back in the 19th Century
when there would have been nothing that Mankind could have done to threaten
them. Perhaps starting their terraforming operations about the time of the
American Revolution, so that they might be able to present to Man a new clean
world that might be shared. While the existence of the Lorr would have been a
big jolt to Man's opinion of himself, especially to religious fundamentalists,
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